Summer

Our Summer Lawn Application is applied during the months of July and August. This application consists of balanced time-release fertilizer and spot treatment of broadleaf and summer annual weeds. This application aids the turf in recovery during hot/dry periods. As these hot summer months approach, the weather conditions usually include extremely hot temperatures and way below normal rainfall amounts. These stressful conditions can and will have an adverse cumulative effect on your lawn and landscape plant material. With this in mind, it is not the time to totally ignore the warning signs of drought. Letting your lawn go dormant and not watering at all for days and weeks at a time, during periods of extreme heat and drought, can cause sections of your lawn to die. The same is true with young trees and other landscape plants. This application will help to keep your lawn healthy through these summer months.

Watering
We understand with today’s watering restrictions and the cost of water, that it is difficult to keep up with watering your lawn. But we feel it is very important to do your best until weather conditions change and temperatures cool down along with adequate rainfall. The cost of turf and other plant replacement can far exceed the cost of watering during stressful periods. With the hotter, windy weather and the clay soil, it does not take long for the lawn to become dry. During this time of year, maintain watering once every 3 – 4 days. Don’t let a light rain be the substitute for a good heavy watering. You should still be watering 1 – 1 ½ hours per area and the best time to water is early morning. If you are watering 15 – 20 minutes per area, odds are your lawn doesn’t look very good except in shade areas. That should tell you something. These watering suggestions are based on average temperatures. If we have extreme high temperatures, watering needs to be done even more often. High temperatures and humidity can pull ½ to 1 inch of moisture out of your lawn each day.

Mowing
At this time of year, you should still be mowing at a 3” cutting height. And again, never cut midday! Cutting too short and during the midday heat could force the lawn into stress and possible browning. The best time to mow your lawn is early evening. If your lawn is not getting sufficient water, it is not growing. So if your grass is really dry, don’t mow it until it has been watered and is growing again.

Disease Activity
With the hot and humid conditions of summer, comes disease activity. Dollar Spot and Summer Patch are the two most common diseases in bluegrass lawns. Dollar Spot appears as a small brown spot about the size of a half dollar and usually in a cluster of several spots. Summer Patch starts as a large dark green ring and then turns to a brown outer ring with a green center (sometimes called a frog-eyed look). Summer Patch can leave a scar in the lawn that may have to be spot seeded. Dollar Spot however, will usually grow out of the lawn itself. To minimize disease activity, proper mowing and watering must be followed especially during these summer months. If you are noticing disease activity in your lawn, try to avoid night watering and bag your clippings when you mow the lawn.

Grub Preventive
There is little time left in these summer months to apply a Grub Preventive application. This application needs to be applied before the end of July so that the application has time to set in the lawn before the grubs become active. Grubs usually start feeding around the end of August or early September.