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It’s getting hot and dry in many areas, which can be brutal on your lawn and landscape. Now is the time of the season where we really need your help to provide adequate irrigation, if Mother Nature does not cooperate.

Water Deep, but Not Every Day.

Most turfgrass will need about 1.5”- 2” of moisture per week in order to perform their best. Warm-season grasses such as Bermudagrass love hot weather, as long as there is adequate soil moisture available. Cool-season grasses, such as Fescue and Bluegrass, can go semi-dormant in some areas with hot temperatures and inadequate soil moisture. Another problem is that during July and August, not only is the turf absorbing and using great amounts of water in order to grow and cool off, but the hot sun is drying out the soil moisture also. Turf roots can grow deep though, so one key is to water deeply so that the soil will be moist 6”- 8” below the surface. This “trains” the roots to grow deep, and be able to absorb that deep soil moisture.

We find that many homeowners with sprinkler systems actually can hurt their turf’s ability to withstand summer stress by watering every day. This keeps the top inch or two of soil so moist that the turf roots just concentrate right at the surface. Roots are a lot like people—they’ll only go where they need to! So by daily watering, you are actually training your root system to be shallow, making it become addicted to daily watering.

So go ahead and allow the top surface of your soil to dry out a little between waterings. It’ll be OK! A little stress will help your root system to grow deeper. Then when you do water, water well, supplying up to an inch of water so that the deeper soil layers become moist. If you have a clay soil or one that has a hard time absorbing water well, you’ll need to water in increments so that the water will not run off. I’d suggest going through your sprinkler cycle twice, allowing some time for the water to be absorbed in-between cycles.

If we receive rainfall during the week, then obviously you can cut back on your irrigation. A general rule-of-thumb is about 1.5” to 2” per week, either from rainfall or irrigation. So if we have no rain, as often is the case during summer and early fall, you’ll need to water 2-3 times per week, as long as you water long enough to put out 1/2 to 1" of water each time you irrigate.

End Your Irrigation at Sunrise.

The best time to water is early in the morning, before the sun comes up. This will allow the water to penetrate into the soil, while allowing the morning sun to dry out the grass so that it won’t stay damp too long. Watering too much in the evening can lead to turf disease, such as Brown Patch, Rust, and Pythium. Hopefully your paper delivery guy will use a plastic bag for your morning newspaper though, because it’s really hard to read a wet newspaper!

We are currently applying a balanced, granular fertilizer to our lawns.  The fertilizer needs to be watered into the soil with about 1⁄2” of moisture if no rainfall occurs within 4 days.  We also treat any existing broadleaf weeds with broadleaf herbicide, along with grassy weeds and Nutgrass with other types of weed-control products.  If existing weeds were treated, irrigation needs to be delayed at least 2 hours or more in order for the products to be fully absorbed by the weeds.

Aerate Your Warm-Season Turf!

Early summer is a great time to aerate warm-season turf. Core aeration is one of the most important cultural practices available for your lawn. Contact your local LawnAmerica Operator to schedule this important optional service. To read more about aeration for your lawn, click here.

If you are tired of mowing your lawn too often, Primo is a turfgrass growth regulator that does a great job of slowing down the growth of the grass by about 50% over a 5-6 week period. Call or contact your local LawnAmerica office for more information.

Azaleas need to be fertilized sometime before mid-summer. Our Azalea fertilization service not only provides proper feeding of your Azaleas, but we also add a booster treatment of granular Merit insecticide to cut back on Lacebug problems. Contact or e-mail our office for more information.

Yellow Nutsedge or Nutgrass is a troublesome weed in turf during summer. It is a tall, thin grassy-looking weed, which is actually a sedge. No pre-emergent will stop it from germinating, so it needs to be sprayed as it comes up. It is best to treat 4-5 days after mowing, while it is sticking up taller than the bermudagrass. If you have just mowed and we come out to treat, Nutgrass is very hard to even see, and there is not as much weed surface for the liquid herbicide to adhere to. We therefore need to you call us several days after mowing if you have a nutgrass problem, and we’ll try to time our visit to your lawn about 4-5 days after your mowing to provide a service call. If we can spray the nutgrass when it’s sticking up nice and tall, our control will be much better.

Warm, humid weather of early summer can bring about fungus diseases not only on your lawn, but on certain ornamentals also. Photenia is one common shrub that is succeptable to Leaf Spot. This disease is very common, and can render your plants very unsightly and even lead to death in severe cases.

With LawnAmerica tree & shrub service, we can apply 2-3 consistent treatments of fungicide, insecticide, along with foliar fertilizer to help prevent damage from this and other disease and insect problems. Your ornamentals will look and perform better with these services, especially when coupled with late fall deep-root feeding.

For more information, go to www.LawnAmerica.com/treeandshrub, or contact your local LawnAmerica office.