Healthy Lawns
By Mary Bernard, Master
Gardener
Maintaining the quality of your lawn can be a real challenge during the summer
months. Environmental factors such as
heat, drought, and wind can seriously affect the health and appearance of turf grasses,
especially in inland areas.
Cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass are more
prone to heat and drought stress than the more tolerant warm-season grasses
such as tall fescue and
With proper maintenance techniques and regular irrigation (where restrictions
do not prevent landscape uses) your lawn can still have a healthy, green
appearance during periods of harsh summer weather.
Here are some tips for maintaining optimum turf quality during the summer:
·
Frequent mowing - about once a week during the growing season is
recommended. Grass should be cut often
enough so that not more than one-third of the grass blade is removed. Removing more than this results in 'scalping'
which stresses the turf needlessly.
·
Keep your lawn at the correct mowing height. (Tall fescue - 1.5 to 3 inches, Perennial
ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass - 1.5 to 2.5 inches, Bermuda grass - 0.5 to 1.0
inches). Many experts recommend raising
the cutting height during the summer to reduce stress.
·
Keep the mower blade sharpened to cut grass cleanly. A dull mower blade tears the grass blade,
exposing it to possible disease infection.
* Leaving grass clippings on your lawn recycles nutrients back into the
soil. A mulching mower finely chops the
grass so that it won't smother the turf.
·
Fertilize lightly (apply the low-end amount of recommended rates)
or postpone fertilization until fall.
·
A lawn should be watered when the soil begins to dry out, but
before the grass actually wilts.
·
Irrigate your lawn infrequently, but deeply enough to moisten the
entire root zone. Deep irrigations
encourage grass roots to develop deeper root growth. Do not water established lawns every
day. Light, frequent irrigation
encourages weed seed germination, disease development, shallow rooting, and
overall poor turf health, vigor and quality.
·
Monitor soil moisture and adjust irrigation schedule according to
seasonal need. Use a soil probe to help
determine the moisture in the root zone (the upper six to eight inches of
soil).
·
Water early in the day -
·
Water your lawn separately from trees, shrubs, and ground covers,
if possible. * Avoid runoff and piddling
as much as possible by cycling irrigations.
·
Check your irrigation system regularly and make necessary repairs
and adjustments to ensure that sprinklers operate efficiently without wasteful
runoff.
·
Control weeds. They compete
for water, light, and nutrients.