Watering Heat Stressed Lawns

Lawn Alert

July 2018

Lot’s of folks have been asking if they should continue to water their brown lawns. This is what Uncle recommends.

If your lawn is looking great: You have been watering routinely, continue your normal watering cycles, and you get a gold star for staying ahead of the game. Don’t change a thing.

If your lawn is brown and toasty: You’ve been away on vacation or just couldn't find the time or money to keep ahead of the watering, it is okay to allow your lawn to go dormant in this heat. Dormancy is a good thing, that’s Mother Nature’s way of helping the grass plant to survive. An established yard can survive drought periods for a few weeks, but high heat and wind can really mess things up.

We would encourage you to water 1 to 2 inches every other week to keep the roots alive. We’re not trying to green it up, just helping the roots and crowns to survive the summer furnace blast. Water in the morning hours to help reduce evaporation. If you need to mow, mow high and try to keep foot traffic to a minimum.

Save yourself $500 water bills this month and next. You can use half of it for seed this fall and send the other half to the Royals relief fund.

First Week in March: What You Should Be Doing In Your Lawn

It's been a dry winter and lawns are toasty brown. Grass blades have been frozen by winter temperatures and burned by winter sun. These old dried blades do not recover. In time they will be replaced by fresh green growth sprouting from the crowns and root system of the existing grass plant.

Every Spring Mother Nature gives plant life a chance to start over. The winter season has been a long time out. It's the first weekend in March and now there is a chance to begin anew. Gardener’s and home owners can't make Spring come one day sooner, but they can be prepared for an early start.

Uncle's Early Spring tips: 

1. First, mow the lawn short: Lower your mower deck one or two notches. Being careful not to scalp your lawn. Pick up the grass clippings and remove any winter trash. This low mow will cut off the brown winter grass blades and open up the soil to the warm spring sunlight. 
2. Second, give the lawn a booster shot of spring fertilizer. Golf Course Starter or Loveland Renovator formula will start the rejuvenation process four weeks early and help lawns thicken and fill in ahead of summer weeds and hot weather. 
3. Third, over seed any bare spots larger than a salad plate with fresh clean lawn seed and top dress with PrimeraFC top dressing or sphagnum peat. Avoid seed blends that contain coarse bladed annual rye grass or ugly field fescue; and do not use top soil to top dress weed free Grass Pad grass seed. Top soil will contain coarse weed and sedge seed. 
4. Fourth, water when you are able. Winter has had below average moisture. Surface conditions are extremely dry for turf. Water deep once or twice per week till normal spring rains arrive.

See Related: Tips on Spring Over Seeding

Spring thawing and frost heaves open up cracks in the soil that let in air and moisture. These cracks make March an ideal time to apply seed, fertilizer, lawn calcium and lime. Shady areas have been hit hard this winter and are ideal for mixes like Macho Mix or Estate Mix, If you have a house or rental property that needs a make over in the front yard look for a sports field rye blend like Stadium Special. This is real first aid for distressed real estate or a play area where kids and dogs have torn up the play field. Both fescue and bluegrass lawns may be over seeded now. But don't fiddle; new grass plants need an early start to be ready for hot weather.

Uncle's Rant: My Irish Uncle taught me a thing or two about thrift. He said keep your money in the mattress and always buy grass seed by the pound. READ THE LABEL! some seed bags are now only half full with grass seed, the rest is magic dust from the Leprechauns and Fairies. Uncle says this is like pouring water in the whiskey jug and calling it “Jack Daniels.” Homeowners should read the analysis label and only pay for the real grass seed. Recommended coverage is often so much blarney. Mother Nature puts the magic in the grass seed, the inert matter is just expensive dust.

See Related: When to apply PREVENT for crabgrass.

Mow or Let it Go? Six Tips on Mowing During the Rainy Season

The cool spring season with plenty of rain and Uncle's Idiot Proof Program have Blue Wave bluegrass and Heat Wave fescue lawns growing like crazy. It's easy to fall behind on mowing schedules when it's raining every day. When the grass is wet and the soil is saturated, should you mow or just let it go? 

1. Be Patient

Excess water in the soil essentially pushes oxygen out of the soil. Without oxygen plant growth will stop until oxygen can be replaced. Be patient with an extremely soggy lawn and give the wettest areas a little time to drain and grass blades time to dry before mowing. Use your best judgement, you know the spots that hold water and those that drain well. A sunny south or west facing yard may need only one good afternoon to dry out and an east or north protected area may take a few days. 
Wet soil is easily compacted. Mowing or even walking over saturated soil can cause compaction problems making it difficult for grass to grow.

2. Use a Sharp Blade

When it does dry out enough to mow, we cannot stress how important it is to use a sharp blade on your mower. Sharp mower blades make mowing so much easier. They give a better-looking finish cut and cause less stress on the grass plant.

Keep two and swap them out every 8 to 10 hours.

3. Don't Cut More Than 1/3

If you fall behind on mowing and the grass gets too tall, on your initial cut, raise the mower deck two notches, then wait a few days and cut it again at one notch lower. Wait a few more days, then cut at your original setting. Removing too much leaf can stress the plant and turn it yellow.

Once you're back to a regular schedule, set your height and leave it. Cutting at 3.5 - 4 inches will shade the soil keeping the roots cool in summer and help fight weed pressure.

4. Don't Leave Heavy Clippings

We all prefer to mulch mow. Mulch mowing is easier and beneficial, but at certain times bagging your grass clippings is a necessity. Cutting an overgrown lawn is one of those times. Heavy clippings left over the top will smother and yellow the grass plant. If you don't have a bagging mower, then do it the old fashion way and rake up the clippings.

5. Clean the Mower

Cleaning is a must if you want to keep Mama happy. Store a wet mower in the garage without cleaning the deck and in two days your garage will smell like a compost pile. Eventually, you will need to clean the deck, and it's a lot easier to clean before the grass mulch dries into a brick. Take the mower to an out of the way spot in the lawn, tilt it back and wash it out with the garden hose. Some of the new models have a hose attachment on the mower deck for clean out. Remember to remove the heavy clippings from the lawn to avoid smothering your grass.

Avoid washing it out on the driveway to keep grass clippings out of the storm drains.

6. PREVENT!  Booster Shot

Excessive rainfall will break down the weed barrier created by PREVENT! Step #1, leading to crabgrass breakthrough by fall. A second application of PREVENT!, crabgrass pre-emergence plus fertilizer, extends crabgrass control through the summer and gives a booster shot of nitrogen that has been leached from the soil by heavy rainfall.

Five Tips on How to Treat Your Summer Lawn During High Heat

Cool season grasses, like bluegrass and fescue grasses may soon go dormant as a result of recent high heat. Here are five tips on how to treat your lawn during high heat and summertime stress.

1. Minimize wear and traffic. Mowing stressed turf can cause damage to turf. Mow when the turf needs it -- not as a scheduled routine practice.
2. Mow higher than normal. Taller grass plants provide protection to the crown and shade the soil surface, reducing moisture loss.
3. Keep your mower blade sharp. A dull blade rips and pulls the grass blades, leaving ragged tears that both weaken the plant and promote fungal growth and other grass diseases. Blades should be sharpened at least twice a year.
4. Keep grass clippings on the lawn, rather than bagging them.
5. Water your lawn deeply – rather than frequently – to promote healthier roots. This helps lawns be more drought-resistant.

Spring Lawn Tune Up

March is the time to start your lawn's engine so that it is ready to give you a smooth ride all season long. Just like your car, a good Spring Lawn Tune Up will give your lawn top performance and keep grass problems to a minimum as the season goes along. In your lawn, your good turf grasses are in a race with the weeds and insects that will sprout and hatch in the next eight weeks.

Feed it! In hot weather weeds and bugs can simply run rings around your lawn's desirable cool-season grasses. It is important to get your lawn started now so your good grasses have a head start on the competition. Feeding the lawn in early March with Loveland's Renovator or Golf Course Starter formula fertilizer will encourage your lawn grasses to grow healthy tops and roots. Roots, tillers and rhizomes spread and thicken your lawn turf. Vigorous roots and rhizomes help fill in bare spots to give the lawn a more uniform appearance and prepares the grass plant to receive sunlight that will in turn also promote root growth.

In the spring established lawns can look uneven and clumpy. Different grass types, different soil types, variation in moisture, sunlight, pet traffic, all contribute to an uneven appearance that is the lawn hangover from winter stress. An early spring lawn fertilizer will give grass plants the extra boost they need to green up and all start growing at once.

Feeding your lawn early has an obvious aesthetic benefit as the green lawn will frame springtime’s flowering trees and shrubs. It also has the practical benefit of crowding out bare spots and mud patches before weeds can sprout. Weeds and bugs need heat and sunlight. As the grass grows and thickens, bare spots disappear and soil temperatures are dramatically reduced by the shade and insulation provided by the thick green grass carpet.

Seed it! Those lawn areas where bare spots or turf damage are larger than a silver dollar will need to be over-seeded in order to fill in before summer. Start early to get a jump on summer weed competition. Fine leafed bluegrass lawns may be overseeded with special attention to bare spots. Choose newer bluegrass strains that are adapted to the Kansas City areas and do better in hot weather. Some of these include Corsair, Rock Star, Gibraltar and our elite blend Blue Wave. In most cases, these bluegrasses will outperform fescues ten months out of the year. Hybrid bluegrass mixes such as Estate Mix containing perennial sports rye will germinate much more quickly in cold soils and will be well established by summer.  Topdressing seeded bare spots with PrimeraFC seed dressing or sphagnum peat will speed germination. 

Related: March is the Perfect Time to Help Your Lawn

In Kansas City, fescue lawns are becoming more popular. But turf type tall fescue does best in warm weather. As such turf fescue lawns can be sluggish and slow to start in cold spring soils. If overseeding fescue lawns in the spring avoid coarse bladed pasture varieties such as K-31. New hybrid fescue varieties include Cochise 4, Falcon 4 and Bullseye as well as a number of popular mixes and blends such as Heat Wave and Macho Mix. Containing 5% perennial sports turf rye, Macho Mix seeded in early March sprouts one to two weeks sooner than fescue held until warm weather before sowing.

Related: Turf-Type Tall Fescue vs Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue

Weed it! Controlling broadleaf weeds in cold spring weather can be a real headache. Weeds that will curl up and die in two days when the temperature is eighty degrees will seem unaffected at fifty degrees. Winter weeds such as henbit, oxalis and even small dandelions can be seen on the lawn and are hard to kill in cold weather. Speedzone, a liquid broadleaf weed control, will kill springtime broadleaf weeds at lower temperatures than ever before.

Related: Best Control for Broadleaf Weeds in Cool Weather

The most important weed control application for the spring is Loveland's PREVENT!, a pre-emergent for crabgrass, foxtail and other ugly annual grassy weeds. PREVENT! will give best results when applied in two applications, once in Mid-April and again June first. PREVENT! will damage new grass seed so do not apply them to new seeding until the new grass has matured and mowed two times.

Related: Spring Seeding and Preventing Crabgrass

The Muck Stops Here!

Brown mud muck? At the Grass Pad, we receive plenty of phone calls and emails on lawns turned to brown mush. Dogs and kids running over waterlogged backyards and play areas turning lawns into a muddy mess.  If you have the mud muck in your backyard this fix comes from major league grounds keepers. Use PrimeraFC field conditioner a natural calcine clay that can absorb water.

PrimeraFC, field conditioner works great for drying up muddy areas around the patio or along dog run. PrimeraFC is beneficial for the soil, pet friendly and 100% weed free.

Uncle's tip:  For early germination in cool spring soils, over seed those same areas with Estate Mix, Macho Mix or Stadium Special.

The Green Green Grass of Home

There seems to be something in human nature that attracts us to green grass. Ancient hunter-gatherers were attracted to abundant game on the vast grassy prairies, and the early herdsmen searched out the greenest valleys for their livestock.  Even the 23rd Psalm associates a sense of peace, protection and prosperity with lying down in green pastures.  While most of us no longer hunt or farm, other than for recreation, we are still instinctually drawn to green grass as it cools our environment, filters out pollution, and feels good between our toes.

Keeping a thick, healthy lawn is a great way to have a safer, natural surface for dogs and kids to play on, as well as reducing weeds and increasing curb appeal.  Understanding the basics of when, and how, grass grows, repairs and repopulates itself is critical to keeping your lawn healthy.  If we can mimic nature, we can use the grasses’ natural characteristics to maintain the lawn we desire more easily. 

Most Kansas City area grasses naturally reproduce through seed production.  If left uncut, grass plants come out of winter dormancy, using the rainy spring weather, and stored up energy, to quickly push up a seed head.  After this seed head matures in mid-summer, the seeds are then battered by late summer thunderstorms, knocking them to the ground, where they sprout in the warm moist soil.  The young plants focus on growing deep roots and storing up nutrients to help get through the winter, and to be strong enough to survive the heat that will be coming the next summer. Since we mow our lawns, the seeding cycle is interrupted, and we don’t get the advantage of young, vigorous plants, or the genetic diversity of cross-pollination.  That’s why we encourage planting HeatWave™ turf-type fescue blend, or BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend, in the late summer and early fall.  Grasses are genetically predisposed to sprout and establish quickly because of the warm soil, and by supplementing the fall rains. Frequent irrigation cycles and adding Loveland Renovator turf fertilizer your new grass will establish faster now, than any other time of the year. 

Some grasses also spread with runners called rhizomes.  These runners are sent out by the parent plant when it senses a bare spot nearby.  BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend has these runners and will create the prettiest lawn in Kansas City. The varieties selected for BlueWave™ have a deep blue-green color, and fine texture, which make it very desirable for those seeking a distinctively luxurious lawn. Do not dismiss bluegrass as being too ‘delicate’ in the heat of the summer. Decades of plant breeding and selection  have created varieties that are more vigorous, heat and drought tolerant, disease resistant and visually appealing.   Because of its spreading capability, and the fact that there are about 2 million seeds in every pound (10 times more than a pound of fescue), BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend is one of the most economical grasses to grow in our area. 

In areas that expect a lot of traffic, like sports fields, and lawns with dogs and kids, we like to mix the BlueWave™ with sports turf ryegrass, creating Estate Mix™.  This mix gives you all the benefits of the runners in BlueWave™, and adds the quick starting, dark green, and fine texture of the same sports turf ryegrasses that are used to repair golf course fairways and athletic fields.

See Related: Uncle's Best - Top Rated Grass Seed

Come on down to the Grass Pad, and ask Uncle about upgrading your lawn with BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend along with his Fall Renovator Program.  It’s not too late! Yesterday was better than today, but today is better than tomorrow!

Turf Type Tall Fescue vs. Kentucky Tall Fescue

What is a “Tall Fescue”? Tall fescue is a cool season grass widely used as pasture grass. One of the oldest varieties of tall fescue was found in 1931 on a farm in Kentucky where it had been grown for 50 years. Fast growing and drought tolerant Kentucky tall fescue performs well as a forage grass however; coarse blades and heavy clumping will result in a very poor quality turf lawn.

What is a “Turf-Type” tall fescue? In the 1970’s, tall fescues were being developed specifically for turf grasses.  Advances in breeding science lead to improved "turf-type" tall fescues retaining good color during winter months providing a year-round green lawn. These new turf-type tall fescues had finer leaf texture, greener in color, superior disease resistance and denser habit than the old pasture type Kentucky tall fescue.

130 years ago Kentucky tall fescue was state of the art, as was the Bell Telephone. Today we have over 80 years of genetic research and technology to advance the tall fescues into a whole new next generation. Improved turf-type tall fescues of today are the Smart Phones of grass seed, state of the art and continuing to upgrade. Todays improved turf-type fescues are so much more advanced for performance, why not use state of the art grass seed in your lawn?

Get a return on your investment. Uncle taught us, “You always get what you pay for.” The lower cost and the ready supply of Kentucky tall fescue can coax unaware homeowners to use it in their lawns. Expect a higher price per pound for turf-type tall fescues over Kentucky tall fescue, and you can also expect a return on your investment far greater than the difference of a few pennies. Improved turf-type fescues will be slower growing that mean less mowing. The dense growth habit means fewer weeds. Darker color means less fertilizer to keep that deep green. Improved disease resistance mean less fungicides. Drought tolerance means a lower water bill. Less mowing, less fertilizer, less weeds, less fungicides, less water; that's a pretty good return.

Grass Pad is all about grass. The Mid-West’s largest distributor of turf-type fescues, bluegrass and perennial sports turf rye is right in your own back yard. If you need to buy an electric drill, don't go to the Grass Pad, but if you need high performance grass seed then come on down to the Grass Pad. Taking pride in their grass seed and proud in their service, the knowledgeable staff at every Grass Pad can help you with all your lawn questions. Every Grass Pad seed variety is University tested for performance and laboratory tested for purity. If you need one pound or 10,000 lbs come to the Grass Pad. Discover the newest and best performing grass seed available for the mid-west. If you have a lawn service maintaining your yard, tell them to use only Grass Pad seed and don’t be afraid to ask to see the seed tag from the bag and NEVER let them use Kentucky tall fescue in your lawn.

Buyers Beware 
Grassy weeds will be hiding in Kentucky tall fescue. Much of the Kentucky tall fescue today is grown in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. These are all areas where perennial orchard grass is widespread. Orchardgrass is even more coarse bladed and faster growing than Kentucky tall fescue. Unfortunately, orchard grass is not considered a “weed” and can be listed under “other seed” on the seed inspection tag required by law on all lawn seed bags. Even the smallest of percentage of “weeds” or “other seed” can turn your lawn into a weedy pasture. Always read the seed analysis tag. If you don’t know how to read the tag, ask a salesperson and if they don’t know how to read it, you’re not at the Grass Pad, so leave quickly!