5 Things You Should be doing for Summer Lawn Survival

Times can get a little hectic in the summer. Lots of things on your mind with summer vacations, holidays and kids out of school. Don't forget about the hard work you put into the lawn this spring, so here are 5 reminders to ensure your lawn's summer survival.

1. Summer weed pressure. Now is the time those ugly summer weeds will move into the lawn. Walk around your lawn and identify your weeds to determine your mode of control. Dandelions, clover, maple and elm sprouts along with other broadleaf weeds can be controlled with spot spraying using Speedzone or a granular application of Loveland Weed and Feed. If your lawn has a mix of broadleaf weeds and crabgrass, Uncle’s Q-bomb will control both weed types in one simple spray solution. Summer time is also the season for nutgrass invasions. Typically showing up in areas with poor drainage, nutgrass or yellow nutsedge can be a little more difficult to control. Uncle’s Nut Buster will control nutgrass. Nutgrass is a little slower to react while Nut Buster is being absorbed deep into the nutlets. Nutgrass tops will start to yellow and fade in 7-10 days.

2. Summer lawn food. If it’s been more than a month since you fed the lawn, it may be time to give it a little summer boost. Uncle's Green Love  the ideal summer lawn fertilizer. Slow release formula containing iron, will not burn plants, and will green up your lawn fast and not make it grow six inches a week. Providing iron will keep grass deep dark green for a long time. Green Love contains organically complex iron and won't discolor concrete.

3. Summer Critter Gitters. Summer is for more family time on the patio and in the yard. Control chiggers, ticks, fleas and ants using liquid Cyanora around the lawn and spraying up onto the house will help to control a broad spectrum of biting insects. If you have butterfly gardens nearby, use granular Critter Gitter on the lawn and water it in. This will help to prevent any overspray into the flower bed because not all bugs are bad. 

July is also the time to apply Long Lasting Grub Control into the lawn. Absorbed by the roots of the grass plant, Long Lasting Grub Control will protect your lawn from damaging white grubs during their hatch this fall. Mama and Papa June bug are making babies now and soon those eggs will hatch into hungry baby grubs. Baby grubs are voracious and feed on yummy grass roots.

4. Summer Turf Fungus. Frequent night time rains and high humidity this summer create ideal situations for brown patch and other turf diseases. Early application of Fungus Fighter is your best defense against disease, but sometimes it gets missed and you will need a curative application. Fungus Fighter will not turn a brown lawn green, but it will keep the disease in check, preventing it from spreading. Remember, you will need to reapply Fungus Fighter about every 21-28 days to maintain control. 

5. Shade Grass. In those established lawns with heavy shade, summer months are the time to deep water those areas. Big trees will use up much-needed water from your soil, leaving less water for your grass. Re-seeding shaded areas with additional Premium Shade Mix will help fight weed pressure.

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Kansas City is in Horticultural Drought

Agricultural droughts that impact the 3.4 billion-dollar Kansas wheat harvest will gain national media coverage globally, but when we have a drought that effects our lawns and landscapes, it can frequently be overlooked until we realize it is impacting our own homes. Right now, in Kansas City, we are on the verge of seeing damage to lawns and recently planted landscapes that have not occurred in decades according to Jerry Moore of the Grass Pad in Olathe Kansas. “I went into this business 40 plus years ago and had never seen lawns this brown in May”. “Grass looks like it normally does in August and it is still May.” According to the latest data from Eric Luebehusen, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture most of Kansas continues to be in moderate to severe drought with extreme drought in southwest Kansas.

When grass turns brown like this, it allows sunlight to get to the soil and dry it out even faster. The sun will cause our weed preventers to fail, and crabgrass and foxtail will appear earlier this year than usual. When lawns have crabgrass and foxtail epidemics that last more than the typical month of August the desirable grasses are crowded out, and the fall frost will leave the yard bare and susceptible to soil erosion over the winter.

Trees and shrubs planted in the last 3 to 5 years are at risk as well. According to the Morton Arboretum during times of drought like this, the young roots of trees and shrubs are killed outright. The soil becomes hard and compact in the top 1 to 2 feet where the roots live. Plants like trees, shrubs, groundcovers and especially evergreens without adequate watering will suffer much. Massive plant loss is likely if it does not begin to rain. Add these conditions to the increased planting Kansas City has seen recently with the current Real Estate boom these losses will add up to millions of dollars in damage and loss.

People should be diligent about watering their lawns and landscapes. The soil should be saturated at least 12 inches deep. Trees that have been planted in the last five years will not have developed a root system extensive enough to withstand a drought that could go on for six months or more.

Insects, as well as weeds, thrive in these conditions. Ants, fleas, and ticks love dry conditions and will reproduce unharmed by typical spring rainstorms that have missed us. Pets and people should be monitored closely as last weeks warm weather will trigger the hatch cycles of most all pests.