Summer can be really tough on your lawn. Grass in summer must stand up to numerous hardships including intense heat, drought, and an increase in disease and pest activity.
If you’re worried about grass dying from heat, drought, or other summer stressors, you’ll want to read about how you can take control and prevent some of these issues.
In this article, we’ll share some of our best advice about summer grass care. Often, spotting problems early on can prevent the situation from getting serious.
Early Warning Signs of a Struggling Lawn
Main Causes of Lawn Stress in Summer
How to Revive Grass After Drought
Choosing Lawn Care Services in Cincinnati, Dayton, OH and Northern Kentucky
Some of the early signs that your lawn might be struggling this summer include discoloration (typically yellowing or browning), wilting of the grass blades, and footprints left behind in the lawn.
Often, these are signs of a drought stressed lawn (or sometimes a heat stressed lawn). But as we’ve mentioned, lawns can also struggle with disease and pest problems, too. It’s not uncommon for these problems to compound upon one another.
The increase in heat and the decrease in rainfall is generally what’s hard on grass in the summer. Heat stress and drought stress typically go hand-in-hand, though they are separate conditions.
Drought stress has to do with a lack of water while a heat stressed lawn is typically suffering from BOTH a lack of water and the intense heat.
A heat or drought stressed lawn might have some of the following symptoms:
Discoloration (often early drought stress appears gray/blue)
Grass blades wilting or footprints left behind
Hardening or cracked soil
Grass struggling to grow
You must be watering your lawn in the summer to make up for the lack of rain.
In regard to watering a mature lawn, Oasis Turf & Tree’s recommendation is deep and infrequent watering. Homeowners should put down around a half-inch of water, per zone, twice a week.
While heat and drought stress are two main causes of summer lawn stress, as we’ve mentioned, pest and disease activity also ramps up during the summer. And when lawns are already stressed, they can be more prone to problems.
We have found that homeowners sometimes assume their lawn is struggling from drought when in fact, it’s a problem with chinch bugs or maybe lawn grubs. This is a key reason why it’s important to partner with a lawn care professional who can help protect your lawn from these pests and also help you identify what problems might be going on.
The good news is that lawns often do bounce back from drought stress. We recommend deep and repeated watering to help revive grass after drought.
Of course, if your lawn experienced severe damage from drought stress, it’s possible that you’ll be left with bare spots. Aeration and overseeding can help fill in those bare spots and thicken up your lawn.
It should also be mentioned that it’s always better (and easier) to prevent a lawn from becoming drought stressed than to help it recover. If you recognize that your lawn isn’t getting enough water, start supplementing!
Too often, homeowners wait until their lawn looks bad to take action. But the earlier that you start watering, the better off you’ll be. Because keeping up with watering can be challenging, some homeowners do choose to invest in an irrigation system. Any steps that you can take to keep your lawn properly watered will go a long way.
We also want to mention that proper mowing is particularly important during the summer months when the lawn is already stressed. Mowing infrequently and cutting too much grass at a time can really take a toll on the lawn. We advise cutting no more than a third of the grass blade at one time. It’s also critically important to mow with a sharp blade as a dull blade can rip the grass (as opposed to making a clean cut). This can put more stress on the grass.
At the end of the day, figuring out summer grass care can be complicated. In fact, figuring out lawn care during any season can be a lot. That’s why we recommend partnering with a lawn care pro.
Getting on a regular lawn care program will remove a lot of the guesswork for you. And a good lawn care professional will also help make recommendations in regard to the services you’re doing yourself (like watering the lawn).
At Oasis Turf & Tree, it is our goal to set our clients up for success, no matter what the season. We know that summer is tough on lawns, but we are here to help.
With our comprehensive lawn care program, our customers also have peace of mind knowing that every potential concern is being addressed and long-term problems are being prevented. Though it may be an investment at the onset, it also leads to savings in the long run and therefore provides a tremendous amount of value.
Want to learn more about professional lawn care services for your Cincinnati, Dayton, Ohio, or Northern Kentucky home? Request your quote, choose the lawn care program that’s right for you, and then sit back and relax as the pros help you get the lawn of your dreams!