Tips to Keep Your Turf Healthy All Summer Long

Tips to Keep Your Turf Healthy All Summer Long Summer is an especially daunting time for homeowners. The hot sun can bear harmful to most lawns during the months of July and August.

From weed and insect infestation, to the lack of rain and excessive heat, the task of maintaining a beautiful, green lawn can be troublesome.

Many people don’t even bother keeping up with their lawns in the summer and use it as a time to relax from the normal works of mowing and watering their grass. Others simply cover their lawns with plants, stones, and water displays to keep the tasks of lawn upkeep to a minimum.

A good defense against lawn pests is the best defense and following are tips for a good defense for your lawn. The best way to keep pests off your lawn and weeds from growing is to maintain a thick, luscious lawn.

The Water Debate Many homeowners ask themselves whether they should water their lawns or not during the summer. Due to excessive heat in the summer, it is nearly impossible to prevent your lawn from going brown no matter how much you water it. It is perfectly natural for grass to go dry during this time and it should perk up around late summer. The grass may be appearing to be dead, but it is simply resting.

Watering your lawn is unnecessary. The grass in your lawn turns brown simply as a mechanism during the summer to adapt to the change in climate. Many homeowners make the mistake of spending tons of money to replace what they believe is permanent damage to their lawn.

In fact, watering you lawn excessively can damage your grass. In lawns that have excessive water, diseases come easier. Roots become less effective when watered too much and soils become compact and growth in your lawn may become stunted.

It is ultimately up to you to decide whether or not to water your grass during the summer but just remember that water conservation is extremely important especially in urban areas.

Mow “No-Mow” Here are some tips to help conserve water.

It is a tough task for many homeowners to maintain a lawn that reaches four inches in height. Many want a shorter, trim look to their lawns. But, lawn height maintenance of four inches is better for your lawn’s health in more ways than one.

Grass height and root depth are proportional to each other so the longer your grass is, the deeper the roots are. If the roots are deeper, your lawn will be thankful in times of drought because the roots will be able to reach a level for it to be sufficient itself.

Lawns that are cut too short expose the soil to the sun much more than grasses that are at higher heights, which make the loss of water greater. Longer grass shades the soil, making the soil dense for a longer period of time.

Applying fertilizers during times of drought is not recommended.

An inch of water to your lawn a week is efficient to maintain moisture.

Get Rid of Lawn Weeds Many gardeners and homeowners find it tempting to simply kill weeds with herbicides and other chemicals, but it is not a healthy product to your lawn or the environment.

Most plants, flowers, and vegetables are vulnerable to weeds in the lawn. Due to this, weed killers and herbicides should be used sparsely, and in appropriate seasons. Also, be sure to follow directions to these chemicals very closely.

Summer is an especially unbefitting time to use herbicides due to the moisture in the air.

Even a simple mist spray can cause damage to other plants on your lawn.

In the summer, the best way to combat weeds is to pluck them by hand or selectively apply weed killers to that area. If it is absolutely necessary that use herbicides, the best time to use these is during the spring and fall.

Knowing what type of weed is growing in your lawn and in what location is essential to combating these nuisances. Getting weeds before they sprout are vital to keep them from coming back.

Broadleaf weeds like dandelions, plantain, and clovers can best be spot treated or pulled by hand.

Although clovers are weeds, they are seemingly different than most. Clovers are known for adding nitrogen to the soil and it helps your lawn rather than harms it. You might want to consider keeping clovers on your grass.

Crabgrass and Quack grass: The Bad Grass Quack grass and crabgrass are two of the most despised weeds of all lawn owners.

Summer is not the ideal time to treat these weeds, but it can still be done.

The best way to treat crabgrass is to attack it before it even sprouts, during early spring.

There are applications to combat crabgrass after it sprouts, but it should not be used during dry spells or droughts. It is best to have this procedure done by a professional lawn care company.

To treat quack grass, a Roundup application works best or any other similar “kill-all� herbicide.