June 2012 Handling Turf Stress

WATER, WATER, WATER…the theme for the Summer!

We are experiencing a drought that doesn’t appear to be ending for some time. We caught in a pattern that supposed to hold for 8-10 weeks. The low humidity and relatively cool night time temperatures are the only things weather wise that have helped cool season lawns. If we had been getting 80% humidity at night along with 80 degree temperatures, we would be having Brown Patch disease like crazy. We still do have some disease pressure, but nothing like what we could be having. If are not feeling like all you are doing is watering…you probably are not watering enough. If you are not complaining about your water bill…you are not watering enough. Between the wind, day time temperatures and lack of rain, we are in a drought. Two inch rains that fall in 45 minutes, barely help at all. Keep watering religiously until we get a 6 to 8 hour rain fall that delivers about a 1” of water!

Follow these steps for the next couple of weeks:

Cool Season Lawns:

*Continue to mow at 3 ½ inches MINIMUM! You should only be mowing about every 8-12 days by now? Sharpen the blade after 8-10 hours of mowing too!

*Fertilize with 100% organic fertilizers or don’t fertilize at all (10#/1000 ft. sq of Milorganite ® is what I suggest).

*Spot spray weeds very early in the morning to avoid burning the good grass. READ THE LABEL!

*Apply fungicides as the label recommends. Usually every 25-28 days. Remember, they are like antibiotics…they control from inside of the plant, not in the ground!

*Apply Merit for grubs right now. Be sure to water in any granule application

*Water at lest 4-5 days a week. I’m watering my athletic fields right now 3 days in a row, one day off to mow and watering 3 days in a row again. I still have cracks in the ground in some places,b ut it ahsn’t gone totally dormant yet. And that is all I can ask for under these conditions. I’ll back off on days in a row once we get a slow, penetrating rain.

Warm Season Lawn:

*Totally different then our cool season lawns! TOTALLY!

*Mow at 2” MAXIMUM! For best results

*Fertilize with High Nitrogen fertilizers or Organics now and again in 30 days for best results

*Apply both quick killing and long last insecticides. Most zoysia problems are misdiagnosed as fungus, when they are actually insect problems. http://turfpath.missouri.edu/reports/update06_05_12.htm

Click on the above link for the best information possible related zoysia and the insect problems we are having here!

*Continue watering 3-4 days a week for 20-30 minutes

I feel like a broken record sometimes with this advice, but like any good message…we need to hear it even though we think already know it. Happy belated Fathers Day to those Fathers out there. My definition of success has changed over the years, but it currently is: Success is living long enough to see that my children are contributing members of society. That they respect people, have God in their hearts and can sit have dinner with me without texting!

Good luck to all those parents and budding lawn gurus out there! Stay cool!