Water

In the absence of good measurable rain, water 3 times per week. We recommend deep watering, which can vary from at least 45 minutes to an hour per session depending on your irrigation system and water pressure. Remember the best time of day to water is in the early morning, so the turf has plenty of moisture to withstand the coming heat of the day. Try to be finished with watering by 8:00 in the morning.

If it’s not growing, skip the mowing!

This is especially true for Fescue lawns, which need to be a little tall this time of year, and will only require mowing once every 10 – 14 days. The added length helps to provide shade for the root system of the grass, keeping soil temperatures cooler and preventing moisture from evaporating as quickly. It’s perfectly fine to still edge, weed eat any high areas, and clean off debris from your turf. If your lawn does need to be mowed, make sure to do it as early in the day as possible. If you can’t mow in the morning, then mowing right before the sun goes down is the next best option.

Fertilize!

This is where we come in. Our applications of fertilizer this time of year are designed to help the turf withstand the extreme heat and drought stress. Please know that we need to be very cautious with weed controls with these high temperatures. Applying weed controls to an already stressed lawn can make things worse, and our technicians will always err on the side of caution, because right now, the health of your turf is more important than small weed populations. This means you might see some summer weeds popping up, just know that we will be there to tackle them once the weather cools off again.

Last but not least, we need to be patient.

The heat won’t last forever, and fall aeration and seeding for Fescue lawns is right around the corner. We all know Fescue is easily repaired in the fall every year, and summer turf like Bermuda, Zoysia and St. Augustine are hardy and will recover with our summer fertilizers. These next several weeks are going to be difficult, as it’s hard to combat mother nature in these extremes. Even if you water in the morning, if it’s 95 degrees by noon, your lawn can still show signs of heat stress. Please know that this will pass, and we’ll be there to help your turf recover.