The dog days of summer have officially begun. And in these hot and humid summer months, it can be a challenge to keep your lawn looking green and healthy. So, we've had our lawn experts put together a few simple tips to help you keep that lawn looking lush all summer long.
For Warm Season Lawns: If you have Bermuda, St. Augustine, Centipede or Zoysia, follow these steps this summer...
- Warm season lawns, with the exception of Bermuda, should be fertilized with St. Augustine Weed and Feed. It will give your lawn the right amount of fertilizer while killing weeds.
- To fertilize Bermuda grass, we recommend Fertilome Classic Lawn Food.
- To control weeds, we recommend Weed Out or Atrazine. This product will take care of weeds without damaging your lawn. For disease control, use F-stop to prevent Zoysia Patch, Brown Patch, Take-All Patch and others.
- Don’t forget that you should also think about insect control during the summer months, too. White Grubs, the offspring of the dreaded Japanese Beetle, can damage lawns during the later part of the summer months. To control them and insects use Bug Blaster or Hi Yield Turf Ranger.
For Fescue Lawns (or cool season lawns): If you have a fescue lawn (or cool season lawn), follow these steps to ensure that your lawns stays happy and healthy this summer...
- The most important factors in keeping you fescue lawn healthy through the summer are mowing and watering. Raise your mower height to 3-4 inches for the summer months. Taller grass helps keep the root system cooler and helps to choke out weeds. Water once or twice a week, slow and deep during the warm months to promote deep and vigorous root growth. Lawns require 1 inch of water per week.
- Second, no matter how much you think you should fertilize your lawn this summer…DON’T.
- Third, to control weeds in your lawn, use Weed Out with Q and Dimension as a pre-emergent. This product will kill hundreds of weeds, including over 200 varieties of broadleaf weeds and grassy weeds.
As the summer continues on, lawn fungus can become a problem in our area. If this is the case in your yard, use F-stop. This is a systemic preventative and curative fungicide. Use F-stop to control Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, Leaf Spot and more.
Nutgrass can also be a bothersome weed in the summer, and the only way to rid your yard of this invasive weed, is to use Hi-Yield Nutsedge Control. But remember to use Spreader Sticker with this and any liquid weed killer to make it stronger and faster acting.