Summer Lawn Care for the North
Mowing
How often? For bent lawns, mow twice a week or oftener if necessary. For Kentucky bluegrass lawns, once a week.
How close? During July and August, Kentucky bluegrass should be permitted to grow taller (1 1/2″ to 2″ inches) to protect roots from heat and drouth. Bentgrass should be cut at 3/4″ to 1″ inches. Recent cultural operations in sod nurseries indicate that removing grass clippings on front lawns is desirable.
Insects
White grubs, night crawlers: Control—dust the lawn thoroughly with chlordane or arsenate of lead and water. Dieldrin is another effective soil insecticide.
Diseases
We seldom have disease problems in Northern lawns. However, if they occur, use a lawn fungicide you can purchase from a garden store; follow directions accurately.
Weeds
Dandelions and plantain: Easily controlled with 2,4-D lawn weed killers.
Chickweeds and ground ivy (Nepeta hederaceae, a member of the mint family): These are more persistent weeds but can be controlled with chemical lawn weed killers containing 2.4-D.
Repeat applications are usually necessary. Use chemical weed killers cautiously and only as directed. Apply when the wind is calm and protect ornamentals nearby front spray drift.
Crabgrass, the most common and difficult of lawn weeds to eradicate: Try the chemical crabgrass killers, although, with us, results have not always been consistent. Follow label directions.
Summer Feeding
A lawn fertilized in early spring and again in early fall usually does not need fertilizing in summer (July and August) in the North. However, if a nutrient deficiency seems apparent, a light application of nitrogen alone (not more than one lit. per 1,000’ square feet) should correct it.
Watering
Our lawns should get at least one good soaking a week. Use a good lawn sprinkler and leave it in place For an hour or longer so that water penetrates a few inches.
Frequent light sprinklings are ineffective and likely harmful because they tend to keep roots near the surface, vulnerable to high temperatures and harmful effects of moisture deficiencies.
Our Special Problems
For ground covers in heavy shade, we can use lily-of-the- Valley, Dicentra eximia (a bleeding heart), hostas, ferns, Polemoniurn reps, protected areas, and pachysandra.
44659 by Robert A. Phillips
Summer Lawn Care for the East
Mowing
How often? Our rule is to mow whenever one inch of growth needs to be cut off.
How close? A height of 1 1/2″ to 2″ is suggested. I do not advocate removing clippings. If they are long and heavy, scatter them until they dry.
Insects
Nightcrawlers: These are not insects, but they should be controlled. Use 3/2 lb. 50% chlordane to every 1,000 square feet of lawn in a spray. This treatment will take several months to be effective.
Diseases
We have our share of the usual lawn diseases, but they are no great obstacle to a good lawn if the right cultural methods are followed.
Where diseases have been a problem in a lawn, a good remedy would be to apply one of the general turf fungicides (Kromad, Tersan OM, Thimer, for example) at the package recommendation early in the growing season.
Another application at the height of the spring season should ensure a healthy summer turf.
Weeds
Check the lawn weekly for new patches of creeping weeds. They are easy to hand-pull if caught early. For others, such as dandelions, plantain, and carpetweed, use a 2,4-D preparation carefully, according to package directions, as the weeds are actively growing.
Crabgrass—now that it’s nearly too late for pre-emergent killers—must be dealt with by one of the selective herbicides containing phenyl mercury (PMA) or methyl arsenates (DSMA or AMA). Follow the manufacturer’s directions to the letter.
Summer Feeding
Feed the lawn once in early summer and once again in later summer or early fall. Use a complete fertilizer. Don’t feed in midsummer.
Watering
Do not water the lawn more than once a week. Then apply Phenty—at least one inch. Do not indulge in light sprinkling. This wastes time and encourages weeds and diseases.
Our Special Problems
Bare spots in a lawn may be patched quickly with 2″ to 3″ plugs from the better grass areas of the lawn. Set the plugs 2″ apart, water them, and fertilize them.
The plugs will grow when a seed will not, in warm weather. The places where plugs were taken will soon fill in if the removed soil is replenished.
44659 by Victor H. Ries
Summer Lawn Care for the Mid-South
Mowing
How often? Once a week. It may be necessary to do it every five days in hot, rainy weather.
How close? No closer than 2” inches on St. Augustine. About 1″ to 1 1/4″ inches on Bermuda. If you mow every 5 or 7 days, clippings seldom need to be removed.
Remove them only if they are so heavy that they blanket the top of the lawn.
Insects
Chinch bug is an obnoxious pest on St. Augustine lawns.
Control with 1/2 lb of 50% wettable DDT to 20 gallons of water for every 1,000 square feet of lawn. Armyworms sometimes attack Bermuda lawns—control with 5% percent chlordane, 2 1/2 lbs. (dust or granules) per 1,000 square feet.
Diseases
Occasionally our lawns, especially in coastal areas, get the brown patch (Pellicularia filamentosa), causing the grass to die in circles.
Pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) is recommended here as a control; or a turf fungicide such as Terraclor.
Good drainage and proper feeding help prevent diseases in St. Augustine lawns. As a result, Bermuda lawns seldom have disease problems.
Weeds
We have a few weed problems in well-established Bermuda, St. Augustine, or centipede lawns. Sour dock and crabgrass are sometimes nuisances in starting new lawns. Most of us hand weed them and prevent them from seeding.
Chemical herbicides are available, but consult your nurseryman for exact information as to the kinds and methods to prevent possible injury to turf. Some of our lawns, especially St. Augustine, may be injured under certain conditions.
Summer Feeding
Feed three times annually, in February, April, and September. Or when the lawn looks hungry. If it turns yellow, it indicates a nitrogen lack.
Pellet-type fertilizers are safer than finely granulated ones—they do not stick to leaf blacks.
Do not apply dry fertilizer when the grass is wet, but water well after the application has been made. Liquid foliar feeding brings quick results.
Watering
St. Augustine and centipedes need soaking weekly. Bermuda stands better and can be watered twice a month if the weather has been dry. In coastal areas, artificial watering is seldom needed.
Our Special Problems
In heavy shade, try English ivy or Vinca minor. Do not plant ivy where Bermuda can creep in. Edge flower beds often by cutting deeply with edging tools.
Brick, asbestos, sheet metal, or aluminum edgings are all good, but creeping grasses will overtake any of them and need trimming.
44659 by Minnie Hall Brown
Summer Lawn Care for the Heartland
Mowing
How often? The best rule for a bluegrass lawn is to mow when the grass has made 1” inch of new growth since the previous mowing. During hot summer months when growth is retarded, mowing will be less frequent than early in the season.
How close? 3” inches high for bluegrass lawns in our region. Bent, Bermuda, and zoysia are mowed about an inch high. When bluegrass is cut often, and the mower scatters the clippings well, the cuttings may be left on the lawn.
In spring, when growth is lush, and clippings are heavy, it is best to catch the crop or rake it off, especially if young grass seedlings are present that might be smothered or killed by disease, which readily develops under the bunches of cut grass.
On bent, Bermuda, and zoysia lawns, clippings should be removed.
Insects
White grubs, sod webworms, cutworms, and chinch bugs: Control—spray with 2/3 cup of 15% percent dieldrin emulsifiable concentrate in 2 gallons water for every 1,000’ square feet.
For white grubs, water in the material after application. For sod, webworms, cutworms, and chinch bugs leave the insecticide at the surface since these pests feed above ground.
Chiggers: Spray lawn with 1 1/2 lbs—of Kelthane in 100 gallons of water plus one pound of a sticker.
Diseases
Leaf spots and mildew may hit bluegrass and fescues in cool, damp weather. In summer, bent and other grasses may be attacked by melting out, brown patches, and dollar spots.
To control most diseases, spray with 24 oz. of Acti-dione RZ to 100 gallons of water every 30 days from spring. The Rust of Merion bluegrass has been controlled by applying fertilizer.
Weeds
Crabgrass is our worst weed. Spray young crabgrass with Weedon Crabgrass Killer Sodar, two 1/2 tsp. In 4 gallons of water for 1,000’ square feet. Double strength when plants are large.
This also controls foxtail and goosegrass. Make a second application if needed.
Dandelions, plantain, ground ivy: Control with 2,4-D, following label directions.
Chickweed: Spray with Weedon chickweed killer. Nimblewill and quackgrass: Hand weed or spot spray with a non-selective herbicide.
Summer Feeding
Bermuda and zoysia need summer feeding. Bluegrass should be fed generously in fall and lightly in early spring but not in summer here.
Watering
Occasional slow deep watering of bluegrass in summer is greatly beneficial and will enable a lawn to keep its green color throughout summer. Unfortunately, a new lawn may succumb to heat unless kept watered.
44659 by Stanley Mclane
Summer Lawn Care for the Southwest
Mowing
How often? For maximum beauty, once every four days. For average maintenance, once a week. For minimum maintenance, once every ten days.
It’s better to mow often than to let the grass grow tall enough to be discolored after mowing and leave a crop of hay-like clippings.
How close? In early spring, 1″ to 1/4″ inches. Average season-long cutting height, 1 1/2″ to 2″ inches. Avoid scalping—it is disastrous.
Insects
Sod webworms, beetle grubs, army worms: Control—aldrin, chlordane, or dieldrin-4 lbs. per 125 gallons water applied as a spray—treats 16,000 square feet of area.
Lead arsenate can also be used, but it is not as convenient nor as safe.
Nematodes: Control—VC-13 or Nemagon.
Diseases
- Brown patch, dollar spot: Control—treat with Calo-clor, Semesan, or mercury compounds.
- Copper spot, damping off: Control—Cadminate or mercury compounds. Leaf spot: Control—light feeding to promote better growth.
Weeds
We have crabgrass of wide varieties, but especially silver crab.
Use pre-emergent killers such as Pax or granulated 25% chlordane at 6 lbs. per 1,000 square feet before seeds sprout.
We get control for dandelions, chickweed, henbit, and verbena by burning with ammonium sulfate on wet grass early in the season or with selected herbicides of 2.4-D compounds.
Summer Feeding
Use a complete fertilizer (5-10-5 or 6-12-6) at 4 lbs. per 1.000 square feet early in the season; follow at midseason with 2 lbs. per 1,000 square feet of ammonium sulfate.
Or make two applications at 2 lbs. per 1,000 square feet, one in early July, the other in early August. Do not fertilize after August 15—let growth slow down before winter.
Watering
Practice deep soakings, not light sprinklings. But regular watering is essential to maintain contact between surface and subsurface moisture.
Do not rely on rain to take the place of thorough regular soakings.
Aerating at frequent intervals to prevent packing and allow water penetration will keep the lawn in better condition.
Our Special Problems
For edgings, we suggest brick or concrete curbs, metal edgings, or chemical treatments such as Stop-Grow to slow down the rate of growth in hard-to-trim places.
For ground covers in the heavy shade, use English ivy, large or small trailing periwinkle, and ajuga. Prostrate juniper in sunny spots.
44659 by Robert H. Rucker
Summer Lawn Care for the West
Mowing
How often? Once a week or often, depending on fertilization and watering practices and weather conditions. The more frequent the mowing, the better it is for the turf.
How close? For Kentucky bluegrass lawns in our area, a height of 1 1/2″ to 2″ inches is suggested. During hot, dry weather, mow higher. The Merion strain of bluegrass can take closer clipping—as close as 3/4″ inches.
Whether or not to remove clippings is controversial here. The clippings do provide organic matter to the lawn, but a harmful thatch may develop if clippings are never removed.
Insects
Earthworms, night crawlers, and ants: Control—dust the lawn with chlordane or arsenate of lead and water it in thoroughly.
White grubs: Control—Chlordane or dieldrin applied as a spray. Follow container directions.
Diseases
Dollar spot, brown patch:
- Control: Use a fungicide recommended for lawns, such as Acti-dione RZ, at the rate directed on the package.
- Fairy rings: Control with a mercurial fungicide such as Sernesan, used as a soil drench.
- Snow mold: Control with fungicides like Scud, Kromad, or Cadminate.
Weeds
Dandelions, plantain: Control with 2,4-D following label directions. Avoid spray drift to ornamental plants.
Chickweed: Control with lawn herbicides containing 2,4-D combined with 2,4,5-T. Repeat application as needed.
Crabgrass: try any of the several granular or liquid crabgrass killers. It is nearly too late for pre-emergent types. Moss in lawns is controlled by fertilization and aeration.
Summer Feeding
We practice light summer feedings with a quickly available form of nitrogen (ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate), watered in thoroughly.
These may not be necessary if the lawn is fertilized in spring with a slowly available nitrogen such as an organic or urea-form type.
Watering
We recommend thorough waterings at 5- to 10-day intervals, depending on soil texture and the weather.
Our Special Problems
Bad drainage presents serious problems in some parts of our area. Poor drainage results in the build-up of toxic salts in the topsoil, killing out the grass stand.
Another frequent problem is caused by the infertile subsoil used in building new lawns. Only drastic remedies—drainage and soil renovation—can help in these cases.
44659 by Leonard A. Yager