For Release May 21, 2006

Getting You Lawn Ready For Summer

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

When it comes to turf grasses and lawns, Kansas sort of exists in the twilight zone. We're really too far south to be in the prime cool season grass (bluegrass, tall fescue, etc.) region, and too far north for the prime warm season grass (zoysia, Bermudagrass, etc.) region.

For most homeowners, the preferred option is to go ahead and grow one of the cool season grasses and most of the time that will be tall fescue. Tall fescue prefers the cooler weather like we had earlier this month and that we typically have in the spring and fall. Given it's normal tendency, tall fescue will go dormant when it gets hot and dry. This summer dormancy is not really a problem, as long as the homeowner just leaves the turf alone and understands that it will green back up when it cools of and/or rains.

However, a lot of homeowners don't want a brown lawn in the summer. So we trick the fescue into staying green by keeping it well watered. But just pouring the water to it alone isn't necessarily the best thing you can do. To make sure that your lawn is operating at top operating efficiency it takes a combination of management practices.

First off we need to make sure that we are giving the grass plant enough leaf area to work with. Fescue orients its leaf blades pretty much up and down. So we need to make sure that we maximize leaf area by mowing it tall, taller than about any other lawn grass. My preferred mowing height is 3½ inches and under no circumstances should you mow it less than three inches tall. There is a direct correlation between mowing height and rooting depth. To get deep rooting you need a tall mowing height.

Mowing taller also shade the soil surface helping to keep it cooler thereby minimizing evaporation. Remember, tall fescue is a bunch grass. We just plant it thick enough so that all the bunches are growing right next to each other giving the impression of a thick turf. But there will always be little gaps between bunches. These little gaps will result in spots of bare soil IF the grass is mowed too short. Bare soil ultimately leads to more weed problems.

Secondly we have watering management. Over half of the lawns in our area that have sprinkler systems are not being used correctly, in my opinion. Let's get back to the roots for a minute. Roots are going to grow best where there is water. Our soils have a fair amount of clay in them so water tends to soak in slowly, but the soil can hold a lot of water. If you water for a few minutes every day, you never really soak up the root zone in the soil. You thereby encourage your grass to have a very shallow rooting system. However, if you water deeply once or twice a week, the water soaks in deeper, the grass grows deeper roots to utilize the water that is down there and you have a lawn that is going to be more drought and heat resistant. Water less often, but longer so you soak up more of the root zone.

When you water during the day can make a difference also. The longer that a lawn stays wet, the greater the chance for a disease like brown patch to get started. Watering in the late afternoon or evening not only creates a better disease environment, it also wastes a lot more water because temperatures and wind speeds are higher then, and evaporation losses are higher. Water between midnight and 9 a.m. when lawns are normally wet from dew anyway and temperatures and wind speeds are lower. Lawns can be kept looking green all summer lawn if you wish, but you have to manage them correctly!

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