Have Drought Conditions Killed Off Your Lawn?
The first few years we lived in our new home, which we have now been in 10+ years, I alternated between a lawn service company an doing it myself without really looking into doing it right. The reason I probably went back and forth was the lawn care services would drive me crazy with just about nightly calls about all the other things that I should be doing for my lawn, which quite frankly would have put me in the poorhouse. I don’t what got to me first, the fact that they just couldn’t understand I just wanted the monthly lawn care package, or the fact that the results I got from paying them for lawn care really weren’t all that much better than I had achieved myself those alternating years, so I set out to learn as much as I could about basic lawn care, and have handled my lawn care myself for the last 4 years with pretty good results if I do say so myself. Since this year we are experiencing minor drought conditions, which has prompted me to do research I haven’t had to do yet, it was “back to the web” for me to see how to handle this situation I had not experienced as of yet to this degree.
Time and again, I have simply “googled” my lawn care questions, and a number of helpful responses have always turned up, and answers to this particular issue were no exception, as the help that was at www.scotts.com proved.
It seems as though every time we go without rain for a period of time, and the grass begins to “brown up”, someone invariably says, “oh the grass isn’t dead, its just dormant”, but is that necessarily true? Normally I would have given it a second thought, as I would not even consider watering my lawn for two reasons, it is too darn big (double lot big) and I can’t wrap my mind around making the water company more money just to have green grass. However, this summer here in Northeast Ohio has been an exception as growing concerns over the lack of precipitation has produced very visible signs that lawns may be more than just dormant, and what to do about it if your lawn has not reached the point of no return.
First of all, a brown, dry, straw-like lawn obviously isn’t doing well, but according to what I have compiled it should make it through this dormant phase, which it goes into to protect or preserve itself. However, grass without water will go through several phases which could lead to it not being able to be brought back, so here is how those phases play out.
A lawn will first turn a darker green that almost looks “sick”, then the blades that have wilted will not spring back into an upright position after being walked upon. As a lawn dries out, the tips of the blades are the first to begin “browning”, and then when the lawn goes completely dormant the blades are completely brown, but the crown right under the surface of the ground remains alive. This crown can be checked by removing a clump of grass and slicing the crown through. If the crown is white and pliable, it is still alive, but if it is dried out, the lawn most likely has died. Simply put, grass dies when the crown, the part where blade meet root, dries out completely.
Unfortunately there isn’t one set of rules to nurse your lawn through drought-like conditions as soil content, varying heat and humidity and even shade conditions all play into the steps needed to keep your lawn vibrant, but grass needs about a full inch of water per week to stay what is considered “lush” green during hot summertime weather. It can “survive” though, on as little as a 1/2 inch every three to four weeks if necessary. A word of caution again though about soil composition. Sensitive grasses in drier soil, typically sandier in makeup can die off in as little as 2-3 weeks whereas heartier grasses in heartier soils can last as long as 6 weeks.
So, can you “save” your lawn? Yes, and you can do so without drenching or drowning it. Your goal should be to simply keep the crown alive and this can achieved with just 1/2 inch of water that will bring back even completely brown blades to lush green health when help from Mother Nature arrives.
Just by simply searching “dormant lawns” I got a variety of information to work with, so what I have complied here is everything that was consistent, but remember it is very important to fully understand the soil conditions and grass type for your particular lawn to make sure you take the right steps necessary to nurse it through dry,or even drought conditions. As for me, I will most likely “roll the dice” and gamble that Mother Nature will bail me out within that 5-6 week period and restore the green to my lawn without me having run a sprinkler, or two or three.
