The June heat wave has certainly caused some cool season turf problems in our area this year. Dr. Mike Goatley, Turfgrass Extension Specialist/Professor, Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, has produced a very informative (if not a little lengthy) article directed specifically to home owners. It is available for download HERE. (To those of you reading this as an email alert, you may need to visit the blog for the download.)
There is a lot of information contained in the article, but the bottom line is, in most cases, when your cool season turf (tall fescue) is struggling in the summer heat, it is often best to do nothing. It may sound counter productive but your turf can go dormant and bounce right back once cooler temperatures arrive. Any action taken while dormant or under stress can actually do more harm than good.
He also spends some time discussing watering practices. I haven't seen your lawn but if it is anywhere near this golf course your turf probably does not need any additional irrigation - we have had plenty of rain lately. As a matter of fact, we received 6.75" of rain in June, well above the 3.14" average over the previous 5 years.
It might also interest you to know, thanks to all of the rain, your irrigation system has, in large part, sat idle for the last 30 days or so. We have used about 1.5 million gallons this month. That may sound like a lot but in reality it is only equivalent to roughly 3 irrigation cycles. The truth is, we did not even run the system because the turf was dry, it was used to syringe (cool) the plant during hot afternoons in short burst and to water in various control products. As a comparison, our previous 5 year average water use for June is 6.4 million gallons.
Your golf course is doing fine. The hot and wet conditions are certainly not ideal but your golf course turf is healthy and will survive another hot and sticky mid-Atlantic summer...hopefully, this article will offer some tips on how your home lawn can do the same.
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