Keeping an eye on your Mokena and New Lenox, IL, lawn during the summer heat can be critical to maintaining grass health. These lawn care tips can help you keep your grass green and lush throughout the summer.
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Possible Summer Lawn Problems
As the heat wears on and your lawn is stressed, some problems can crop up. Pests, insects, and diseases can wreak havoc with your lawn if you and your landscape service are not observant. Beetles arrive in mid-summer and can cause the investment in your grass to go down the drain.
Chinch bugs and grubs can show up to cause dead patches in the grass that brings you such delight. They eat the roots of the grass to leave brown patches where the grass no longer thrives.
Mold can bring discolored patches and dead spots that have a pink cast which can indicate pink snow mold. Once these diseases infest your grass, they can be quite difficult to remedy.
Summer Weeds
While your lawn care service applies weed prevention in the early spring, inevitably some weeds survive to grow anyway. Left unattended, the weeds can overtake the lawn to choke out the healthy grass. Have your lawn care specialist apply post-emergent weed killer to remove the growing weeds and give your summer grass a chance to bounce back.
Mowing
Mowing the grass should be a regular weekly task but move the blade up to the highest setting. Keeping the grass length higher can protect those fragile roots and the base of the plant to keep the hottest rays of the sun from burning the growth. Your lawn service should take this into account when mowing your lawn.
Another excellent practice can be to mow the grass in varying directions to encourage even growing. The change of pattern can keep the mower from cutting the grass the same every time.
Fertilizing
The nutrients in fertilizer can be essential to a healthy summer lawn. The heat and lack of rain can take a toll on the grass, causing it to become crispy. Feeding your lawn in mid-summer can give the grass the boost it needs to withstand the final hot days successfully. Be sure to have your lawn service water the grass deeply to keep the fertilizer from burning the grass.
Irrigation
It can be tempting in the hot summer weather to want to water your grass often. This is counterproductive as what brings the most benefit to your lawn can be to water less frequently but deeply.
Your lawn service will know that watering to 2-3 inches beneath the ground in the wee hours of the morning 2-3 times per week can give the grass what it needs to absorb the water. Watering during the day can mean that much of the moisture burns off before it has a chance to sink in.
The lawn service should monitor the irrigation system to ensure it is operating at optimal times of the day for maximum absorption.
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