Drought or Death? That is the question

 Not quite dead, but certainly not looking alive can describe much of the turf found in drought stricken areas.  Recent rains have rejuvenated lawns leaving large brown areas without much green poking through.  When making plans for reseeding or over-seeding this fall it is a good idea to assess the overall condition of the turf.  The key piece of information needed is just how much of the lawn is dead or in extremely poor shape.

Before declaring the turf as "brown and out" get down and dirty and look at the crowns of the individual grass plants.  In some cases, the upper portions of the turf may be dead but the crowns may still be viable.  Pull up a few plants and tease apart the crowns at the base.  Healthy but dormant tissue will be white and succulent; new green growth may be present.  Dead crowns will be brown, straw-like or punky throughout.

 Now and over the next few weeks will be the best time to re-seed your damaged lawn. Slit seeding a more drought resistant grass or insect resistant cultivar would be a good option. Some lawns have poor soil and others are just not watered enough to survive what mother nature threw at us this year. Rains have returned to revitalize what has survived as well as a bumper crop of weeds. Be patient as we are still in summer and Labor Day can still bring 90+ temperatures as well as lond hot days to dry the lawns up again. 

  

 Chinch bugs can devastate a home lawn ....damage looks just like dormancy and most likely will need a insecticide treatment to rid the turf of these pests. This is one of northern Ohio's  worst lawn damaging insects. Turf damage will not come back as they kill grass that is fed upon . Re-seeding is the only way to thicken the lawn back up. There are resistant turf types that can be used if a reacurring problem is happening. Call our office for more details.....