Grass slows down its growth in the heat as a sort of self defense. If you look at other lawns in your area, you'll probably see the same thing.

You need to apply something with some nitrogen like 16-6-8 or around that number or some organic fertilizer. You should fertilize around every 6 to 8 weeks unless you use a slow release fertilizer.

Here is a link that might be useful: do_it_your_self_site

You should apply some Milorganite, or other organic fertilizer. Milorganite is available at Lowes, or a garden center near you.

This goes against much of what you will read here, but you might also consider more frequent and lighter waterings in the heat of summer, just to cool it off and keep it up during those hard times.

AFAICT, the typical watering advice (one inch/week all at once) is designed to grow deeper roots. But roots aren't growing much in the heat of the summer (or even at all), so I think (just a guess) that more frequent and shallow waterings during summer will do nothing to discourage root growth, since that is already discouraged for other reasons.

And at the same time, quenching the grass now and then may help it to stay active during summer heat stress.

Just thinking out loud really, but based on two ideas: one, roots should be encouraged to grow deeply, but they grow most in fall and, to a lesser extent, spring, but not in summer, so there is little point in encouraging them to grow more deeply in summer, when they just won't. Two, I have spent some time on some nice golf courses, and those turf managers, who are not fools, are watering all the time during the summer, and their grass is always green.

Just my non-professional observations.

Paul

Paulinct, right on!!

"the typical watering advice (one inch/week all at once) is designed to grow deeper roots. But roots aren't growing much in the heat of the summer (or even at all), so I think (just a guess) that more frequent and shallow waterings during summer will do nothing to discourage root growth, since that is already discouraged for other reasons."

This needs to be added to the "watering lawns during the summer" thread.

Very good writing. That's exactly how I water my lawn during the summer months.

As far as the grass stops growing during July, it's got to be lack of rain and fertilizer.

I'm down in Central NC, zone 7B, and I'm mowing my KBG lawn twice per week, still. In the spring was 3 times per week. I do fertilize during the summer in order to keep the grass green and healthy.

I hope this helps.

Paul, I think there has been some recent research to support what you're suggesting. Roots on most grasses tend to pull back a little during the summer and more frequent lighter watering may be better during those times (probably the case all growing season in a climate like Utah has).

I'm not sure if using golf courses as a guide is a good idea, though. Golf courses are very high maintenance. They probably mow daily, fertilize far more than you'd want and water constantly.

I've got neighbors who water every day, also (rain or shine). Their lawns are greener than mine, but I don't believe that they're as healthy.

If the irrigation gets shut off before October, their lawns go dormant in a couple of days. My lawn doesn't go dormant for at least a week (if at all). As a clarification, I'm comparing apples to apples and saying that the KBG in my lawn can weather a much longer period without water than my neighbors' KBG. So far, I haven't seen the native grasses go dormant.

For those recommending fertilizer, as long as the fertilizer is an organic fertilizer (or a slow release synthetic, really), you won't do any damage.

But in my opinion, having the grass slow its growth in the summer is a good thing. If I fertilize, it will grow more, which means it will need more water. And more mowing. I actually like the fact that I've recently been able to mow every other week instead of every week. I hate mowing when the highs are 95-105.

I like the fact that my lawn grows more slowly when it's hot and dry.

I always thought it was 1" once a week in the fall and spring and 1.5" at least 2 waterings per week during the summer with some occasional mistings to keep the grass cool on really hot days.

Thanks Auteck!

BP, on letting the grass go dormant, just an aside, for those battling Poa, I have recently read that letting the grass go dormant makes it more likely that the Poa will actually die over the summer all on its own.

Bergen, I'm no expert of course, but the way I am thinking about it the misting sounds good but I'm not sure the 1.5" in summer would actually be used by the plants - if it is KBG I think a lot of that water would just end up past the root zone.

Cool season grasses tend to have two growth spurts during the year. One during the spring and then another shorter one in the fall. During the summer months the grass will slow down its growth considerably. Your lawn, just like you, has to eat so proper fertilization is key. Your lawn needs to be fed four times a year with a fertilizer matched to the season. I prefer a fertilizer that provides a mix of quick and slow release nutrients. You should fertilize in early spring after the 2nd or 3rd mowing. Feed again just before the heat of the summer season. For me in the pacific northwest that comes in late June. For you it might be earlier. Feed again in the fall after the days start falling below 80 degrees consistently and cool weather is on the way. Feed one more time with a winterize after the last mowing. This is the most important feeding of the year so donÂt skip it. This is the feeding the allows the plants to store lots of energy in their roots for the first burst of growth in the spring. Aerate and top dress in the fall and water deep and infrequently. Resist the temptation to "give your lawn a quick drink" Not only is this a waste of water, but your lawn really only suffers for it rather than benefits. Everything else you have been doing sounds about right but I would also recommend you have a soil test done to make sure the PH is right. The last thing you want to do is take someoneÂs advice and start dumping lawn products on your grass without knowing what your grass really needs. Grass likes a slightly acidic soil PH and will use fertilizer and nutrients from the soil much better. Get a soil test done to determine where your soil is and only then can you apply the correct amendments to bring it closer to balance.

The counterside of the shallow frequent watering advice is the promotion of weeds. For those who have a thick and aggressive lawn of KBG then shallow watering to cool the turf may be the right thing to do. For most mixed lawns of TTTF and Rye that is probably the wrong thing to do. IMHO, the OP is fertilizing wrong. I don't understand starter fertilizer for a mature lawn at all. Without a soil test a specific balance of NPK would not be possible. What you want to do in your May feeding is apply 1 pound of slow release Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft without adding so much phosphrous and potassium. It generally is not recommended to fertilize in the heat of summer, but often an organic grain can be of value to keep the green.

Thankyou very much to everybody for your opinions, I really apreciate it, they were excelent and opend my mind to consider new factors than before I didn't. I see a soil test and the apropiated fertilizing for each month of the year could be the key to a better lawn.

I posted this in answer to a different question, on a different forum, but the concept is the same. Hope it helps you out.

You have a lumber-yard lawn, and you can fix it with Milorganite, and with Jerry Baker's Sweet Mix (he calls it Green Up mix) Spray. It's a fairly common problem, and is easily fixed.

Over at the lumber yard, there's a crew of guys who work there, in the yard. They're supposed to unload boxcars of lumber, and get it into stacks, and move the stacks around the yard. They work their butts off at 7am, through about 830, when the owner leaves, at which point the crew knows it's 'all clear' and they sit on their butts the rest of the day, and do zip, nada. At about 4, the boss comes back, and these guys jump into action, look very very busy, and hustle until 5, when it's quitting time, and they're outta there. Happens every day at that lumber yard. If the boss ever showed up at noon, everybody would have a heart attack, but the boss never does, and these guys do squat during the day.

Your lawn is the same. Your lawn jumps into action, a lot of biological, chemical, and fungal and little-lawn-critter activity, in the spring, because you gave them some fertilizer, some food. As that gets used up, the lawn critters, and the soil, and and the so-called 'active' zone, the first half inch above the dirt, goes to sleep, and does not very darn much, all through the summer. Then come the fall, you provide some fertilizer, some food, and they get active again, until winter, when they knock off for the year.

You need to get your lawn active during the middle portion of the season, by adding Milorganite, a very mild organic fertilizer, and you can still get an application down now, in June. I don't add any in July, although one could, as Milorganite won't burn the lawn. But I add Milorganite in June, and middle of August. I recommend middle of August for you as well, drifting toward Labor Day, assuming you put your big 'boomba' load of fertilizer on that lawn in October. That will get some nitrogen down, and a lot of organic material, and your active zone will become active again. One of the principal benefits is, that active zone will eat up, rot (I'm sorry, I meant to say 'naturally decompose' ) that thatch layer, and your little lawn critters, the bacteria, fungus, and all the rest, will munch and munch, and multiply, and generally do what little lawn critters down in the 'active zone' do best. And your lawn will love you for it.

In addition, I spray a modified 'Jerry Baker' mix on my lawn at least twice a year. I call it the Sweet Mix, he calls it his Green UP tonic, but here goes: (my quantities are twice as big, as I have an acre in the front, and an acre in the back.)

Into a 5 gal paint bucket (avail at HD or Lowes, for a buck) add:

2 cans of beer (the cheap stuff)
2 liters of cheap soda pop (not diet. you want the sugar. And strawberry and grape have the most sugar)
2 gallons household ammonia
2 16 oz personal size bottles of Gatorade, the sports drink.
1/2 cup of cheap pink liquid dish soap (find one that does NOT say 'anti bacterial).

Mix it all up, and put it in your hose end sprayer and spray everything, lawn, flowers, shrubs, at 4oz to the gallon. Spray it to the point of runoff, and then move on. I have one of those suburb-sized tow-behind boom sprayers with a 20 gal tank. But I've also used the drag-the-hose with a hose-end sprayer method, and still do that with the flowerbeds up near the house.

The beer has enzymes, which is how it got to become beer: those enzymes are still active, and they break down thatch. The sugar helps too. The soda pop is just sugar. The little lawn critters love sugar, they eat it. This also helps break down thatch and other organic material. The ammonia is just liquid nitrogen, a little shot. The gatorade adds trace nutrients, that athletes, and lawns, need in very small amounts, like zinc, etc. Read the label for details of the trace nutrients. The dish soap just makes everything work better together, and breaks down surface tension on the leaves, and it helps everything get started, unless you're a chemist: in that case, the soap is a 'surfactant'.

That will get things really cooking, really activated in your lawn's active zone, and from the sound of it, your lawn could use a little boost or two in the middle of the year.

Let us know how it turns out.