# Summer survival thread



## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

What are you folks doing to ensure your cool season grass makes it through the summer with minimal losses?

This year I will be:

Applying PGR every 2 weeks.

Applying Lesco Moisture Manager monthly.

Applying Headway G at preventive rate.

Cutting at the mower's highest setting.

Watering whenever there's signs of drought stress, as I don't have an irrigation system.

I am considering applying PSCU through summer to maintain turf quality. Any other strategies to help with summer stress?


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

sheesh its 44 degrees here so I'm not even close to thinking about that lol

I should start to condition the soil again that really helped with the water getting to the roots. my big concern is disease and the new lawn.


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

Water and mow at 3.5 or 4 inch.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Budstl said:


> Water and mow at 3.5 or 4 inch.


What's your take on summer watering? Deep and infrequent or frequent doses of smaller amounts of water?


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Last year I did ok doing the following:


PGR (every 3 weeks)

Serenade every 10-14 days *more often if needed

Gradually increased mowing height to 3.5"

Water *when needed

I try to keep it simple. :thumbup:


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

ericgautier said:


> Last year I did ok doing the following:
> 
> 
> PGR (every 3 weeks)
> ...


How did the Serenade do for you?

I did full doses of PGR every 3 weeks as well last year. This year I'm doing half doses every 2 weeks. It seems to work better and I'm getting 30% longer coverage with the same amount of PGR.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> How did the Serenade do for you?
> 
> I did full doses of PGR every 3 weeks as well last year. This year I'm doing half doses every 2 weeks. It seems to work better and I'm getting 30% longer coverage with the same amount of PGR.


I have been using Serenade only for the past 2-3 years in the backyard reno and I like it a lot. I haven't seen any issues. You have to be religious though and spray every 10-14 days. I use about 4oz/k. We'll see how well Serenade does on the front/sides mono this year. I'll report back later to see if I need to add Companion or not.

1/2 doses of PGR every 2 weeks is not a bad idea. Got me thinking... :mrgreen:


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Good to know RE the serenade. I need to start marking it on my journal then. Granted it hasn't been humid yet but I want to get that started now before I have issues!


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

J4c11 i just got irragation installed and the company that did it has the controller set up to water 3 times a week at 20 mins per zone. Sides of house are set differently. Seems like everyone says deep infrequent water is the best. So this year for me I'll play around with the system. I'm in st louis so our summers are usually hot and humid.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Budstl said:


> J4c11 i just got irragation installed and the company that did it has the controller set up to water 3 times a week at 20 mins per zone. Sides of house are set differently. Seems like everyone says deep infrequent water is the best. So this year for me I'll play around with the system. I'm in st louis so our summers are usually hot and humid.


That's a lot of watering, keep an eye out for fungus.


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

Will do. I was thinking that. I might need to get some irragation gauges and see how much is being put out in each zone. I do a final walk through on monday with the guy, so I'll be asking some questions.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

It's about to hit the fan. 92 degrees today on my thermometer, 90 yesterday, no significant precipitation in about a week, no rain in the forecast until Thursday(and they normally get that wrong), and low 90s through next week. Time to drag out the hoses. So far, I'm not noticing any significant difference in drought/heat resistance with KBG, it's taking it just about as well as the fescue did last year. We'll see as summer progresses. The one thing I have with bluegrass that I didn't have with fescue is hope, even if it goes brown I have more confidence that it will either recover or fill in when it cools off.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

How's everyone holding up? We're up for another 5 days in the 90s with no rain in sight. Lawns around me starting to crumble, even crabgrass ones.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

We are having a pretty good summer. Another rain today. Currently at 0.8in since 5am and it is still raining. Last Friday we had 2in.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Well you can tell who waters their lawn and who doesn't. Thankfully we are getting 1-2 inches of free water today!


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## Miller_Low_Life (Apr 12, 2017)

The lawn has held up amazingly this year. This next week will test it though. 5 straight days in the upper 90's. Gave it a good soak this weekend and will reassess next weekend. No rain in the forecast for awhile.


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## socopithy (Jul 12, 2017)

Thought I'd bump this thread up since j4c has been helping me identify my own bit of harsh-summer browning on fescue.

Screwdriver-test tells me my watering is getting nice and deep, but boy does my lawn look awful with all the browning.
I don't know what grass my neighbors have, since it's all Ireland green, but I'm jealous. Makes me want to kill mine and start over.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

socopithy said:


> I don't know what grass my neighbors have, since it's all Ireland green, but I'm jealous. Makes me want to kill mine and start over.


Take a close-up picture of it, we'll tell you.


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## socopithy (Jul 12, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> socopithy said:
> 
> 
> > I don't know what grass my neighbors have, since it's all Ireland green, but I'm jealous. Makes me want to kill mine and start over.
> ...


Here's an example of my backyard grass, which fares MUCH better than my full-sun front yard - along with the neighbor's grass.

Neighbor's grass pictures are of the strip by the sidewalk, but it's in full sun like my front yard.



http://imgur.com/PgZFQ


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Looks like your back yard is a mix of Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass. Both can take the sun/heat very well and are the most widely used cool season grasses.


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## socopithy (Jul 12, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> Looks like your back yard is a mix of Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass. Both can take the sun/heat very well and are the most widely used cool season grasses.


Sounds like I need to reno the front to have the same mix, as the fine fescue is just awful for how sunny it is.

I think it's fate anyway as the front has many sunken holes and generally uneven areas that could benefit from a good flattening that would take place during a reno anyway.

Now to discuss the impending costs with my wife


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^^ your mower has very dull blades as seen in how the leaf blades are torn instead of cut in image 4.


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## socopithy (Jul 12, 2017)

g-man said:


> ^^ your mower has very dull blades as seen in how the leaf blades are torn instead of cut in image 4.


You are absolutely right and I just replaced the blades this weekend because of that.
May I ask though, should I sharpen the replacement blades or should I expect them to have come out of the box ready to go?

I did one mow with the new blades so what you're seeing is one cut with the new blades.


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Maybe it's just me, but I find brand new blades dull. I think it's because they don't want people to cut themselves on them. I sharpen my blades until you can use them to cut tomatoes. If you have rocks and sticks and bumps, you don't want to go quite that far.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

If it's dormant fine fescue, you cannot kill it with glyphosate until it comes out of dormancy and is actively growing. I have no good solution, because by the time it comes out of dormancy, it may be too late to seed something else.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Virginiagal said:


> If it's dormant fine fescue, you cannot kill it with glyphosate until it comes out of dormancy and is actively growing. I have no good solution, because by the time it comes out of dormancy, it may be too late to seed something else.


Why not overseed with tall fescue this fall? If it doesn't take, then perhaps a front yard full renovation in spring? The best of bad options.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Virginiagal said:


> If it's dormant fine fescue, you cannot kill it with glyphosate until it comes out of dormancy and is actively growing. I have no good solution, because by the time it comes out of dormancy, it may be too late to seed something else.


I think that is what happened with my reno last fall. Lots of spots where FF is still there.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Sociopathy, do you know that you have fine fescue in the front? Another possibility for grass that browns out is that it could be poa annua going through its annual death throes. Poa annua presents its own challenges. Did you or someone else plant fine fescue? It's often in sun and shade mixes.


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