# Summer stress?



## Sphero43 (Jul 23, 2020)

The weather in MA has been all over the place the last month and my lawn has taken a turn in the last few days. We had 4" rain 3 weeks ago followed by a couple 90 degree days; then another 4" rain 2 weeks ago; then some days of muggy heat with some rain here and there. Do you think this looks like summer stress or too much rain? Thinking ahead to next month I'm debating if I just nitrogen blitz or overseed again as it has always been a little thin. Thoughts?


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## GreenMountainLawn (Jul 23, 2019)

Might want to get a few close up shots and post those. Check leaf blades as well.

The weather in New England has been insane in July, nonstop rain and humidity.


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## TheThirstyTurtle (May 3, 2019)

Sphero43 said:


> The weather in MA has been all over the place the last month and my lawn has taken a turn in the last few days. We had 4" rain 3 weeks ago followed by a couple 90 degree days; then another 4" rain 2 weeks ago; then some days of muggy heat with some rain here and there. Do you think this looks like summer stress or too much rain? Thinking ahead to next month I'm debating if I just nitrogen blitz or overseed again as it has always been a little thin. Thoughts?


Could.be both given how much heat and rain you've had recently, similar to a lot of other parts of the country.

I was slightly skeptical at first, but I've had really good results with Yard Mastery Summer Stress blend (7-0-20). I think the extra potassium is especially important now given the crazy weather. If you haven't put down something high in K, you may want to give consideration to Summer Stress or a product similar to it.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

From Dr. Micah woods blog:

https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/potassium-may-impart-negative-effect-drought-resistance/



> One might have expected potassium application, or increasing the amount of potassium applied in relation to nitrogen, to have some positive effect on at least some of these parameters. You might be surprised then, at what actually happened.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

g-man said:


> From Dr. Micah woods blog:
> 
> https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/potassium-may-impart-negative-effect-drought-resistance/
> 
> ...


Interesting read but the test was on warm season grass. Same effect on cool season grass? I'm thinking yes


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I think (speculation), it might be worst with cool season grasses. Warm season ones can handle salts a bit better than cool.

I think that we should avoid anything that causes stress to the roots during the summer heat/drought.


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## Stoked33 (Apr 23, 2021)

Interesting read on K. But were cultivators deficient in K to begin with?


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

TheThirstyTurtle said:


> Sphero43 said:
> 
> 
> > The weather in MA has been all over the place the last month and my lawn has taken a turn in the last few days. We had 4" rain 3 weeks ago followed by a couple 90 degree days; then another 4" rain 2 weeks ago; then some days of muggy heat with some rain here and there. Do you think this looks like summer stress or too much rain? Thinking ahead to next month I'm debating if I just nitrogen blitz or overseed again as it has always been a little thin. Thoughts?
> ...


I 2nd the YM Summer Stress blend as well and I'm in MA. Threw it down mid June right before the hot humid wet weather and my turf has held up nicely. Thing that bothers me is that YM only sells 15k sqft bags and I have 20k sqft of lawn. What I end up doing is buying a cheap bag of Vigoro Lawn Food with the same app rate for 5k sqft and mix the two using my power drill mixer haha. My big problem that resulted from the excess moisture was red thread fungus.


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## BurtMacklinFBI (Jul 17, 2021)

I got no advice but just wanna let you guys know I'm in Southern NH and this weather is taking its toll. What a summer we've had :x :x :x


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

I think it's more of a fungus issue you are having but hard to tell without a close up picture. From the picture I would plan on a de thatch and over seed this late summer


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

TheThirstyTurtle said:


> I was slightly skeptical at first, but I've had really good results with Yard Mastery Summer Stress blend (7-0-20).





Rolling Hills said:


> I 2nd the YM Summer Stress blend as well and I'm in MA.


@TheThirstyTurtle @Rolling Hills If I may ask, just honestly curious. What makes you decide to buy products at higher cost compared to cheaper products with similar active ingredients (AI)?



Sphero43 said:


> The weather in MA has been all over the place the last month and my lawn has taken a turn in the last few days. We had 4" rain 3 weeks ago followed by a couple 90 degree days; then another 4" rain 2 weeks ago; then some days of muggy heat with some rain here and there. Do you think this looks like summer stress or too much rain? Thinking ahead to next month I'm debating if I just nitrogen blitz or overseed again as it has always been a little thin. Thoughts?


4" of rain itself is not going to damage the lawn as long as it properly drains or seeps into the soil and there is enough sunlight to allow air in the soil.

However, moisture on the leaf blades during humid nights can introduce diseases. From the pics it looks like a combination of heat stress, disease, and foot traffic. Avoid walking or mowing the lawn during heat stress if possible. Sometimes it's hard to tell them apart since they both result in yellowing of the leaves. I personally have a hard time identifying diseases.@GreenMountainLawn, mentioned taking closer pics of the leaf blades, look for lesions, dark spots, or partial yellowing.

In regards to overseeding or nitrogen blitz, it depends on the type of grass you have. Does most of your grass spread? Are the spots that are yellow dormant or diseased. Are the crowns damaged or healthy. How much weed are there?


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

Lawn Whisperer said:


> TheThirstyTurtle said:
> 
> 
> > I was slightly skeptical at first, but I've had really good results with Yard Mastery Summer Stress blend (7-0-20).
> ...


I'm not aware of any product like there's tbh with the added iron, micro nutrients, and slow release organic ferts built in. Looking at a box store the closest equivalent is Scott's Summerguard and that's actually more expensive. Not seeing any Lesco or Vigoro products that line up either. I ditched Milo mainly because of the surge in price.

I'm open to suggestions on cheaper alternatives to their products.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You guys made me curious around what is in this Stress Blend product and what makes it so great. I skip all the marketing paragraph and I go straight to the ingredients list from the label.



> DERIVED FROM: Polymer Coated Urea, Biosolids, Muriate of Potash, Sulphate of Potash Magnesia, Manganese Oxide, Copper Oxide, Iron Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Sodium Borate, Sodium Molybdate.


Coated urea plus some biosolids. The amount of biosolid has to be extremely low since the P is 0, otherwise there would be at least 1 (eg. think of milo 5-4-0). Since the total N is 7% relative to the K, I would consider this N negligible for this application.

Muriate of Potash - this is the cheapest form of K and it is heavy in salts. It is the default in most fertilizers. SOP would be better.

Micros: Main one that matters is iron, but it is in the oxide form. That's just not available in most soils.



> The highest percentage source, Iron oxide (rust), is nearly completely unavailable for plant uptake above pH 6.0. Ironically, while it is more available below pH 6.0, iron deficiencies rarely occur below this pH because the existing iron in the soil is more soluble in acid soils.


 - Harrells  Irony in iron

The other micros have a similar fate in oxide forms and/or their percent is so insignificant that I think the legally dont even have to list it in the label (0.0005%?). Most soils are not deficient in these and the research on sufficiency values in turf is not conclusive. PACE does not even list them in the MLSN values.

The blog post I posted above tries to explain that doing a 1:3 N to K ratio fertilizer seems to be detrimental, but if you still want to do it, something like this Lesco  5-0-20 10% iron might a better choice. It has a lot more iron and it is in the sucrate form. You can likely find other stuff to use with a 1:1 or a 2:1 ratio.


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

@g-man Does keeping the 1.1 ratio N.K only apply if your soil has enough K? Otherwise how do you increase you K levels....
For instance my soil test recommends 6LBs/m K to get in optimal range and 4LBs N.
Also my understanding is the more N you use, the more K as well so you will never increase your levels with 1.1 ratio....I guess I just answered my question lol


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

g-man said:


> You guys made me curious around what is in this Stress Blend product and what makes it so great. I skip all the marketing paragraph and I go straight to the ingredients list from the label.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You just schooled me in a good way here. I admittedly never really waded too far into the weeds (pun fully intended) at the scientific details of fertilizer components. But my eyes are open and I'm eager to learn more. Any blogs you recommend that walk you through each month of the growing season and recommend specific fertilizer coctails to deal with that climate and any potential issues you're facing? At the end of the day, the Yard Mastery product worked as intended as far as I can tell. But I can't discount that the extremely rainy July did some heavy lifting there too.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

JDgreen18 said:


> @g-man Does keeping the 1.1 ratio N.K only apply if your soil has enough K? Otherwise how do you increase you K levels....
> For instance my soil test recommends 6LBs/m K to get in optimal range and 4LBs N.
> Also my understanding is the more N you use, the more K as well so you will never increase your levels with 1.1 ratio....I guess I just answered my question lol


The wise @g-man and I are chatting about this on my journal as it just came up. Sticking to 1lb K per K via SOP monthly to get my levels up. I'm probably putting down 0.5 - 0.75lbs N per month which means I should be increasing my "savings account balance" on my K levels long term. Assuming the plant uptake is 1:1 on N and K.

I guess the opened ended question becomes how much K do you get down during the fall N blitz to keep that balance of K growing closer to optimum levels?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

It just takes time to move the needle. Just don't just rush. I focus on K during the spring and avoid it in the fall (some risks to snow mold).

Remember, if you are not deficient, there is no need to worry.

Lastly, with any new product you try, keep a control plot (not treated or treated with your normal approach). It is easy to get in confirmation bias.


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

JerseyGreens said:


> JDgreen18 said:
> 
> 
> > @g-man Does keeping the 1.1 ratio N.K only apply if your soil has enough K? Otherwise how do you increase you K levels....
> ...


I have been doing a similar approach using SOP and other fertilizers...


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

JDgreen18 said:


> JerseyGreens said:
> 
> 
> > JDgreen18 said:
> ...


Interesting...was it a waypoint test?

I guess the question becomes how does one really get K into optimum then without putting down a lot more SOP...which could be detrimental.


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

@JerseyGreens yes waypoint I posted it on my journal...and this was my question exactly. Maybe by doing larger apps in the spring when drought stress is not an issue would be better. Then keep 1.1 ratio in summer and little to none in the fall.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

JDgreen18 said:


> @JerseyGreens yes waypoint I posted it on my journal...and this was my question exactly. Maybe by doing larger apps in the spring when drought stress is not an issue would be better. Then keep 1.1 ratio in summer and little to none in the fall.


I think that's probably the right approach. The other issue is the prill size on the SOP I have is insanely massive....need to find something else!

I love how we highjacked a summer stress thread into a K conversation but the two issues align well.


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

JerseyGreens said:


> JDgreen18 said:
> 
> 
> > @JerseyGreens yes waypoint I posted it on my journal...and this was my question exactly. Maybe by doing larger apps in the spring when drought stress is not an issue would be better. Then keep 1.1 ratio in summer and little to none in the fall.
> ...


I got mine at siteone the prill size is very small


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

JDgreen18 said:


> JerseyGreens said:
> 
> 
> > JDgreen18 said:
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Thanks for the recommendation. I'm trying to finish off my bag of Southern Ag. Will get the next batch from SO.


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

I think that I will skip my August 1st app of SOP and drop it in September or October based on this feedback. I've already got my 4 out of 5 apps down this year so giving the grass a less stressful August should not be an issue.

My SOP is also very large and irregular. The spreader sounds like I am throwing gravel!


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

As we're discussing through this post. I got an e-mail from YM regarding a featured creator, fellow TLF member.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cn0cSmPbOKk

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy_jsYP4cfk&t=131s

Disclaimer: I neither agree or disagree with the video above.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

Lawn Whisperer said:


> As we're discussing through this post. I got an e-mail from YM regarding a featured creator, fellow TLF member.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't think anyone is saying it's not beneficial but for the money there are lots of better alternatives for fert apps in the summertime.


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

Rolling Hills said:


> Lawn Whisperer said:
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> 
> > TheThirstyTurtle said:
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I was under the impression that it was more on the 20% potassium and that you compared it to a cheap bag of vigoro with similar AI.

I fully understand as I've also been looking around for other types of fertilizers. There are a few I found locally (not organic), although I didn't purchase them.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

g-man said:


> You guys made me curious around what is in this Stress Blend product and what makes it so great. I skip all the marketing paragraph and I go straight to the ingredients list from the label.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Excellent info thanks


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