# Drought recovery



## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

We're officially in the midst of a drought here in MA and my hilly south facing section of my lawn is taking a beating. I started supplementary watering to salvage the moment I noticed heat and drought damage a few weeks ago, but I'm struggling to stem the tide and its only gotten worse. I think I reacted too late to this abnormally dry and hot spring and now paying the price unfortunately. Such a bummer when it looked so lush and green last Fall after a major overseed. Any tips on recovery? Is it pretty much game over for these sections that went dormant until autumn?

FYI when I realized we were heading into drought territory I started to incrementally increase HOC. Probably at 3.75" now, but the damage is still occurring. I'm insanely jealous of people in my neighborhood with in-ground irrigation.

Snapped a few pics. I think my cell camera is punching up the color saturation because it looks a lot worse in person:


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## Sphero43 (Jul 23, 2020)

Ryan Knorr posted a video about dealing with drought just the other day. My neighbor has the same issue going on right now and after 2 days of soaking the area it is starting to recover.


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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

In the picture I think I see some thin bladed grass which could be fine fescue in your mix. In a full sun location with not enough water FF will go dormant.

The main thing is it needs as much water as you can give it until it rains.


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

SNOWBOB11 said:


> In the picture I think I see some thin bladed grass which could be fine fescue in your mix. In a full sun location with not enough water FF will go dormant.
> 
> The main thing is it needs as much water as you can give it until it rains.


Thanks, I wonder if FF was planted by the previous owner? On my last 2 overseeds I've exclusively used a 80% TTTF 20% KBG/PRG blend knowing full well this yard has very little shade and the extreme angles intensify the sun's impact.

How much watering is enough? I've been hitting it for about 45min - 1 hr every morning. Sometimes watering late afternoon as well on really hot days.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

No matter how much water you throw at fine fescue it goes dormant in full sun


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## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Rolling Hills said:


> How much watering is enough? I've been hitting it for about 45min - 1 hr every morning. Sometimes watering late afternoon as well on really hot days.


It's not as much about time as it is amount of water. How much water are you putting down in those 45 minutes? Have you measured?


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## GreenMountainLawn (Jul 23, 2019)

M32075 said:


> No matter how much water you throw at fine fescue it goes dormant in full sun


Yea, if there is fine fescue mixed in and its on a southern facing hill, really no chance unless the whole summer is 65-70F, cloudy and rainy.


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

Hmm I don't know if I'm convinced that there's significant FF hanging out there causing these patches. Here's a look at it from last October after my overseed:





Even if it was rainy or cooler that section still gets hammered with sun all day and you would think force any FF into dormancy. This is the first spring I remember this being an issue and just so happens we've had one of the driest springs on record. Luckily we're heading into a little cool down period where I hope we get some much needed rain.


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

Fraust said:


> Rolling Hills said:
> 
> 
> > How much watering is enough? I've been hitting it for about 45min - 1 hr every morning. Sometimes watering late afternoon as well on really hot days.
> ...


Been a while since I checked. Will have throw down the old tuna can and find out. I'm sure that section being 20-30° inclined isn't helping my cause with the solar angle and water run off.


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## GreenMountainLawn (Jul 23, 2019)

Rolling Hills said:


> Hmm I don't know if I'm convinced that there's significant FF hanging out there causing these patches. Here's a look at it from last October after my overseed:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Fine fescue normally looks great in OCT, even in full sun spots. Much lower/weaker sun angle, cooler soil and air temps and usually decent rainfall.

There may not be any there, maybe its just TTTF/KBG or even some PRG. FF is very thin bladed, almost needle like. How does that hill normally look in July/Aug?


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## dicko1 (Oct 25, 2019)

With what they say about global warming, There will be rainfall changes across america. Fewer small showers and more cloudburst storms with more dry days between them.

I've been experimenting with planting cultivars that can tolerate dry hot weather. I first planted some water saver TTTF. That stuff has survived last years drought we had here and looks remarkably good right now. Last fall I planted some SPF30, a hybrid bluegrass designed to survive the weather in Texas. My big concern was if it would survive the winters in NE Illinois and it did just fine last winter. No sign of any die back. Time will tell if it survives the summer heat.

I have 3 acres of lawn and I'd go broke if I tried watering it all so whatever I plant has to survive without any irrigation.

So you might start considering the grasses bred for drier hotter weather for over seeding.

BTW, fine fescue has overtaken a lot of my lawn and it just doesnt go dormant during the summer, it actually dies. So slowly, over many years, its getting replaced with SPF30 and water saver tttf.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

A close up picture of the dormant area so we can tell if you have fine fescue mixed in that area let's at least get that question solved so we can get a good game plan established. Also PRG is not draught tolerant it's short rooted that also could be a problem. Considering your location the previous owner probably used a north east seed mix that has PRG and fine fescue in it both not great for full sun and draught situations


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## SnootchieBootchies (Mar 23, 2021)

Just irrigate and if you have a thatch rake, do a couple of light passes over those dry matted areas. I live in MA and had a few storms I thought would hit home miss by a mile or two and that 100 degree spring weekend left me with a few scorched areas in my KBG lawn. Most of it wasn't even fully awake yet at that point and while everything has greened up very nicely, those areas have not. I hit them with a light thatch raking and rather than using my irrigation, used a hose end sprinkler for those areas for a long soak. Things are improving pretty well.


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## jcs43920 (Jun 3, 2019)

I'm wondering if your getting hit with Grey Leaf Spot, or another disease. I just have a hard time believing drought alone would wipe out top variety TTTF in Massachusetts in May. I know it's younger grass but still. I would be looking very closely to see if you have a disease and then start treating it asap.


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

GreenMountainLawn said:


> Rolling Hills said:
> 
> 
> > Hmm I don't know if I'm convinced that there's significant FF hanging out there causing these patches. Here's a look at it from last October after my overseed:
> ...


Unfortunately I don't have a pic from those months at this spot, but here's a pic from mid May of last year:


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

****o1 said:


> With what they say about global warming, There will be rainfall changes across america. Fewer small showers and more cloudburst storms with more dry days between them.
> 
> I've been experimenting with planting cultivars that can tolerate dry hot weather. I first planted some water saver TTTF. That stuff has survived last years drought we had here and looks remarkably good right now. Last fall I planted some SPF30, a hybrid bluegrass designed to survive the weather in Texas. My big concern was if it would survive the winters in NE Illinois and it did just fine last winter. No sign of any die back. Time will tell if it survives the summer heat.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the recommendation! Do you recall the name of the water saver TTTF you used?


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

jcs43920 said:


> I'm wondering if your getting hit with Grey Leaf Spot, or another disease. I just have a hard time believing drought alone would wipe out top variety TTTF in Massachusetts in May. I know it's younger grass but still. I would be looking very closely to see if you have a disease and then start treating it asap.


I definitely have what looks to be red thread close to this section but that is more "spotty." I've never done a fungi treatment but have a backpack sprayer. Would you recommend propi or is it too late for that now? What would be the ideal rate to apply? I was planning to put down some 2-4D, can I combine that with propi and spray both at the same time?


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

Here's some new pics from today of the impacted areas and what the healthy parts look like up close in the last few. Definitely dealing with fungi, but is it a combination of drought die off and fungi? A lot of it is dried out to the crown. Seems odd that fungi is thriving in a full sun south facing area where it's been so dry and at times, unseasonably hot:


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## creediddy2021 (Mar 27, 2021)

Yes I'm dealing with drought and heat stress. My lawn isn't as bad as yours, but I understand what you are going through. You will be shocked that increasing your water levels from 1" per week to 2" per week you will recover fairly quickly. Nothing to worry about. All you have to do is water heavy and ask for a heavy rain. You will recover.


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

Update now 2 months later. Things improved with watering up for awhile, up until the last several weeks of severe heat and continued drought in MA. I'm losing the good fight to mother nature and the majority of my lawn has turned brown (as has 90% of everyone else's lawn).

Now my question is: do I continue to water now that dormancy is widespread? Do you keep watering even if the grass doesn't want to green back up given the poor conditions?

I've come to accept that I don't care if it's a brown mess through August, as long as it bounces back when we get into a better rain and weather pattern as fall approaches. But at what point does the grass go from "dormant" to just plain dead if we continue to experience no rain here with summer temps? I'd be really bummed if fall arrives and 75% of my lawn is truly dead and I'm back to square one.

Not having an inground irrigation system is the pits when you get a summer like this one. Heck even lawns in the neighborhood that have em are still looking rather toasty.


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## macattack (Nov 2, 2020)

My lawn was in pretty rough shape two weeks ago. Amazing what 6 inches of rain can do. Almost like the summer heat wave never happened.


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## creediddy2021 (Mar 27, 2021)

I would suggest a slow release fertilizer Milo or Soil Matery and heavy watering scheduling. Rather than water for 30-40 mins per zone you will need to water for at least 1.5-2 hrs. Your grass will come back.

I am getting great results with watering at night. Again not the best process to water scheduling, but it's effective! I have no issues with fungus at all. The water penetrates deeper through the root zone. It works for me.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Rolling Hills said:


> Now my question is: do I continue to water now that dormancy is widespread? Do you keep watering even if the grass doesn't want to green back up given the poor conditions?


It still needs some water. The more brown it is, the less often and less quantity of water it needs, because there's no evapotranspiration happening in the dead blades during dormancy...only in the green ones. If it's 50% brown, you can easily cut water by 30 to 50%. If it's 80% brown, it only needs like 15 to 20% of the normal water. Don't take those as data; I'm just pulling rough numbers out to help you visualize it. When positioning sprinklers, you want to begin at the edges of the lawn and water those first so you're not walking over crunchy grass, which might produce damage over time.


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## sparky57 (5 mo ago)

I'm in southeast Massachusetts and I feel your pain. I started watering too late and now trying to catch up. I water every 3rd day for an hour. That puts down ~.75". I'm seeing a little green up but it's going to take a while. No rain for 7 weeks.


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## Rolling Hills (Jul 21, 2021)

creediddy2021 said:


> I would suggest a slow release fertilizer Milo or Soil Matery and heavy watering scheduling. Rather than water for 30-40 mins per zone you will need to water for at least 1.5-2 hrs. Your grass will come back.
> 
> I am getting great results with watering at night. Again not the best process to water scheduling, but it's effective! I have no issues with fungus at all. The water penetrates deeper through the root zone. It works for me.


I put down Lesco 24-0-11 on July 4th. Would you still suggest a slow release (I believe that Lesco fert is like 70/30 fast and slow release)?

I thought about evening watering to make up for lost time in addition to early AM. It's so damn hot and dry I don't think I should really concern myself with fungus pressure at this point when 90% of my lawn is scorched from lack of rain + hear.

I guess the one silver lining is that I don't have to mow anymore :lol:


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

It's in dormancy so at this point just let it ride out to rain and cooler weather arrives it's not far off. Letting grass go dormant then out then back to dormant is a guarantee it will die. Hopefully it comes back with good recovery if not another over seed. If you're going to water it out of dormancy then commit to keeping it alive. I would just wait for a good long soaking rain then keep on top of your watering from there


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## thin_concrete (Sep 11, 2020)

I'm in MA too and am experiencing the same thing. My back yard where I have a good shade/sun mix looks good, but the front that gets baked is dormant (except for the shady spots).

I'm going to wait until September/October before I get concerned about anything being dead instead of dormant. At that point we should still have a few weeks to get some seed down if needed, or I can at least start planning a good overseed towards the end of 2023. I have irrigation, but the severity of this drought (and town watering restrictions) means I can only use it once a week. With how hot it's been, I think it's helping to keep the grass dormant instead of dead.


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## thin_concrete (Sep 11, 2020)

Rolling Hills said:


> ****o1 said:
> 
> 
> > With what they say about global warming, There will be rainfall changes across america. Fewer small showers and more cloudburst storms with more dry days between them.
> ...


I don't know what the original poster was using but Barenbrug has a water saver TTTF that I may take a look at if it turns out I have dead patches.


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## TopsfieldLawnNewbie (Jul 8, 2021)

I feel your pain. I did an overseed last fall of TTYF from the SS store. Came in great, see photo from this spring. Then comes the drought and heat this summer, and my yard gets basically sun all day, and now it looks all dead. I read from April-July, this was the second driest on record in my area. We also have water restrictions of no irrigation or sprinklers. Considering doing a heavy overseed this fall, but now sure how to accomplish that with the current water restrictions in place. The supposedly end Sept 30, but there is no guarantee. Any advice on how to deal with this situation? Don't really want to look at this dead grass for another year.


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