*Similar to my germ story from 2008, this story about summer lawn care was not posted online but originally ran in main edition of The Gainesville Sun on July 1, 2009.
By Lance Fuller
Correspondent
With the summer heat and rain in full swing, taking care of your lawn gets more complicated.
When the grass is wet, for instance, mowing your lawn can lead to many problems from clogging the lawnmower to pulling out the roots and leaving holes in your lawn.
Experts from lawn-care businesses and professors from UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences offer several tips to help keep your lawn green, beautiful and well-kept during the summer.
1.) Be proactive.
Scout your yard for small problems like chinch bugs and gray leaf spots before they become bigger problems that require professional help, says Tammy West-Cooper, spokeswoman for West Farms Landscaping Services.
"The earlier you can identify a small problem, the less money you will spend in trying to take care of it," she says.
2.) Know your grass.
Different styles of grass have different needs for lawn care, West-Cooper says. The most common style of grass in Florida, St. Augustinegrass, has two types that must be cut at either 2 to 2.5 inches and 3.5 to 4 inches. While St. Augustinegrass needs constant fertilization, supplemental irrigation and has issues with pests, other grasses like Centipedegrass are lower-maintainence, can be cut at 1.5 inches and require less work. Knowing what type of grass you have and what its specific needs are will extend its lifetime, West-Cooper says.
3.) Mow your lawn at least once a week.
Mowing about once every week will keep the grass at a regular height, the roots will grow and you won't have to constantly adjust blade height, Laurie Trenholm, associate professor of environmental horticulture, says. Grass should not be cut more than one-third of the blade height per mowing. For example, if St. Augustinegrass is 6 inches high, it should be cut down to 4 inches high. Cutting off one third of the grass's height will minimize damage caused by mowing, Trenholm says.
4.) Adjust your lawnmower.
If you cannot cut your grass every week, it is important to adjust the blades to a higher setting the next time it is mowed so that the mower does not cut the grass too short or "scalp" it, Trenholm says. Scalping leaves the stem tissue exposed and the lawn may dry out through drought or invite weeds to germinate, creating more problems.
5.) Use the right tools.
Taking care of your lawn mower is just as important as maintaining your lawn, says Geoffrey Denny, a commercial landscape management extension specialist for IFAS. Lawnmowers that are not well-kept pull the grass out instead of cutting it, so keeping the blades sharp along with checking the spark plugs, air filter and oil is important for lawn care.
6.) Check the irrigation system.
Nothing is more wasteful than having sprinklers go off while it is raining, Denny says. Most sprinkler systems have built-in rain sensors that shut off during a storm, and it is also important to check when the sprinklers are allowed to go off during designated irrigation times. "One thing many do not consider is irrigation from the rain itself -- you don't have to use your sprinklers for irrigation all the time, especially during the summer months," Denny says.
7.) Clean up after mowing.
After mowing, make sure to blow loose clippings back onto the lawn. The debris brings nitrogen back into the soil and can be used as fertilizer.
8.) Use the right fertilizer.
Just like how each style of grass needs to be mowed at a certain height, different types of grass use different types and amounts of fertilizer as well. Other than knowing how often and how much fertilizer a type of grass needs, fertilizing at a time when the grass can best absorb the nutrients is key, Denny says.
After it rains, wait about 45 minutes for the grass to dry. If the soil is too wet, the nutrients will either seep below the roots, like in a retention pond, or will wash away off of the grass from water runoff.
9.) If there is a problem, correctly identify it.
People who do not have much experience with lawn care will most likely do too much to correct a simple problem, Trenholm says.
The most simple problems such as brown spots are caused by poor cultural practices with over fertilization, over irrigation and mowing the grass too short. These problems can be easily corrected, and do not require more chemicals such as pesticides, she says.
10.) In worst-case scenarios, call a professional.
When lawn problems become too big to correct, it is best to call a professional lawn care service before any more damage is done, Trenholm says.
"People shouldn't be only thinking about how it looks, they also need to be aware of and recognize the environmental implications of lawn care as well. Maintaining your lawn is not always a do-it-yourself type of job, and you should call the professionals if there is a severe problem," Trenholm says.
For additional assistance and information about summer lawn care, contact the IFAS extension at www.yourfloridalawn.ifas.ufl.edu.
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