These five tips will help you keep a green and healthy lawn in Boise this summer
High heat. Low precipitation. Weeds, insects and disease. We’re heading into the most challenging time of the year to keep a perfect lawn, but it is possible to keep your property looking spiffy this summer.
June through August will see you battling Bluegrass billbugs, lawn heat stress, and trying to find the perfect balance between too little and too much watering. But the following tips from sod company Sod Solutions can go a long way to helping you come out the other side of summer with the best lawn in the neighborhood.
Keep your grass at the appropriate length
It’s the middle of the summer, the sun is blaring, and mowing the lawn is the last thing you want to do. But keeping your grass at the appropriate length can help with root strength and keep you from dealing with a difficult mowing job.
Allowing grass to grow too long and then mowing it can send the grass into shock, which will result in weaker roots and make the grass more susceptible to disease. The following heights are the best ranges to keep your grass length, according to Sod Solutions:
Bermuda grass: 0.5–1.5 inches
Bluegrass: 2.5–3.5 inches
Centipede grass: 1.5–2.0 inches
Fescue: 2.5–3.5 inches
St. Augustine: 2–4 inches
Zoysia grass (fine-bladed): 0.5–1.5 inches
Zoysia grass (coarse-bladed): 1–2 inches
Further instructions for mowing each type of grass can be found on Sod Solutions’ website, which recommended mowing the lawn every three to five days.
Use the right summer fertilizer
Heat stress is one of the most common problems for a lawn during the summer, but using the correct type of fertilizer will go a long way to helping your lawn.
Grass growth is typically slower in the summer, and nitrogen-heavy fertilizer, which is used primarily in the spring and promotes growth, will offer little use through the hotter months. Using the wrong kind of fertilizer can cause scorched spots on your lawn, which are noticeable yellow spots among the green.
Low-nitrogen fertilizer can be bought at several locations, including Lowe’s, Amazon and Home Depot.
Water your lawn, but not too much
No matter how hot it gets, your lawn needs about 1 inch of water per week, including rainfall. Although it sounds counter-intuitive, watering your grass frequently can lead to short roots, Zamzows co-CEO Jos Zamzow previously told the Idaho Statesman.
Zamzows, a Boise-based lawn and irrigation company, suggested watering your lawn every three to five days and early in the morning. Watering later in the day can cause up to 30% of sprinkler water to evaporate before it even hits the ground, according to Zamzows, and watering at night can cause fungal problems.
Prevent grassy weeds from growing
Common grass weeds in Idaho include quackgrass, green foxtail, downy brome, crabgrass and tall fescue, according to the University of Idaho.
Herbicides are a potential solution to removing weeds, but they should only be used between 50 and 80 degrees. Once temperatures rise higher than 80 degrees, herbicides can also damage the grass, according to Sod Solutions. At that point, the best course of action would be to hand-pull weeds and avoid overwatering the spot where weeds were removed.
The best way to keep away weeds is to apply a preemergent herbicide in the spring and again in the fall to prevent summer and winter weeds.
Keep an eye out for insect invasion
Bluegrass billbug is the most common invasive lawn insect in Idaho. Adult females deposit their eggs in April and May, according to Zamzows, which then hatch during the summer heat. In large enough quantities, billbugs can destroy a lawn without treatment.
The most common method of identifying billbug infestation is by conducting the tug test. Find an area of grass that looks stressed, and if you can pull it up without much resistance, it means that billbugs have been chewing the stem of the grass. You can also dig an inch or two into the soil and find larvae.
There are chemical and non-chemical ways to treat your lawn for insect infestation. A non-chemical option can be to grow types of grass that are resistant to billbug larvae, such as tall fescue, fine fescue, and perennial ryegrass.
If the billbugs have already infested a lawn, you can use a contact insecticide that requires the insecticide to touch the insects or a systemic insecticide that distributes the chemical through the grass and allows it to defend itself against insects.
