Tips to Help your Lawn Recover After a Drought

This year the hot dry weather has caused most people's lawns to struggle. It can be tricky to know if your lawn is long gone or if it will come back. With the cooler temperatures and the dew and frost coming in the mornings, there are somethings you can do to help your lawn recover from the drought. Follow the tips below to help your lawn recover.

Tips and Tricks

Dormant Lawn

The first step to restoring your lawn after a drought is to determine what is causing the lawn to turn brown. It could be bugs, dormancy caused by stress, or the lawn could be dead. The easiest way to check all these things is to water the lawn. If the browning is caused by dormancy, it should start to green up and start growing again. If it is caused by a bug or if it is dead, the lawn will not green up. If the lawn doesn't green up, pull on the lawn. A lawn with bugs will pull up like carpet and you usually can find bugs in the soil. A dead lawn will also pull up easy and will feel crispy, but you won't find the presence of any bugs. A lawn with bugs can be treated with a pesticide and usually comes back once the bugs are gone.

Now that you have determined what is causing the browning of the lawn there are a few things you can do to revive the lawn:

• Make sure to water the lawn. This will help the roots grow deeper and stronger. It will also help the lawn recover from the stress it has had.
• Start mowing again. Mow a little longer than usual to help reduce evaporation. As you mow the brown parts of the grass will start to be removed and the new green growth can become stronger. 
• Aerate the lawn and to give it room to grow and breath. Aeration will help the roots grow thicker and stronger. This promotes healthy green growth.
• Remove weeds and apply weed control. Weeds fight for the nutrients and water that the lawn needs.
• Apply a fall fertilizer to help the lawn recover and to give it a boost next spring.
• If the lawn has died out, consider seeding or resod to start new growth. 

Be Aware Of

Sod Webworm

This is the time of year that sod webworm starts to show up in lawn. Sod webworm is the larvae from a lawn moth and, they can cause significant damage quickly. Follow this link to one of our previous blog posts about sod webworm.

Looking for a healthy, green, and weed free lawn?

Contact us today at: 435-753-5296 or mylawn@lawndoctorutah.com

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