The hot and humid climate, which is common for Kentucky summers, can take a toll on lawns. And unlike people, who can escape into the respite of AC (or maybe a dip in the pool), your turf is stuck weathering some of the toughest conditions.
Your lawn must endure some pretty brutal summers and that can lead to its decline.
Fortunately, there are some summer lawn maintenance tips that can help set you up for success. Preparing your lawn for summer heat boils down to practicing good lawn care habits. And you should also plan to make adjustments to how you handle certain tasks when the summer conditions warrant it.
In this article, we’ll share some of our best advice on how to prepare your lawn for the Kentucky summer.
We want you to feel confident that your lawn will continue to perform well, even when the summer gets rough!
Jump to:
Why Kentucky’s humid summer climate poses unique challenges for lawns
Preparing lawn for summer heat
Watering schedule for summer lawns
Proper mowing to prevent added stress
Restoring a summer stressed lawn
Your lawn care partner for year-round success
The heat and humidity (particularly when combined) can definitely take a toll on grass. Hot and humid weather makes the growth and spread of lawn fungus much more prevalent. In addition, high temperatures can lead to heat stress in your grass, which causes browning and wilting.
To better understand how a lawn can end up with fungal disease, you should know that lawns are living things made up of millions of microorganisms beneath the surface. As part of that, fungal spores already exist on every lawn…and are usually beneficial to your lawn’s soil health.
But when there are hot temperatures and high moisture, spores can multiply and start to pose problems. If these fungal spores begin to take over, they can spread and cause trouble for your lawn.
There are many different lawn diseases but three of the most common that we see in our region include Brown Patch, Red Thread, and Dollar Spot. Each of these has the potential to cause harm to your lawn.
The best way to prepare your lawn for summer heat is to focus on promoting its improved overall health. The better shape that your lawn is in, the better it can hold up to tough summer conditions.
This means maintaining a Kentucky lawn care schedule with the right services scheduled at optimal times. Appropriately timed services like lawn fertilization and aeration go a tremendously far way in growing healthy grass.
Fertilizing in the summer can get tricky as there’s an increased risk for fertilizer burn. This is a good reason to leave fertilization services in the hands of a professional who will understand the optimal rate of application and the types of fertilizer to use, especially during summer months.
Lawn aeration also plays a very valuable role in preparing a lawn for summer heat. Aerating in the summer will help your lawn overcome the compaction that likely occurred during the winter months. By loosening the soil and allowing your lawn to breathe, you’ll improve the overall structure and health of your soil. This also makes a difference in getting the most out of any lawn care products used on your lawn.
All of this will help set it up for success heading into the summer months.
Lawn care tasks like watering and proper mowing are also critically important to your lawn’s health in the summer. We’ll talk about these tasks in the next two sections.
You’ll also want to pay special attention to your watering schedule for summer lawns. This can be a tricky time to ensure that you’re watering properly. Supplemental water becomes more important than ever if Mother Nature is not supplying ample rainfall. But fungal growth on the lawn can complicate things.
During periods of drought, water may need to be ramped up. Lawns need around one to one-and-a-half inches of water per week. You can determine whether your lawn is receiving this with a rain gauge, which will capture and measure rainfall.
But watering during times of high humidity can potentially amplify a lawn fungus problem. During periods of high humidity, the air retains a lot of moisture. This slows down the rate of transpiration (water loss) that occurs on your lawn.
Avoiding aggravating a fungal problem on the lawn also means paying attention to the time of day that you water.
It’s a common lawn care myth that you should water any time of the day. While you certainly can do that, it’s not actually good for your lawn…particularly if you water at night.
Watering at night (especially in the summer) can become problematic because it increases the likelihood of fungus growing on your lawn. When water is left to sit on the lawn overnight, it can create just the right conditions for fungus to grow and spread.
Mowing the grass is another important summer lawn care task but it can actually end up contributing to summer lawn stress if not handled properly. Homeowners commonly underestimate just how much of an impact mowing can have on your overall lawn care results.
Let’s talk about some of the best summer mowing tips for a healthy lawn.
The truth is, mowing the lawn is a task that puts stress on your grass, even when performed properly. You are making cuts to the individual grass blades and you don’t want to exacerbate it by mowing too short. This is even more critical in the summer, when lawns are already stressed. If you mow your lawn too short, you might notice that it will turn yellow. But taller grass tends to be greener, healthier grass.
Maintaining a higher, healthier lawn can also help choke out weeds. But cutting the lawn too short can promote weed growth. A taller-cut lawn will have better moisture retention and start to crowd out opportunistic weeds that are trying to creep in.
Ultimately, you want to mow to the optimal height for the type of grass that you have growing in your lawn.
For Turf Type Tall Fescues in our region (the best grass types for a Kentucky lawn), we generally recommend setting your mower to the highest level of four inches. We know that this is taller than people sometimes want but that will promote a healthy lawn with deep roots. This is extra important during the summer months!
You also don’t want to cut too much of the grass blades at one time. We know that summer gets really busy. You might go away and the grass goes long periods without being mowed. But when you let the grass grow tall, you have to make dramatic cuts and this is very stressful for the lawn.
Ideally, you want to aim to cut no more than one-third of the grass blade at a time.
Another important summer lawn maintenance tip is to avoid mowing the grass during periods of high heat or drought. These are times when the lawn is already really stressed so you don’t want to exacerbate the situation by stressing your lawn out even more.
Mowing the lawn in the heat can make it more susceptible to damage. You want to leave more of the leaf tissue during high heat as this helps the grass to cool itself and to retain moisture.
Homeowners don’t always consider the way in which equipment can have an impact on mowing a lawn. But when you mow with dull blades or an unlevel deck, you put additional stress on the lawn. That’s because you are producing an uneven cut.
Instead, make sure that you are sharpening your mower blades at the end of every mowing season so that you’re making a nice, clean cut. Also, make sure that your mower deck is level and that the tires are well-inflated. Many mowing dealerships will do this for a reasonable fee.
Unfortunately, even some professional mowers aren’t good at maintaining their equipment. If your lawn is turning yellow after mowing, it could be that your lawn is being mowed with dull blades and poor-quality equipment.
Even after employing all of your best efforts, your lawn might still be looking tired and stressed after the summer. Making sure that you are investing in fall lawn care can help you restore your summer-stressed lawn.
The truth is, even the healthiest lawns will succumb to problems from time to time. Don’t panic if your lawn ends up with a summer problem. There are treatment options and solutions for most summer lawn problems.
Since lawn disease is one of the most common summer problems, this is a good reason to make sure you invest in professional lawn care that includes lawn fungus treatments.
At Limbwalker, we have three different lawn care program tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
In the Gold and Platinum packages, lawn fungus treatments are included. That means if you have one of these packages and your lawn starts dealing with a disease, those treatments will be free.
If you end up having lawn disease and you have the Silver program, you can add that service on or upgrade to Gold or Platinum. These professional fungicide applications will help to prevent the lawn fungus from spreading.
When you partner with a lawn care pro, lawn problems do not have to fall solely on you. A pro will know exactly what your lawn needs, and when it needs it, so that you aren’t handling everything on your own.
They’ll also be available for expert advice on guidance on tasks that you handle on your own (like mowing and watering).
And not only do you gain access to their professional expertise, but you can rest assured they have the full range of the best products and services that will be needed to keep your lawn in optimal shape.
At the end of the day, all of this adds up to increased confidence and peace of mind. While the summer can be a really challenging time for your lawn, you’ll have an expert on your side.
Are you ready to have a thick and healthy lawn that’s getting everything it needs at your Louisville, KY home? Get in touch with us to get a quote for our lawn care programs, which include three lawn care pricing options.
