GREENSBORO, N.C. — Is your grass is crunchy? All the heat and lack of rain have a lot of homeowners not happy with what is happening to their lawns. 2 Wants To Know asked the experts at the NCSU Ag Extension office to help.
WHAT ARE THESE YELLOW AND BROWN PATCHES?
In some places, big patches of yellow or brown are popping up. This could be normal, depending on what kind of grass you have.
"Fescue, Kentucky Bluegrass, you might see a few weeks of browning, it's not harmful, it's just the plant not dealing with the heat we have here in the Piedmont," said Emerson Wells, Extension Agent with the Guilford County office.
There are warm-season grasses and cold-season grasses out there. But what if you don't know what kind of grass you have? And what if it's more than just the heat?
"If you are seeing some patches, the best situation is to send us a photo at the Ag Extension so we need to determine if It's actual Brown Patch Disease or just dying out of that grass," said Taylor Jones, Extension Agent, NCSU.
HOW MUCH WATER YOUR LAWN NEEDS & WHEN TO WATER
The experts say your lawn needs an inch of water every week. If Mother Nature isn't doing it, then you should. The recommendation is to water your lawn before noon. This allows the moisture to seep in and the excess to evaporate so no fungus grows.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU MOW YOUR GRASS IN THE SUMMER?
"If you have warm-season turf grass, it generally needs to be maintained well with a strict mowing height. However our cool season grasses, fescues, bluegrass, and rye, you want to be less harsh on because it's already stressed during this heat, and without any water, it's a mow when you need to situation as long as you're keeping it in that ideal 3 and a half inch range," said Jones.