7/19/2021
What we’re noticing:
The Good

  • We got rain on Wednesday 7/14/21! A lot of it – one official measure in Plymouth was 3.64 inches. This is great for our lawns and can be the beginning of their recovery. It pretty much hit dead center on ProLawns client base!

The Bad

  • The rain can be enough to jump start dormant lawn’s recovery but without more rain (there’s none in the forecast) and/or continued watering, the lawns will continue to be in a state of stress

  • The weeds have “hardened off” due to the weather as well. We’ve noticed our weed control is not as effective as it should be due to the weeds shutting down in the hot/dry weather and not taking in and processing our normally very effective weed control product

The Ugly

  • Despite the rain, drought conditions have gotten so bad that that a state of emergency for MN farmers has been declared:

      • “7/14/21: The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Rural Finance Authority (RFA) Board today determined that an emergency exists in Minnesota due to drought.” source

  • The rest of the month will continue our summer’s trend of abnormally hot and dry…

What we’re doing:

  1. We’re putting down our premium slow release granular fertilizer that will wait patiently for the rain we need. When your lawn is ready, it will green up with this fertilizer we’ve supplied

  2. We’re controlling the broadleaf weeds that thrive in these conditions. We’re doing complete blanket applications. We don’t want weeds taking over your lawn

    • ** We’re also shelving the product we’ve been using and switching to one that will be more effective in the hot/dry weather. We’ve never experienced a summer where even the weeds stop processing and growing.**

  3. We’re applying our grub preventer to ensure the Japanese Beetle Grubs don’t damage the root system that your turf desperately needs right now

What you can be doing:

  1. Mow as high as your mower will go – if you need to mow at all

  2. Water appropriately (amount and timing are both important!) – See post below for even more details

  3. Start considering fall aeration and overseeding for the parts of your lawn that may not come back from this difficult year