What we’re noticing:

  • ahhhhh – mild weather this week; much less intense heat than was forecast
  • Some disease from the hot overnight temperatures last week (nothing to worry about especially with the cooler overnight temps we’ve had this week). The diseases appear as orange shoes/wheels (Rust Disease) and as the “spider webs” that are visible in the morning then go away. That’s a symptom of Dollar Spot disease.
  • Those typical hot weather weeds we expect to see this time of year
  • We did get some rain over the weekend but this broken record is here to say: “it will help but is nowhere near a ‘drought buster'”. It will not significantly alter the course of how our lawns are doing.
    • *11th hour update. We got some great rain on Tuesday (immediately after me finishing this original blog post). Unfortunately it was mostly north where the drought wasn’t as severe. I’ll update on how it changes our drought condition/category as info comes in.
  • Hennepin County (specifically the southern half) is the epicenter for drought in MN (source). It is in the Severe Drought category which is defined with “crop or pasture losses likely”. Turf grass could be in both categories. On the bright side; even though it stinks that it’s us, only 1.46% of the state is in this category while this time last year about 72% of the state was in this category.

What we’re doing:

  1. We’re doing our usual this time of year; Premium slow release granular fertilizer and an aggressive weed control product with two modes of action to combat the hardened-off weeds from the drought.
  2. We’re getting ready for our Fall renovation season. We just placed our first order for overseeding and soil improvement products and are ensuring our equipment for core aeration is all tuned up. About a week and a half away with lots of high temperatures and no rain forecast means this is going to be a busy Fall renovation season.

What you can be doing:

  1. High temperatures are coming back soon (source) and there isn’t any significant rain forecast. Even when there is significant rain forecast we don’t get it. Taking those two things into consideration, you can mow your non-irrigated lawn this week at the highest possible setting. Keep watering as needed. Irrigated lawns can revert to the typical watering schedule for this week as well if you want but consider the point below.
  2. In general, I recommend watering as much as you can though. Southern Hennepin County is in Severe Drought which is the category where cities start implementing watering restrictions and bans. Get the water down while you can.
  3. Do not plan this being the turn of the summer and start mowing lower and watering less. Be prepared to go back into high temps and intensified drought conditions which will mean less mowing, if any, at the highest height setting and increased watering.