Summer Challenges for the Lawn
Summer can be a great time to enjoy the outdoors and activities in your lawn- it can also present your lawn with challenging conditions. Here are a few things to look out for:
Drought Stress – If you walk across the lawn and your footprints persist in the grass, it’s wilted, and suffering from drought stress. Long, hot days of summer without rain can lead to a lawn that is starving for water. Occasional, deep watering (so that the grass receives about an inch of water a week) will help protect the lawn from drought stress. Try to water early in the morning: with mid-day watering much is lost to evaporation, and watering in the evening can cause fungus problems.
Insect Attack – What appears to be patchy drought damage might actually be caused by an insect. Damage from chinch bugs can cause patches of brown, dead grass to appear. 
Look carefully: if the damage is done by chinch bugs, dead grass blades will break off easily at the soil level. You’re likely to find the bugs themselves scurrying around in the grass at the edges of the brown area. They are tiny, and move very fast. Chinch bugs thrive in hot, dry weather.
Mowing Problems – If the lawn isn’t a nice, healthy green, double check to make sure you’re not mowing too short. Grass blades produce the sugars that the grass plant needs to survive; if you cut off too much at one time your lawn will be more vulnerable to seasonal stress and pest attack. Is there a light tan cast to the lawn? If you look at the tips carefully and find a shredded appearance, it’s time to sharpen your mower blades! Tips of mowed grass should appear neatly cut, not irregular and shredded.
