Summer takes its toll on turf, whether you’re maintaining homeowner lawns or managing the greens at your golf course. There’s pressure to have the perfect playing field with turf that can handle summer heat stress.
Managing turf during the summer presents several challenges, including heat and drought stress, increased disease pressure, insect damage, and maintaining field safety and playability.
Golf superintendents, you have the added challenge of monitoring intense heat coupled with turf’s prolonged UV exposure, leading to declining carbohydrate reserves.
In this blog post, you’ll learn how to manage turf during summer’s challenges, such as:
- Monitoring & Responding to Summer Turf Stress
- Turf Management Best Management Practices: Water, Fertility, and Mowing
- Choosing the Right Equipment for Summer Turf Management.
Effective summer turf management begins with monitoring and responding to turf stress.
Monitoring & Responding to Summer Turf Stress
The best defense is a great offense. You can prevent summer turf stress by scouting for it and using diagnostic tools to identify it. Look for
- Wilt and discoloration, such as bluish, dull green that progresses to brown if drought conditions persist
- Yellowing leaves indicate chlorophyll loss
- Footprints and crunchy turf revealing drought stress
- Dormancy, where the leaves turn brown, but the crowns and stems remain alive
- Turf diseases, including dollar spot, brown patch, or leaf spot, as well as insect infestations.
Manage turf health employing drought-monitoring tools for stress symptoms, including
- Use moisture sensors or a soil probe to check for soil moisture depth, which should be 4-6” deep
- Monitor local weather conditions, including temperature, humidity, and the heat index that determines irrigation needs
- Track evapotranspiration (ET) from local weather stations that guide watering requirements.
Part of turf management involves regular monitoring and prompt response to maintain resilient grass throughout the summer.
Read more: How Spyker Spreaders Improve Weed & Pest Control
Turf Management Best Management Practices: Water, Fertility, and Mowing
Water, fertility, and mowing best management practices are vital to successful summer turf management.
Watering should be applied on an “as needed” basis. During the summer, warm-season grasses need 1-1.5” of water per week while cool-season grasses need 2-3” of water per week. These amounts include any rainfall during a particular week.
Irrigate your cool-season turf three times a week to allow water to percolate deep into the soil, and water your bermudagrass one to two times per week, because it’s drought-tolerant.
Remember that all turfgrasses need deep, infrequent watering to promote strong root systems that can tap into deep moisture storage during weeks without rain.
Keep in mind to water your turf between 4:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. to prevent water loss through evaporation and minimize leaf wetness and disease outbreaks, especially during periods where there’s less sunlight.
Restrict watering during the day to prevent high evapotranspiration, which is the process of water loss from the turf and soil, converting moisture into vapor and releasing it into the air.
Learn more: Create Smoother Turf with Pro-Grade Lawn Rollers
Ensure that your automatic sprinklers are set to activate in the morning hours. Consider using a cycle-and-soak method during droughts, as well as installing soil and weather sensors to prevent the sprinkler system from watering when there’s sufficient soil moisture.
Other summer turf management practices include cultural management, the processes you use as a turf manager or golf superintendent, including
- Incorporating correct mowing practices for playing and safety
- Aerating in the spring for warm-season grasses and in the fall for cool-season grasses
- Using the correct ratio of nutrients in your fertility treatments, including potassium, which helps turfgrass to withstand heat and drought stress; it also helps reduce surface hardness
- Applying wetting agents to improve water absorption and distribution in the soil
- Providing shade by planting trees or using structures to create cooler microclimates by reducing direct sun exposure and heat stress
- Planting the correct turfgrass species and cultivars that are more tolerant to drought and heat, like bermudagrass.
In addition to smart watering practices, effective turf management depends on cultural practices and fertility strategies.
Choosing the Right Equipment for Summer Turf Management
You need the best equipment that you can rely on for a successful turf management program, especially during prolonged droughts and heatwaves.
While you need professional mowers, irrigation systems, rain gauges, and other tools of the trade, you also need professional fertilization equipment, such as
- Drop spreaders
- Lawn sprayers
- Properly calibrated fertilizer spreaders
- Rotary spreaders
- Topdressing spreaders.
Build a more efficient turf management program by investing in equipment trusted by the pros.
Trust Spyker Spreaders for Optimum Summer Turf Management
Equip your crews with professional spreaders that handle summer’s harshest conditions with Spyker Spreaders and Lawn Sprayers.
Buy your fleet today at your local dealer, online, or at the Spyker Store.
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Sources:
Cameron.AgriLife.org, Warm-Season Turfgrass Disease Management in Urban Landscapes.
DTE.Golf, Summer Heat Stress Management for Florida Golf Courses.
Extension.PSU.edu, Athletic Fields and Sports Turf.
FairwayLawns.com, Understanding the Importance of Lawn Aeration for Summer Growth.
OceanOrganics.com, Strategic Stress Management Starts Here (pdf).
PGELandscaping.com, Lawn Care Guide.
SafeSportsFields.CALS.Cornell.edu, Watering.
Simplot.com, Keeping Turf Cool During Summer: Essential Tips for Landscapers.
SodSolutions.com, How to Help Your Lawn Beat the Summer Heat.
SportFieldManagement.org, “Annual Athletic Field Maintenance Calendar for Warm Season Turfgrasses.
Ibid., Best Management Practices for the Sports Field Manager: A Professional Guide for Environmental Sports Field Management.
Ibid., Disease Pressure Climbs with Warming Temperatures.
SportsFieldManagementOnline.com, What Is It About The Turf Management Industry That Keeps You Loving Your Career Choice?
Sturf.Lib.MSU.edu (Field Science), Beating Summer Stress for Cool-Season Sports Turf.
YellowstoneLandscape.com, Essential Turf Field Maintenance Best Practices for Long-Lasting Performance.
