Your Summer Lawn Care Schedule
The summer lawn care schedule is about to begin. Have you prepared yours? The summer months are about keeping up the hard work you did in spring: applying preventative herbicides and the best lawn fertilizers.
The summer lawn care timeline usually starts in June and finishes in August. But, this timeframe can vary on where you’re based. Soil quality, conditions, and temperatures are also different around the country. It’s a good idea to consider your grass type and area to know when your summer lawn care should start. If you haven’t done one this spring, consider doing a soil test in the summer to assess the soil’s quality and amount of nutrients. This will better equip you to choose the right lawn fertilizer to proceed with.
Getting a golf course lawn is all about commitment. Summer presents new challenges, like weeds and pests — but not to worry, with our summer lawn care schedule, you’ll have guidance every step of the way.
Related: The Best Lawn Fertilizers to Use This Spring
The Best Time to Cut Grass in the Summer
As the temperature increases, your lawn will start growing more rapidly. Warmer soil means plants thrive better. It's more beneficial for root development. Like all things though, there is a balance. Too much heat can cause excessive moisture to evaporate and dry your turf out.
Because of quicker growth, your mowing requirements will change — but remember you already started mowing in spring twice a week when temperatures were hitting 50°F. A great time to cut your grass in the summer is around mid-morning because it’s typically dry by then which produces a better cut. When possible, avoid the early afternoon, as this is when the heat from the sun is most intense. Mowing during the hottest part of the day can introduce additional stress to your freshly cut turf.
To achieve a pristine lawn at cutting heights below 3/4", you’ll need to mow your lawn every other day in the summer, but remember to remove no more than a third of the grass blade’s length.
So, we’ve established the best time to cut your grass in the summer is mid-morning, but what about the mower you use?
We recommend reel mowers (or cylinder mowers) over traditional rotary mowers for a cleaner cut at lower heights. Clean cuts at lower heights reduce the risk of accidentally scalping your lawn and damaging grass blades. Cylinder mowers use a dual-blade system (a bed knife and a reel edge) to cut grass efficiently while minimizing injury. Mostly, reel or cylinder mowers come with a front roller, which will help you achieve beautiful lawn stripes.
Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs)
As summer begins, temperatures start to climb. When temperatures increase, your turf can start growing quickly. You might think this is a good thing, but it can be bad news for your lawn’s resilience. Fast, unprecedented growth leads to shallow-rooted grass, which can’t compete with weeds, insects, and lawn diseases as it's much more vulnerable.
Plant growth regulators (PGRs) work to slow down your grass’ natural processes. PGRs are made from natural, organic compounds that first promote grass blade growth. This allows for more efficient photosynthesis and reduces mowing requirements to ensure thick and healthy grass. Because your lawn is stronger and healthier, it can resist disease and drought, outcompete weeds and pests for space, and give your turf a deeper green color.
What Is the Best Plant Growth Regulator?
The best plant growth regulator on the market is brought to you by industry leader Syngenta. Primo Maxx is appropriate for all grass types and residential or commercial turfgrass. Primo Maxx can reduce mowing requirements by 50% and also bring your watering requirements down for a denser lawn.
You get value for money with this lawn care product, as its small size still packs a punch. In fact, 4 oz of Primo Maxx diluted with water can treat 7,000-16,000 sq. ft). To apply this plant growth regulator, make the most of the built-in measuring cup and time your monthly applications with your other lawn care tasks. To ensure application accuracy, use a backpack sprayer with a foliar TeeJet Tip (TeeJet XR11004VS), which will produce an even spread.
Summer Lawn Watering Requirements
Throughout June-August, you’ll need to water your lawn 2-3 times a week, which is around 1”-1.5” of water per week.
Look out for signs your grass needs a drink, like curled grass blades and hard soil. For a detailed breakdown, check out our blog post on how often to water your lawn. Of course, watering requirements differ slightly depending on your grass type and area. Warm-season grass tends to need less water (1”) than cool-season grasses (1.5”) to thrive.
If you have an irrigation system, set the timer between 4-6 am. The early morning is the best time to water your grass, as the temperature is cooler and wind speeds are less intense.
Warmer temperatures can let moisture evaporate, and wind can blow away the water droplets, not allowing the water adequate time to soak into your grassroots. Be mindful not to overwater your lawn, which can encourage lawn diseases and weeds, suffocate your grass and cause a muddy backyard.
Related: Muddy Backyard Solutions: How to Help Drainage for Lawns
Are There Any Lawn Care Products Which Help Retain Water?
Temperatures in some parts of the States can be too hot to handle in the summer. As a result, you might find your watering bills are more than you anticipated. If that’s so, we have something for your summer lawn schedule. It’s called Hydretain, and it’s a soil moisture manager. Hydretain acts like a “water magnet”. Any moisture in the air or the soil your grass can’t reach is drawn down to your turf’s roots to make the most of any available water.
Hydretain is available as liquid and granular, depending on your application preference. Save money on your water bills and reduce your watering requirements by 50%.
To treat smaller portions of your lawn for localized dry spots, try FOURPlay™ to improve turf establishment and minimize drought stress.
The Best Lawn Fertilizer for Summer
Usually, we recommend using biostimulants with your lawn fertilizer. Biostimulants are a substance or microorganisms to help boost certain processes in your grass — like nutrition uptake and resilience to stress.
The best lawn biostimulant to use alongside your fertilizer is Mirimichi Green’s Essential-G™ which is 100% sustainable and organic. Essential-G™ can help compacted soil and provide fast green-up recovery for stressed lawns.
Related: What Is a Lawn Biostimulant and Why Are They Important?
The best fertilizer for your grass in summer and all year round is Lebanon Turf’s Humic Max 16-0-8. This lawn fertilizer improves the appearance of your lawn with 16% nitrogen with healthy amounts of potassium to boost nutrient uptake. Suitable for all grass types, this fertilizer won’t burn your lawn and is an excellent choice for serious DIY lawn enthusiasts.
When to Fertilize in the Summer
Applying fertilizer to your lawn once a month is a good idea to keep it in shape. A top tip is to fertilize your lawn when it’s dry since this prevents grass burning.
Summer Lawn Weed Killers
Weeds are the eternal enemy of the DIY lawn enthusiast, so nailing your pre-emergent herbicide applications in spring is especially important.
Weeds and other unwanted plants are as much a fan of the warmer weather as your flourishing grass. They’re also opportunistic and compete with your turf for essential nutrients as well as being ugly.
First, identify the weeds which are causing damage and your type of grass (warm or cool-season) before choosing a suitable summer lawn weed killer.
Looking for the best summer lawn weed killer? We’ve got two, a cool-season herbicide kit and a warm-season one. The cool season kit uses the combined power of Sedgehammer® and Tenacity, which together can control over 50 grass weed and broadleaf species with excellent efficacy. The warm season kit features Celsius and Certainty, which can be applied over a wide range of temperatures to control a whopping 180 different weed types.
Both these premade kits aim to kill weeds without killing your grass. To make application as easy as possible, we’ve even included a surfactant to increase herbicide absorption and a turf mark indicator to show where you’ve laid down your applications.
Related: The Best Four Products for Killing Weeds Without Killing Grass
Getting Your Summer Lawn Care Schedule Down
Aside from weed invasions, you’ll also need to monitor pest control. Lawn-damaging insects like Billbugs are especially busy during the summer breeding, so stay vigilant for signs of grubs and larvae. Granular pesticide Acelepryn G is safe for people, pets, and the environment as the best lawn insect control. It effectively targets armyworms, billbugs, grubs, and more. One advantage of Acelepryn G is it won’t kill earthworms and bees — the pollinators and invertebrates we need to keep soil quality high.
Summer is a busy time for mother nature, so remember to pay attention to what's happening on your lawn — and beneath it! It’s always smart to conduct a soil test to see how your lawn’s nutrient levels are doing, which can save you money on fertilizers.
Achieving a golf course lawn is a year-long commitment. To understand which lawn care steps you need to follow on a month-by-month basis, take a look at our Yearly Lawn-Care Schedule.
Browse our online shop to find all the summer lawn care products you’ll need for this growing season and beyond.