Goodbye, July!!

[andy10917]

Where I live (45 miles up the Hudson north of NYC), the signs are beginning to line up -- the "tired leaves" have started falling just a few days earlier than average, the 10-day temperatures are forecasted to stay in the mid-80's, and the nighttime frog/katydid/insect chorus is beginning in the evenings.

July was pretty easy this year - and forgiving. I let the front-yard grass go to about 5" and a bit shaggy to handle the few bursts of 90+-degree temperatures, and then took it back to 4" last evening - other than some clumps in the cuttings it is 100% green and healthy. No fungal issues. No BBDL.

Hosta damage from deer has been below normal, and I credit that to the addition of Nu-Film P to elongate the effective coverage of Liquid Fence applications.

And so, July ends successfully -- and the transition month of August arrives tomorrow. I'm considering starting the wake-up dose of Milorganite for 8/10 if things stay on-course, but that's subject to last-minute changes if needed. I'm reprogramming the Rachio to go back to the 1" every six days program from the "insurance plan" of 0.75" every three days.

The next sign I'm waiting for is the evenings getting just a tad cooler - that typically is in about two weeks from now. That's the GO sign...

How did July go for you?

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Went ok. Minimal disease pressure. We were very dry and hot, and I didn't have a y major issues other than some dry spots where irrigation didnt cover. It actually looks better now than mid July.

The summer weather has broken towards fall here as well. You can feel and smell it.

[This is me]

Good bye July. Good bye the lawn that I've worked so hard on for the past 5 years.
And yes, having the grass grow more than 5" helped with the 100s we had last week. I have about 15bags of BSF. Not sure if I just going to throw them down or move to the new house with us.

[deboy922]

I live a little north of HoosierLawnGnome , and as he said, July was hot and dry, following a cool and wet June. So without irrigation, July was very hard on my lawn. The grass went dormant and a little crunchy in some spots while the dandelions, clover, and plantain keep on growing. Temps have cooled from mid 90's to mid 80's and had a low of 59 last night. But with very little rain chances in the 10-day, it will probably be Labor Day or later to begin fertilizer and weed control for me.

[flyingfish88]

Finally!

Yard has some brown areas mixed in that I think is some fine fescue that died out or went dormant, which is fine since the front yard is becoming less shaded with tree removal and I don't want the FF there anyway. Yard is looking a little recovered from the 100 degree days last week and we should be getting T-storms today for some much needed rain.

The nimble will has certainly thrived in the heat. I killed off larger patches with tenacity, but the temps have brought a lot more to the surface. Last week I hit 20+ more smaller/individual spots with R/U to kill off quicker ahead of some overseeding.

I never watched the overnight lows before, but as Andy mentions, the overnight temps are trending down towards. In SE PA we are approaching 60 in the 2 week forecast.

[KnickLeDime]

I'm a little north of Andy...July was hot and dry up in the Albany area. I was watering 2 times a week but things got kind of ragged and lawn started going dormant in the heat I ended up adding a third day to the watering schedule and monitored it...appears to have sprung back really well and then some rains hit. I've been keeping that third day discretionary and turn it on or off as needed.

Focus is now turning to over seeding and repairing the damage from last summer....

[northeastlawn]

In SE mass we are full on 90's and humid for the third straight day. The POA Annual is starting to die on cue, but some is still popping out seeds. I hand pull what I see before I mow.

I do have a rust outbreak, but I got a little behind the serenade apps I was putting down every 5-6 days. I am going to weekly apps of Serrenade. Its hard to know what brown is the POA dieing and what is disease. In some case the disease is on the POA and the KBG seems fine. I'm giving it another week and then going put down some disease-ex.

Overall the KBG did a lot better this year than last, I have a lot less brown spots because the POA is gone. I can't wait for the end of summer BSF app. I have two get a pre-m down next time I water also, Im just finding it so hot and muggy, spraying the whole yard with a pump sprayer isn't a lot of fun after doing weekly serenade apps.

[Paul]

Excellent for me, my Bewitched never looked so good. I kept it at 3 inches all month. I would have rather 2.5 inches, but thought 3 inches would be better due to the high temperatures we had. I think I used the irrigation system twice since we had well timed thunderstorms each week that dropped over 1 inch of rain each time. I believe July this year was the hottest July on record in Boston. I still needed to mow twice a week and didn't use any fertilizer, just Serenade every two weeks.

[bpgreen]

It's been hot here lately, but cooled off today and it's supposed to be cool again tomorrow. But the high is supposed to be close to 100 Saturday.

I don't know if we got any measurable rain today, but up to today, we had less than a half inch for the month.

[Pway]

Last July I got hit very bad with fungus. I did not do preventative apps and had to do several applications of azoxystrobin at curative. This year, not much of a fungus problem but had more triv survive than ever before. Also, the wind and rain kept me from doing my second Dimension app so I now have the barrier giving way and some weed pressure I haven’t had. I may still do an app before my early September one to address poa annua. Swap out one problem for others...

[PW405]

Sheeesh, tricky year. Record, rainforest style rain in April, May and June. Didn't even run sprinklers until July 5th this year! Unheard of.

We're now ~35+ days with less than .10" of rain and yard ain't too happy. Have largely avoided dormancy, but 4 more weeks of punishment are in order!

[Marinegrunt]

Sounds like we've had similar weather here in IL as PW405 has had. Super rainy through June and hot and humid ever since with little to no rain. I've been getting hit with brown patch pretty hard over the last 3 weeks. The lawn is only 3 years old so not sure if that has anything to do with it. I'm just letting it fight through on it's own. We're suppose to be upper 80's the beginning of this week and then temps drop to low 80's towards the end. I'm definitely ready for the 70's!

[Marinegrunt]

Sounds like we've had similar weather here in IL as PW405 has had. Super rainy through June and hot and humid ever since with little to no rain. I've been getting hit with brown patch pretty hard over the last 3 weeks. The lawn is only 3 years old so not sure if that has anything to do with it. I'm just letting it fight through on it's own. We're suppose to be upper 80's the beginning of this week and then temps drop to low 80's towards the end. I'm definitely ready for the 70's!

[nclawnguy]

Fairly easy for me. It was dry and hot, but I have full irrigation and free (well) water. I kept lawn high, mowed at 4.5", minimal signs disease, I did put down preventative fugicide in July.. Only real issue is invading Bermuda grass.