Later Summer Lawn Quality

[Hammbone81]

Mid August through mid September is go time for some major lawn activities. But its also the time my lawn color / quality is almost the worst during the growing season. Theres fungal pressure. It's hot. I have poor KBG cultivars from my 6yr old builder-grade sod... I get brown blades peppered throughout (is one of the cultivars just not making it this late in the summer?). The lawn is thick but kind of ugly. The mower struggles to lift and cut the grass, so I overlap a lot with side discharge (to maximize air flow) and a high-lift blade. Its not perfect, but its the best I can get it.

I have irrigation and very sandy soil. I'm watering about .5" 3x per week in the summer. It seems ridiculous, but any less and I get obvious dry spots within a day or two. My irrigation audit I did shows I have pretty even coverage with 100% overlap everywhere.

I think I'm going to reno next summer with TTTF. I haven't lookes at NTEP data for a few years, but I just started looking at Iowa State University's results as I'm 2hrs straight east of there.

[turf_toes]

Yep. Go with what works best in your location. Just make sure you plant brownpatch resistant TTTF cultivars. Otherwise you’ll just end up same problem different grass.

[Green]

Carbohydrates are lowest right now, so any continuing Summer stress can rapidly lower turf quality this time of year. Keep the blades sharp, fungicides at the ready just in case, and start fertilizing again as soon as your weather permits. This is a great time of year for the high lift blade you mentioned due to these issues. Everyone experiences similar to some degree around this time.