Over the last decade, it is safe to say that the summer season in Toronto has gotten longer and hotter. We are seeing temperatures in late spring and early fall that we are used to seeing mid-summer. This increase in temperature has put added stress on our lawns over the summer and has required us to put emphasis on proper maintenance practices during those periods of high plant stress. In simple terms, during those hot weeks we need to pay extra attention to watering and cutting our lawns properly.
Watering lawns and ensuring their proper hydration
Cutting your lawn properly during periods of high stress will be a difference maker in keeping both colour and plant health up to par. Raise your mowing height to three inches during periods of temperatures above 25 degrees. Increasing mowing height has a direct correlation with increasing root depth which we just finished explaining the importance of. Make sure to keep your mower blade as sharp as possible. This will allow for a clean cutting of the leaf blade verses a shredding with a dull blade. Shredding the leaf blades will put added stress on the lawn in a period where it needs all the help it can get. Cutting at least once per week will make sure you do not remove any more than one third of the leaf blade at a time. This is a very important principle to follow! Removing more than one third of the top growth at a time is considered scalping and could potentially cause the lawn to brown out completely.
Following these cultural practice tips will keep your lawn as green as possible during the heat and increase your lawns ability to provide a much needed cooling affect to our living environment here in Toronto!