The drought in eastern Iowa continues. If you live in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City or Waterloo area, chances are that your lawn is brown and crispy if you do not have an irrigation system. Since grass plants are mostly water, the lack of rain toppled by extreme heat has caused most lawns to suffer severe drought conditions. Since our business was founded twelve years ago, we have never experienced a season with such a minimal amount of rain.
If your lawn is seeing patchy growth, it is still important to maintain what you have. Less frequent mowing may be required, but evening up your grass is still necessary to give your lawn a manicured look. You may notice more weeds popping up in your heat and drought stressed turf this year. When temperatures are over 90 degrees we do not recommend spraying a liquid weed control product on your lawn. Any lawn spraying should be done before the temperatures rise for the day. It is fine to treat your lawn with a granular fertilizer product. Make sure that you use a slow release or stabilized fertilizer product to reduce fertilizer burn. If you are applying a grub control product to your lawn, you need to water the product before it will become effective. If you do not have the means to water your product, the grub control will just sit dormant on your property until it sees some moisture. The effectiveness of your product may be compromised if we do not see any significant rain for a few weeks.
Drought conditions warrant watering.
Keep an close eye on your trees and shrubs. It may be necessary to water your established plants due to the lack of moisture. Discoloration of leaves and wilting are both signs of stress from lack of water. Giving your trees and shrubs a good soaking at least once a week during the drought will help them survive.