Are you worried about the heat taking its toll on your trees, lawn, and shrubs? Let us help you take all the necessary steps to ensure a healthy yard.

Like everything else, a strong and healthy bush or tree will get through extreme heat and drought best. Make sure they have been regularly watered deeply and fertilized in the spring. Mulch should be applied at least three inches thick and extend at least three to five inches beyond the drip line. The mulch should not come in contact with the trunk. Use a coarse mulch that will allow water to pass through easily but shades the soil. Don’t prune just before summer heat sets in as new growth is most susceptible to the effects of drought and heat.

Sun loving shrubs and trees generally establish deep root systems and will get through drought fairly well if they have been receiving enough water. New growth and young leaves will be the first to show signs of stress. Watch for wilting, yellowing, or curling or burning of leaf edges. Evergreen needles may change color or brown at the tips. Young new growth on evergreens may wilt. Unfortunately, by the time symptoms appear on shrubs and trees, the plant is already severely stressed. And sometimes the effect of drought and heat don’t even surface for a year or two.

Sometimes you may find single branches that seem to be completely dead, with every leaf turned brown. Both extreme heat and drought can put enormous stress on plants that make them susceptible to disease and insects. If whatever the problem is seems confined to individual branches, remove those branches entirely. Even if the cause is simply heat stress, this “thinning” of the crown will reduce the need for water, allow more moisture to penetrate the crown to the roots, and balance the crown to the root structure. Thinning the crown of trees every several years and shrubs every few years is good preventive maintenance in protecting the plants from drought and extreme heat.

The Tri-Cities can have some pretty high temperatures during the summer. Let Top Tree LLC show you how to keep your trees healthy during the hot summer months.

Are you worried about the heat taking its toll on your trees, lawn, and shrubs? Let us help you take all the necessary steps to ensure a healthy yard.

Last but certainly not least, water your lawn. But do it smart so you are not wasting water and money. Start by giving “hot spots” a good soak. These are the areas that get sun all day, along hot blacktop, slopes, and western and southern exposures. A light sprinkling will not help and may hurt. Get the water deep enough for the roots to use, they are much more efficient at taking up the water than the top growth is. An hour of steady sprinkling should penetrate the soil as much as 3-6”. Water early in the day so the sun and heat don’t evaporate the water before it even soaks in, and water evaporation from the plants in extreme heat will cause wilt or burn. Night watering is not normally advised because your plants stay wet until the sun comes out, inviting mildew, disease, and pests. But, well, most of us have to go to work in the morning! We don’t have much choice but to water in the evening, and that is still better than watering in the heat of the day. During a drought and extreme heat the plants will usually dry out quickly unless humidity is also very high. Try to water shaded areas right after work and move to sun exposed areas as sundown approaches since they will be hot and the grass will dry more quickly.

Due to watering restrictions, you may have no choice but to let your lawn go dormant. Once there is relief with rain or lifting of watering restrictions, you may be anxious to perform all the late summer and fall chores that normally refresh your lawn. But the grass is extremely stressed, and spraying for weeds, aerating, power raking and even fertilizing will damage a severely stressed lawn. First, water at least an inch per week until the grass is refreshed, green and growing. Second, fertilize with a low dose of nitrogen just before rain is expected or before sprinkling. You can either purchase a low nitrogen fertilizer or apply at half the recommended rate. As soon as your lawn looks green and healthy it is safe to apply weed control, but don’t overdo it! Mixed at high ratios or applied at a heavy rate, weed control chemicals can burn your grass even when it is healthy. Aeration can also be performed once the grass is green, growing and healthy. Power raking is better left for spring under any conditions, but many people prefer to perform power raking in fall. Done early enough on a healthy lawn, damaged turf crowns will have time to heal before winter.

The Tri-Cities can have some pretty high temperatures during the summer. Let Top Tree LLC show you how to keep your trees healthy during the hot summer months.

Are you worried about the heat taking its toll on your trees, lawn, and shrubs? Let us help you take all the necessary steps to ensure a healthy yard.

Caring for Lawns In Extreme Heat

Many their lawns to simply go dormant during extreme heat and I have even heard “so called” experts recommend doing just that. The grass may revive under better conditions. However heat and drought resistant weeds will grow and spread. All while the grass has become very weak, stressed, and nutrient starved if it goes dormant. By the time the grass revives and gets healthy again you have a very weedy lawn.

You may prefer instead to preserve a healthy lawn through the drought. And with a few simple steps you can do that. Keep your lawn strong and healthy by fertilizing it. Even as summer begins to heat up you can apply a light dose of lower nitrogen fertilizer just before rain is expected or before watering your lawn. Your grass will be much better prepared for heat and drought because it is strong and healthy.

Also start raising your lawn mower blade as the summer heats up. Even without extreme conditions you should be raising the blade 2 or 3 times in stages through the summer. The longer grass (you should be mowing it to 3” long in the heat of summer) accomplishes several things. It shades the soil, keeping it moist and cool longer. Longer grass blades are also holding more water that can be used to survive until the next rain (much like a young plant or seedling can’t survive in heat, as the plant gets larger it is stronger and has more water available). And it allows you to continue a more regular mowing schedule without having to whack down a big chunk of the grass blades after the heat passes, which really stresses the lawn. During extreme heat and drought the lawn will be stressed and will not be growing as quickly so you will be able to longer between mowings. But if you let it get long just for a dry period and then mow off more than half the grass blades, you will wind up with a stressed lawn anyway and gain little.

The Tri-Cities can have some pretty high temperatures during the summer. Let Top Tree LLC show you how to keep your trees healthy during the hot summer months.