Hello, My name is Robbie Commens and I am the Sales Manager for Coastal Turf. 
Thank you for visisting our website. I hope that the information is useful!
During these hot summer months there are 3 main issues that MAY have a detrimental effect on the quality of your lawn. They are -
- Heat (during hot summer days)
- Lawn Grub (especially after rain)
- Mowing (as the grass is growing quicker on the warmer summer months)
For this weeks BLOG I would like to discuss the issue of HEAT. Heat causes small circles of turf to dry out and die, the circles will start off small but if nothing is done soon they will get bigger and bigger.This problem is very easy to manage and even easier to prevent, but first we need to learn how your lawn is very similar to the bitumen on the road and an old grizzly bear , sound weird?, heres the explanation why…….
The Bitumen on the Road is very similar to your lawn because they both absorb heat. We all know how hot the bitumen can get on a hot day, it might only be 35 degrees air temp but you try to cross that bitumen road in the middle of the day bare foot and you would swear it is more likely going to be above 45 degrees celcius. Your lawn is very similar to this. This happens because the bitumen (and grass) is last place for the heat to end up and is therefore absorbed. This means that the air temperature may be relatively cool at 30 degrees celcius but your the bitumen and your lawn will be much higher temperature than that !
Lesson to learn = *The ‘micro-environment’ of your lawn will be warmer than the air temperature.
Grizzly bears hibernate when the temperature does not suit them, your turf (all varieties) is exactly the same. If the temperature is too low, the turf will not grow / hibernates. If the temperature is too high the turf will not grow / hibernates. The growth of turf is similar to a bell shaped curve. The diagram below illustrates this (with Temperature being the horizontal X axis and amount of Growth being the vertical Y axis) -
As the temperature increase so too does the growth upto a certain stage (usually at around 32 degrees celcius). After that the growth of your lawn does not continue to increase with the increase in temperature. As the temperature increases the growth actually decreases. Therefore it is very important to keep your lawn at a constant temperautre of below 32 degress celcius as often as possible.
*Lesson to Learn = Your lawn stops growing once the temperature around the grass (micro-environment) exceeds 32 degrees celcius.
We now understand that the turf will be warmer than the air temperature and that once the temperature of the turf exceeds approx 32 degrees celcius the turf will begin to lose growth. But how can we use this info in regards to your lawn ? The best way to keep your lawn cool during hot summer days is a short irrigation / watering right in the middle of the day. THIS WILL NOT BURN THE TURF. The water, that is approx 15 degrees celcius, will cool the already warm turf (of approx 35 degrees celcius) back down to a comfortable 25 degrees celcius. Your Lawn will look greener, be softer and more resistant to pests if you do this, even just once a week !
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I loved the info !
The info was easy to read, follow and made sense to a non green thumb like myself !
Thanks.
Hiya I’m Victoria, The info you have provided will set me on my way to provide my new lawn with some tender loving care…. its like us, we like to cool down midday..
Now I need to choose the right grass for the hot summer in south of perth in the coastal area, W.A. Could you give me some advise on which is the best with low maintenance
Thankyou
kind regards…
good advice, thanks. what about water evaporation? and bills? watering in the middle of the day? but the principle makes sense, …
Good point Adam, you need to find a balance between spending excessive amounts of money through your water bill and securing your investment in your lawn. You will most likely find that a lawn that is not under heat stress will not require as much water to keep it lush. It is more about the timing of watering rather than the amount. It may take time for you to find that happy balance but we have used this principle with great success over the past 15 years not only on our installation lawns but also our farms. (Technical info – evaporation is a minimal loss compared to the evaportranspiration loss [evaportransperation = water loss through leaves during photosyntheseis}).
Tall fiscue -I did my first mow and then the next day it was 38C and the lawn now has lots of brown patches .I kept watering it sometimes 3 times a day for the past 3 days and still there are no signs that it is improving .With tall fiscue how much watering does it need ,the lawn has been established now for 2 months.
Iam worried that the brown patches are permanent damage since tall fiscue is not a creeper and wont rejunivate
Hi Frank I’m really sorry but I don’t know that much about Tall Fiscue grass. If this is a seeded grass maybe overseeding may help to rejuvenate your lawn. Brown patches in turf grasses at this time of year is usually due to excess water, but I am not sure with seeded grasses, Sorry I can’t help, maybe conatact the peole you bought the seed from.