Is your lawn damaged? Here’s how you can recover it

SALT LAKE CITY – Summer is still going strong, meaning your lawn is probably damaged and stressed from all the heat. Fortunately, Taun and Maria shared some tips on how you can recover it on last week’s KSL Greenhouse show.

First things first – do you use the lawn?

“Do you use that portion of your lawn a lot?” is the first question Taun said he’d ask.

If you don’t use it that much, one option is to tear it out and turn it into a shrub or a flower bed.

If you do use that portion of your lawn a lot, then Taun suggests assessing the extent of the damage. Next, decide whether you will tear it out and resod or reseed, or topdress with seed.

How do you determine what’s wrong with your lawn?

If you start seeing brown patches in your lawn, make sure to check a few things.

“If (grass) pulls up very easily, then it’s most likely insect damage … For many of these pests, it’s too late to treat in the middle of the summer unless it’s sod webworm,” Taun said.

Another thing you can do is stick a long screwdriver into the soil the day after you’ve irrigated. The screwdriver should go into the soil at least 6 inches deep.

“If it doesn’t, then it’s most likely drought stress or compacted soil causing the problem,” Taun said.

If the screwdriver’s going into the soil but it doesn’t pull up easily, then it’s a fungal disease problem.

How do you recover a damaged lawn?

There’s a simple yet work-intensive method to help your lawn look better.

“If your lawn is still partially intact and you have 30% or 40% of the grass still there, then just raking out the dead grass the best you can—maybe even aerating the area and putting new grass seed down—is going to be the simplest solution,” Taun said.

You can do this now, but it’s better to wait until late August.

The KSL Greenhouse is on every Saturday from 8 a.m.-11 a.m. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and our website.