It has been a brutally dry year overall for grass. Two years of record wet summers followed by a record dry Spring in decades has been followed by unseasonably high temperatures and humidity. The few long rains we’ve had were welcome, but they didn’t make a big dent in our water debt, and the fast rain from thunderstorms just runs off. People are having a lot of trouble watering their lawns enough to keep them healthy. So lawns are getting sick right now, both from dehydration and a summer fungus called blight or summer patch. You can fix both problems yourself.

Drought injured grass

Blight damaged turf exacerbated by activity on lawn

Think about how rough you feel after working in this heat. After cutting your grass you are dying for a drink of water, and the humidity makes you feel sick. Your grass is out in that same heat and it can’t come inside to cool off.   The drought is bad enough, but the thick humidity and well-meaning attempts to fight the drought are also causing blight. Blight thrives between 24°C and 32°C, sending out spores to infect more grass when the temperature is above 21°C. Infected grass first turns light green, then reddish-brown, then tan, and finally straw-coloured. Many homeowners mistake blight for drought and frantically water the lawn in the heat of the day. But that just makes blight worse.

Here is what you can do

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