Heat Stress or Ascochyta Leaf Blight

Good morning! I want to address the dry, brown, straw-like patches in many of the lawns that have shown up again recently. This is due to the extreme heat stress that we had last week when at times we were in the 90s, and we had no rain. Heat stress is exemplified near concrete or metal lids etc. in or next to the lawn, which is why many of the lawns turned brown along the walks and driveways. Those patches could simply be heat stress or could be a disease called Ascochyta Leaf Blight.

Either way, the best way to treat it is to keep it watered properly and to continue with your fertilization treatments to keep the lawn stronger (don’t stop your treatments – they didn’t cause the issue – but will help your lawn recover faster!). Be sure to water at least 2 to 3 times a week for 30-60 minutes each, if we have no rain, especially during high temperature weeks. 1-2″ of rain or sprinkling combined is all your lawn really needs to stay green and healthy

In the pictures featured below, I show three examples of the difference watering can make (mine and 2 of my neighbors’). During the high heat a couple weeks ago, the first picture shows no extra watering; the second picture shows a little bit extra watering; and the third picture shows drenching that area two times during the high heat week. Watering, plus the rain that we received brought third lawn (mine) back to life. Just put an extra high concentration of water on those areas and your lawn should come back much faster

Happy watering! Trisha

No extra watering during drought conditions