What to Do When Your Lawn Goes Brown in July
Somewhere around the middle of July, mid Michigan lawns go tan. Every year the phone rings about it. Most of the time the lawn is fine.
Dormant is not dead
Cool season grasses evolved to shut down in heat. When soil moisture drops, the plant stops pushing leaf growth and holds everything at the crown. The top goes brown. The crown stays alive. Two good rains later the color comes back and nobody remembers it happened.
How to tell the difference
Grab a handful and pull. Dormant grass resists, because the roots are still anchored. Dead grass lifts out in a mat with no resistance at all, and that usually means grubs rather than drought. The other check is the pattern. Dormancy is even across the whole lawn and worst where the sun is hardest. Grub damage shows up in irregular patches, often near lights or along edges.
Pick one and commit
The mistake is watering a little. Light, occasional watering pulls the lawn out of dormancy without giving it enough to stay out, and breaking dormancy twice in one summer is what actually kills grass. Either water enough to keep it green, meaning a deep soak once or twice a week instead of a daily sprinkle, or leave it dormant and let it ride.
If you let it go dormant
- Keep traffic off it, because dormant turf does not repair itself from wear
- Raise the mower and cut less often, since it is barely growing anyway
- Skip the fertilizer until the heat breaks
- Hold off on seeding, because late summer into early fall is the window, not July
Not sure which one you are looking at? Send JR a photo at (517) 993-8393, or see what lawn maintenance covers.
