I’ve been in this business for almost 20 years and I have yet to run across someone who has explained this as well as you have done. Fantastic job helping to educate all of us!
Exactly, kind of makes you wanna just give up on having a perfect lawn throughout the summer, if he cant do it, then we sure cannot. Not worth stressing over
@@followrobthomas yeah, obviously you can do a few things to minimize the damage during summer, like not cutting it when you do not have rain in the forcast. but even if you do irrigation, you are just eliminating one issue (heat stress) and surfacing another issue with disease.
When the pro I learned from is having the same issues I am I feel a little better about my yard. I can't tell you the last time we got some real rain. My yard keeps going to the gray blue heat stress so I hit it with water just a little to try and keep the roots alive. On city water and fixed income I just can't put down a 1" of water a week. I'd say I lost about 40% of my yard but could be less. I'll have to wait and see. Thanks Pet
Start watering with a surfactant when you do water. Drives that moisture deeper and gets the grass to grow roots deeper. After a few years you'll beat the heat
It happens so fast. Every summer, just as the real heat hits, I get busy with work, and I also coach high school football. Leave in the dark, get, get home in the dark. Then BAM crunky grass takes over.
Sometimes those stressed areas look purplish in my yard and I always notice it at a distance rather than look right at the spot close up. I took your advice a long time ago to look for these spots and I adjust my irrigation or hand water if necessary.
Summer in Maryland browned me out quite a bit. Made sure I did a decent fungicide in June to beat the disease, but lawn went dormant early July. Got a few good rains last week and brought it back but not everything came back. Just finished dethatching the dead stuff and overseeding. Have a couple weeks of good rain coming up, so hopefully we're back in action by Labor Day
Great video. To gauge health and conditions, every week or so I take a photo from the exact same place, at the same time, and same lighting conditions. I then can compare what’s happening and where really quickly to tackle any issues that arise. Make sure the pictures are taken under very similar conditions to make sure you are not fooled by morning light versus noon light or shifting shadows. Thanks again for a great review.
Yes Pete. I'm not far from you in SC with sun baked tiff 419 Bermuda. Here in the upstate, we have had not any rain to speak of for two months. The best thing I did to correct the brown stress areas was to have it aerated. Water 20 minutes per zone every third morning.
Can't afford all the great equipment . But, I had an extra ground keeper rake that I put some weight on with a pole that has holes in it and hooked it up, to my pull behind rider last fall. It worked fairly well to remove dead grass. TTF is becoming a challenge wih these extreme hot summers with little rain.
My stress spots are definitely where there is zero shade all day. You can even make out the space between tree leaves where the sun shines through. It does make me always ask the three questions that you did
Growing TTTF in these conditions is definitely not for the weak at heart!! My lawn was doing very well until we got the month and a half of dry weather. Couldn't keep up with the watering. Then the weather flipped and got massive amounts of rain, which drove the disease pressure through the roof!! It's definitely the worst summer, and it's not over that I've experienced since trying to keep a great looking lawn. My neighbors, who literally do nothing to their lawns, just don't understand how their lawns have greened back up, and mine looks like pooh😢
Haha, weeds and ground cover are native species and can withstand this kind of heat stress. Turf quality grass needs a lot of care. We all go through the brown phase in the year. It'll be killer again in fall
This was a hugely helpful video. I may be asking too much here, but would it be possible to make a lawn disease control guide available for purchase that covers the most common fungus types or lawn disease for the various lawn varieties and how to detect and treat them with links to products from GFI turf academy. Like the lawn guides but specifically around lawn problems. When it comes to lawn care I only know what I have learned from your videos and lawn guides. I live by the lawn guides and they have been very helpful and successful. But as a living thing there are times that I am left with guessing and trying to reasearch something that I know so little about that I am not even sure what I am searching for. WWJD but, when it comes to lawn care, I go by WWPD.😊
I’m really thinking about switching over to a warm season grass. I’m sick of dealing with heat stress - brown patch - POA Trivialis in my fescue grass.
Pete what is your thought’s on going from TTFG to Bermuda-grass turf? I feel like central North Carolina is getting more like Georgia and Florida with heat and humidity. Do you think it is worth the hassle. Thanks for the video.
@@braycav6609 I am STRONGLY considering converting my KBG to Bermuda next summer. Bermuda is just sooooooooooo much easier and at this point in my life it would for sure fit my lifestyle and my schedule.
I have all shades of brown and some gray. My lawn right now is like a middle-aged man with thinning hair. What saves me is that the heat ends mid September and then I can grow grass until late November if not mid December.
I have a section of my yard that looks like your neighbor’s. Surprising because it only got really hot for a week and never came back. I’ve always heard cool season turf can be dormant for a long time before it actually dies
I actually just seeded these heavily shaded areas. Got germination in 4 days and got my first mow on it. Wanted it to establish before it gets too cold. This shady spot seems to never fill in so I decided to seed earlier this year hoping it fills in.
I have the ground keepers to rake.. it is a great rake for doing that but it will put blisters on your hands and it will work your back.. I have detached my entire yard with that thing and it will put a hurting on you😂
I wish I could find someone so knowledgeable to help me take care of my lawn. Every company I've hired is just another dump the standard stuff on the lawn as fast as possible and roll on to the next customer. Hate it.
😂Great Video! You almost had me on the “dead mans kb square disease!” I was like 🧐WHAT!?! You definitely made me sit down on that one. Appreciate the BROWN identification education! Have a bless one! 💪🏽
I got disease bad this year as we have had double our normal rains plus some here in SE MI. So all the areas that have poor drainage, low spots, or simply just the drainage areas got some combo of dollar spot and I think brown patch. The ground is just incredibly saturated. Plan is just to push it out come fall. Damage is done plus we keep getting rain so fungicide isnt going to do much anyway.
I would like to see what you could do with St Augustine peat I know up there it's a little bit harder because of the cooler weather but I am from Florida but I know how thick and full it can be I used to maintain a yard when I had my landscape business St Augustine at 2 in it was beautiful
Not gonna lie, I feel much better when I see your yard and see you having problems like the rest of us. Obviously not wishing you to have problems lol, but man it’s been hard this summer. I see you mentioning Bermuda… any thoughts on the “Blu-Muda” movement? Mixing KBG and Bermuda grass to enjoy the benefits of a cool season and warm season in our transitional zone.
Hey Pete morning. So I have the same issues but even worse I water 3 times a week 25 minutes per zone. This year I finally top dressed the whole lawn. I did not get brown. This usually happens in the beginning of June I've also applied 24 hour bio advance grub I've, I've also fertilized twice a month with triple 13. I finally gave up on one of the bad spots, took my lawn mower and cut it down to nothing Tilled further down than I would if I was only just putting topsoil on top of the soil. I even pulled out a bunch of rocks. I'm only given it a shot because out of all the work that I do to my lawn. My neighborhood im the only house that has a good green one but then just decides to turn over and die on me. The last thing I will check to see is if it is any kind of disease but I'm going to have to wait because I have a complete bold spot in my lawn LOL and by June of next year, if I can remember to give you the update to see if it's possible that. The soil was so badly compacted that it was not. Helping the roots grow down far enough
I became a lot less annoyed with my brown spots once I saw the brown in yours and Brads lawn🤣This summer hasn't been ay good for the grass that's for sure
my problems is I have spot like this and usually oversees every year but this year wanted to start putting pre emergent down in the fall to get rid of poa and clover so don't know what to do now. don't want bear spots next spring either.
I switched to a 27-0-5 100% coated slow release product for my summer applications on cool season turf in Michigan and I’m satisfied. Last year I was thinking the same thing you were asking though.
My front lawn that is 1500 sq ft which is full sun has a lot of fine fescue because there must have been trees at some point. It just fries constantly in the summertime. Would I be better off killing it all off or just overseeding it?
Is it possible for tap water from hose to damage grass? I know theres some chemicals in tap water like chlorine or salts. They always say not to water house plants from the tap just didnt know if it could effect turf too. I know my yard seems to like rain water way better.
@@mcass777 Rain and tap water are two different worlds. After a good rain grass stands at attention. It would take weeks to get the same results with tap water.
This is not a knock on you but a serious question. You have everything, Knowledge, equipment, chemicals, water, money, and desire. If the gremlins can get into your lawn what can the average guy really expect? This poor soul doesn't have a chance. He is destined for failure.
The cheat code is an irrigation system. If you have irrigation, you can beat most of these problems. Just need to keep up with disease and you'd be good. But, an expensive and inconvenient solution to having brown grass for a couple months
Interesting point. I over fed blue def last summer on a section of my lawn to knock back some fescue. I killed quite a bit, power raked it then over seeded. I felt it was safer than and quicker than roundup. Might not be perfect for a renovation but for my rehab it was great.
Okay. It brings me a tiny bit of relief, and no slam on you little brother Pete, but the amount of die back I have in my yard I'm seeing in your yard. There's a certain amount of satisfaction with that, knowing I'm really not doing anything wrong, it's just something with the environment. Relax, I'm not a green new scam guy. But I don't know if anybody will mention this so I will go ahead and do it, but we are in what's called a solar phase of solar maximum currently. The sun puts out more intensity during this time and this could have a lot to do with it. The heat? The direct intensity of the Sun, even though it's slightly and fractionally higher, makes that much of a difference. It's a class M star and we're only 93 million miles away from it. To keep it in perspective, if the sun suddenly decided to put out 5% more than it's currently putting out, we would all be dead in about 10 minutes. Selah...
Pete, looking to over seed our lawn witch was new last year with KY31 and a contractors blend (junk) I was mis lead. We live in Tennessee and would your tall fescue be a good seed for me? Just am doing a soil test also, to see what all is needed there. Thanks for your input. Kevin
I've been fighting to keep my lawn from getting killed off in the summer heat for several years and I'm so sick and tired of it! I'M SO SO OVER THIS GRASS CRAP! It very clearly doesn't make sense to plant grass. It's far to hot now. Even way up here in upstate NY. I wish I could figure out a better ground cover that looks as neat as grass. We all have front yards we never even use and we're planting this stupid grass on them that costs a fortune, wastes water and money, and clearly doesn't even work anymore. What we're all doing planting these weak grasses is one of the stupidest things I ever seen humans do. It's way past time to invent something new that looks neat but doesn't die off so easily in the heat. GRASS SUCKS!!!
I’ve been in this business for almost 20 years and I have yet to run across someone who has explained this as well as you have done. Fantastic job helping to educate all of us!
I agree..hes the real deal
I was gonna say something similar.
🫡
You know things are rough if Pete's got brown in his yard....😉
Exactly, kind of makes you wanna just give up on having a perfect lawn throughout the summer, if he cant do it, then we sure cannot. Not worth stressing over
@@ZupE891I just don't even bother in the summer in east central Ohio...🤦🤷 I just tell myself I have a two season lawn... Spring and fall
@@followrobthomas yeah, obviously you can do a few things to minimize the damage during summer, like not cutting it when you do not have rain in the forcast. but even if you do irrigation, you are just eliminating one issue (heat stress) and surfacing another issue with disease.
You know it’s bad when Pete’s yard looks like this
Do t think that’s Pete’s place
@@mikehouser5430 it is
When the pro I learned from is having the same issues I am I feel a little better about my yard. I can't tell you the last time we got some real rain. My yard keeps going to the gray blue heat stress so I hit it with water just a little to try and keep the roots alive. On city water and fixed income I just can't put down a 1" of water a week. I'd say I lost about 40% of my yard but could be less. I'll have to wait and see. Thanks Pet
Start watering with a surfactant when you do water. Drives that moisture deeper and gets the grass to grow roots deeper. After a few years you'll beat the heat
It happens so fast. Every summer, just as the real heat hits, I get busy with work, and I also coach high school football. Leave in the dark, get, get home in the dark. Then BAM crunky grass takes over.
Sometimes those stressed areas look purplish in my yard and I always notice it at a distance rather than look right at the spot close up. I took your advice a long time ago to look for these spots and I adjust my irrigation or hand water if necessary.
Pete, you really know your turf. I learn something every time I view your channel. Thank-you and may God continue to bless you and your family.
Summer in Maryland browned me out quite a bit. Made sure I did a decent fungicide in June to beat the disease, but lawn went dormant early July. Got a few good rains last week and brought it back but not everything came back. Just finished dethatching the dead stuff and overseeding. Have a couple weeks of good rain coming up, so hopefully we're back in action by Labor Day
Same here, grass is dead in areas. I am going to overseed in the fall and just dethatch for now.
I had the same issue. Gave it a bug, fungus and water treatment. It’s looking better slowly. Thank goodness
Great video. To gauge health and conditions, every week or so I take a photo from the exact same place, at the same time, and same lighting conditions. I then can compare what’s happening and where really quickly to tackle any issues that arise. Make sure the pictures are taken under very similar conditions to make sure you are not fooled by morning light versus noon light or shifting shadows. Thanks again for a great review.
Yes Pete. I'm not far from you in SC with sun baked tiff 419 Bermuda. Here in the upstate, we have had not any rain to speak of for two months. The best thing I did to correct the brown stress areas was to have it aerated. Water 20 minutes per zone every third morning.
Can't afford all the great equipment . But, I had an extra ground keeper rake that I put some weight on with a pole that has holes in it and hooked it up, to my pull behind rider last fall. It worked fairly well to remove dead grass. TTF is becoming a challenge wih these extreme hot summers with little rain.
My stress spots are definitely where there is zero shade all day. You can even make out the space between tree leaves where the sun shines through. It does make me always ask the three questions that you did
Growing TTTF in these conditions is definitely not for the weak at heart!! My lawn was doing very well until we got the month and a half of dry weather. Couldn't keep up with the watering. Then the weather flipped and got massive amounts of rain, which drove the disease pressure through the roof!! It's definitely the worst summer, and it's not over that I've experienced since trying to keep a great looking lawn. My neighbors, who literally do nothing to their lawns, just don't understand how their lawns have greened back up, and mine looks like pooh😢
Haha, weeds and ground cover are native species and can withstand this kind of heat stress. Turf quality grass needs a lot of care. We all go through the brown phase in the year. It'll be killer again in fall
This was a hugely helpful video. I may be asking too much here, but would it be possible to make a lawn disease control guide available for purchase that covers the most common fungus types or lawn disease for the various lawn varieties and how to detect and treat them with links to products from GFI turf academy. Like the lawn guides but specifically around lawn problems. When it comes to lawn care I only know what I have learned from your videos and lawn guides. I live by the lawn guides and they have been very helpful and successful. But as a living thing there are times that I am left with guessing and trying to reasearch something that I know so little about that I am not even sure what I am searching for. WWJD but, when it comes to lawn care, I go by WWPD.😊
I’m really thinking about switching over to a warm season grass. I’m sick of dealing with heat stress - brown patch - POA Trivialis in my fescue grass.
Poa is EASILY controlled in Bermudagrass turf
Pete what is your thought’s on going from TTFG to Bermuda-grass turf? I feel like central North Carolina is getting more like Georgia and Florida with heat and humidity. Do you think it is worth the hassle. Thanks for the video.
@@braycav6609 I am STRONGLY considering converting my KBG to Bermuda next summer. Bermuda is just sooooooooooo much easier and at this point in my life it would for sure fit my lifestyle and my schedule.
@@GCITurf If you decide to go with Bermuda grass please be sure to make a video of the process. Thanks. 🙏
Great video Pete! We appreciate you sharing your knowledge
I have nice green burmuda right now
😂 I know you do. I might join you soon 🎉
I have all shades of brown and some gray. My lawn right now is like a middle-aged man with thinning hair. What saves me is that the heat ends mid September and then I can grow grass until late November if not mid December.
i think this year has been the worst so far,over 90 degrees like everyday this summer and humidity is really bad
I have a section of my yard that looks like your neighbor’s. Surprising because it only got really hot for a week and never came back. I’ve always heard cool season turf can be dormant for a long time before it actually dies
Dormant grass still stands up. Dead grass lays down. If it's laying down, get ready to dethatch and overseed
I actually just seeded these heavily shaded areas. Got germination in 4 days and got my first mow on it. Wanted it to establish before it gets too cold. This shady spot seems to never fill in so I decided to seed earlier this year hoping it fills in.
Now I see why you might be going to Bermuda.
I have the ground keepers to rake.. it is a great rake for doing that but it will put blisters on your hands and it will work your back.. I have detached my entire yard with that thing and it will put a hurting on you😂
Great video Pete! Thank you sir!
Its been a rough summer for sure. My yard is still looking solid for the amount of rain we have gotten and the watering restrictions they gave us.
Great information and video Pete. Thanks
Definitely interested in a video about the cart buddy pump overheating issue. Thanks for looking into that issue.
I wish I could find someone so knowledgeable to help me take care of my lawn. Every company I've hired is just another dump the standard stuff on the lawn as fast as possible and roll on to the next customer. Hate it.
I’m fortunate.. I have green lush grass here in Indiana … rain keeps coming
I’m in Indy. Curious what type grass do you have?
@@scottcollins3450 mix of TTTF some Bluegrass from GCI
😂Great Video! You almost had me on the “dead mans kb square disease!” I was like 🧐WHAT!?! You definitely made me sit down on that one. Appreciate the BROWN identification education! Have a bless one! 💪🏽
Lol
I got disease bad this year as we have had double our normal rains plus some here in SE MI. So all the areas that have poor drainage, low spots, or simply just the drainage areas got some combo of dollar spot and I think brown patch. The ground is just incredibly saturated. Plan is just to push it out come fall. Damage is done plus we keep getting rain so fungicide isnt going to do much anyway.
Dealing with the same thing in northern Michigan. Almost all my accounts have been impacted to some degree.
I would like to see what you could do with St Augustine peat I know up there it's a little bit harder because of the cooler weather but I am from Florida but I know how thick and full it can be I used to maintain a yard when I had my landscape business St Augustine at 2 in it was beautiful
Hey Pete, great info. Very thorough. Can you list the fungicides you recommend on fescue?
Thanks!
@@jimandtararaddatz5712 any and all of these depending on the disease - gciturfacademy.com/collections/disease-control
Not gonna lie, I feel much better when I see your yard and see you having problems like the rest of us. Obviously not wishing you to have problems lol, but man it’s been hard this summer.
I see you mentioning Bermuda… any thoughts on the “Blu-Muda” movement? Mixing KBG and Bermuda grass to enjoy the benefits of a cool season and warm season in our transitional zone.
Time to make that change! Iron Cutter for the win!
Hey Pete morning. So I have the same issues but even worse I water 3 times a week 25 minutes per zone.
This year I finally top dressed the whole lawn. I did not get brown. This usually happens in the beginning of June I've also applied 24 hour bio advance grub I've, I've also fertilized twice a month with triple 13. I finally gave up on one of the bad spots, took my lawn mower and cut it down to nothing Tilled further down than I would if I was only just putting topsoil on top of the soil. I even pulled out a bunch of rocks. I'm only given it a shot because out of all the work that I do to my lawn. My neighborhood im the only house that has a good green one but then just decides to turn over and die on me. The last thing I will check to see is if it is any kind of disease but I'm going to have to wait because I have a complete bold spot in my lawn LOL and by June of next year, if I can remember to give you the update to see if it's possible that. The soil was so badly compacted that it was not. Helping the roots grow down far enough
You the MAN. question, my brother can I over seed with blue heat if my yard is all cool blue ? 👍🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I became a lot less annoyed with my brown spots once I saw the brown in yours and Brads lawn🤣This summer hasn't been ay good for the grass that's for sure
Can you use a dethatcher to get up all the dead stuff to expose the ground?
@@charliemedina8439 yup
Armyworms! I'm under attack!
Hey pete are you planning to make any more videos on the z3x?
Very informative, thanks.
Thanks for the video Pete
My brown spots are from rabbits. They sit in the same general spots and chew, pee, and poop, stressing out the lawn and probably burning it a bit.
my problems is I have spot like this and usually oversees every year but this year wanted to start putting pre emergent down in the fall to get rid of poa and clover so don't know what to do now. don't want bear spots next spring either.
Anyone else noticing a decrease in fertilizer quality this year?
I switched to a 27-0-5 100% coated slow release product for my summer applications on cool season turf in Michigan and I’m satisfied. Last year I was thinking the same thing you were asking though.
Good info THANKS!
You put all fungicides together? Or apply separately?
My front lawn that is 1500 sq ft which is full sun has a lot of fine fescue because there must have been trees at some point. It just fries constantly in the summertime. Would I be better off killing it all off or just overseeding it?
@@Piccolo_Re possibly so
What type of rake?
Do you prefer the GT30 over the 36" QuadAer? Im torn and about to miss my window to order 😂
I have so much stress from this topic. 😢
Pete, how do you prevent summer patch??.... or can you??
What is the best grass for a un-sprayed lawn in northeast PA. As far as you can go in the top corner. I don't believe in spraying
Which cart buddy model were you having overheating issues with. Looking to get the 50G for my 20K sqft.
I don’t know anything about this but it looks like necrotic ring? Brown ring with green in the center?
Isnt dethatching in the heat a bad idea?
@@Sir_Mack yep. Wait till fall when you seed
Hey mine looks the same :(
Im on a strong fungicide program and im
Struggling. We have been getting 7-8 days straight of 1-2 inches of rain. Nothing I can do.
Dead as a hammer....
...head shark that is sleeping. 🔨🦈
Grubs?
That's what I was wondering.
Is it possible for tap water from hose to damage grass? I know theres some chemicals in tap water like chlorine or salts. They always say not to water house plants from the tap just didnt know if it could effect turf too. I know my yard seems to like rain water way better.
I imagine rain has issues as well.
@@mcass777 Rain and tap water are two different worlds. After a good rain grass stands at attention. It would take weeks to get the same results with tap water.
This is not a knock on you but a serious question. You have everything, Knowledge, equipment, chemicals, water, money, and desire. If the gremlins can get into your lawn what can the average guy really expect? This poor soul doesn't have a chance. He is destined for failure.
The cheat code is an irrigation system. If you have irrigation, you can beat most of these problems. Just need to keep up with disease and you'd be good. But, an expensive and inconvenient solution to having brown grass for a couple months
A lot of my yard checked out and I’m sure most won’t come back.
I have a stupid question. Why use glyphosate when you can smoke it off with straight UREA - def?
Interesting point. I over fed blue def last summer on a section of my lawn to knock back some fescue. I killed quite a bit, power raked it then over seeded. I felt it was safer than and quicker than roundup. Might not be perfect for a renovation but for my rehab it was great.
@@mcass777 exactly. Less damage to environment. Less safety issue for health.
Okay. It brings me a tiny bit of relief, and no slam on you little brother Pete, but the amount of die back I have in my yard I'm seeing in your yard. There's a certain amount of satisfaction with that, knowing I'm really not doing anything wrong, it's just something with the environment.
Relax, I'm not a green new scam guy. But I don't know if anybody will mention this so I will go ahead and do it, but we are in what's called a solar phase of solar maximum currently. The sun puts out more intensity during this time and this could have a lot to do with it. The heat? The direct intensity of the Sun, even though it's slightly and fractionally higher, makes that much of a difference. It's a class M star and we're only 93 million miles away from it. To keep it in perspective, if the sun suddenly decided to put out 5% more than it's currently putting out, we would all be dead in about 10 minutes. Selah...
Pete, looking to over seed our lawn witch was new last year with KY31 and a contractors blend (junk) I was mis lead.
We live in Tennessee and would your tall fescue be a good seed for me?
Just am doing a soil test also, to see what all is needed there. Thanks for your input.
Kevin
@@klwit1980 yes sir. My tall fescue is a good choice I believe
is that PYTHIUM from that RYE???
Moore Susan Brown Betty Lopez Edward
I've been fighting to keep my lawn from getting killed off in the summer heat for several years and I'm so sick and tired of it!
I'M SO SO OVER THIS GRASS CRAP! It very clearly doesn't make sense to plant grass. It's far to hot now. Even way up here in upstate NY.
I wish I could figure out a better ground cover that looks as neat as grass. We all have front yards we never even use and we're planting this stupid grass on them that costs a fortune, wastes water and money, and clearly doesn't even work anymore.
What we're all doing planting these weak grasses is one of the stupidest things I ever seen humans do. It's way past time to invent something new that looks neat but doesn't die off so easily in the heat.
GRASS SUCKS!!!
That glyphosate is one heckuva disease…
And Bron remixed it from Kobe. Lakers vs Pacers NBA finals game 4.
White Ronald Thomas Maria Miller John
🫡🇺🇸
I've got to say that in all the years I've followed you.. this is the worst case of fungus to attack your homestead I've seen....