The Storm's A-Coming

The past ten days have been a surprisingly wet time for Montgomery County.  Usually the first week of July marks the beginning of the drought season from Spring City to Hatboro, but this year has brought record amounts of rain in our area.  While you may think this will help to cut down on the water bill, there are actually some issues with flash storms that bring a large quantity of rain in a short period of time. 

While inspecting lawns last week, each day was very similar.  The early morning was warm, but an iced coffee staved off the heat pretty well.  Soon after, the afternoon became brutally hot followed by clouds and ultimately an intense but brief storm.  These types of storms bring enough rain to help the lawn if it were spread out throughout the day, but the brevity of the rainfall usually doesn’t bring enough benefits for the lawn to pass on its regularly scheduled watering.  The lawn needs to be well hydrated in the early morning to stay in tip-top shape through the afternoon heat.  Imagine skipping that iced coffee in the morning…how do you feel? Even with a quick shot of energy later in the day, you feel something missing.  So even with the afternoon showers that have passed through Montgomery County recently, make sure to keep your sprinklers set for watering in the morning to keep the lawn hydrated. 

          Another common issue with flash storms is the appearance of mushrooms throughout the lawn.  In most cases, these fungi are not a cause for alarm and rarely need fungicides to cure.  Mushrooms form from naturally decaying wood and given the right climate and environment, typically dark, wet, and damp, they will sprout up after a storm.  The easiest way for you to control these new additions to your lawn is to simply practice your golf swing with a broom and send them flying.  More than likely, they will not reappear in the same spots unless there is a more serious issue such as fairy ring.  In the case of fairy ring or any other disease activity, your local lawn care technician can apply a fungicide to control the fungus and offer additional cultural recommendations to help remedy the situation.

Fairy ring disease with mushroom activity, however, mushrooms and disease activity are not related.

 Contributed by Harry Bambi, Sales Supervisor