Well, I can't really nail down any one thing, especially since I didn't do much fertilizing the first year of this lawn, but I'm definitely on board with what my current approach is doing. The lawn was hydroseeded fall 2008. It was watered every day the next summer, and didn't see much synthetic fertilizer. It was OK in 2009 but the areas along the driveway fried during the summer, and it never had really good color. With the hot/humid weather we had last year, it was suffering from summer patch by late June and only had decent color in the spring/fall. The main reason I think was too much thatch because it might have been seeded too heavy. Other than that, a two foot section along the driveway on both sides fried as well. So most of the hell strips and large section of the front yard was reseeded. Fast forward to today, I've put down 100 lbs of soybean meal, 144 lbs of Milorganite, and 100 lbs of cracked corn this year. I mulch mow (the one thing I have been doing from the start) at 3" and don't water until I see signs of stress (I haven't watered since we got rain overnight on Sunday and it's been over 90 every day since Monday). While 99% of the lawns around have a lot of brown, I've only got one section about 2' square that is near dormant, and a few other very small spots that might be getting summer patch. The areas along the driveway show stress, but are still mostly green. But the majority of the lawn looks like it's spring/fall still. And the color is much better than it's ever been.

Now if I can just get rid of the moles and not have any more surprise visits from mystery utility companies digging up my lawn, I'll be a happy guy.

A lot of us noticed the same things post-conversion to the organics.

In this kind of weather, the browning areas are inescapable. I watered Wednesday evening, I have one spot stressing today by the rock wall where it takes radiant heat and reflected sunlight. I'll spot water today if I can get the hose out without falling over myself (102-105 today). One very tiny area turned brown, showing that my irrigation system misses about 3 square feet on the north face at the property edge...

I'm also disappointed with the water coverage of our hell strips. They have the small heads that have a constant stream that fans out 180 degrees and they don't cover it well enough. They weren't spaced well, and all three sections could probably use one more head.

I also forgot to mention even though I want to find some molasses to help with the thatch, I've noticed it seems to be noticeably better than last year.

Can you add one to those? I tried out the MP Rotator strip heads and those look like they'd be perfect for a hell strip. The output is pretty low, so changing over and adding a head wouldn't be a pressure issue, although your watering time would go up a bit.

There's always a zone section that goes first no matter what you do. I probably should drop an extra head myself into the stone wall area, but I really don't have the extra flow. It would have to be something extremely limited, and I don't think that's going to help. Fortunately, spot-watering occasionally, and only during brutal weather, isn't much of an issue.

It's really not bad enough to bother with. Really the worst spot is the 3-4 inches along the street. That's because the head is about 5-6 inches from the edge of the curb, and with the water coming out on the house side of the head it doesn't get that street edge good enough. Probably not a head that would solve that.

That three to four inches is a problem for all of us. My heads hit there, but it takes such a heat load off the street that the strike isn't enough, and the area is difficult to hit with extra water using the irrigation system.

The only solution there might be a sub-surface drip line run off the main irrigation line, but that's a hassle and I thought about it and didn't bother.

Chalk up another success story for organics.

You can do things with organics that would kill an ordinary lawn - like piling it on in the summer heat. If you have a problem with grass or soil health in the summer, your chemical options really are very limited.

I also cannot believe how fast the grass is still growing despite the 90 degree weather all week. Most of it had grown nearly 2 inches since I mowed last Friday.

If it has food and water, the heat doesn't particularly bother it much. I have exploding shrubs and trees (good exploding, not flame and general destruction). I think the Thuja and tulip tree have put on three inches just in the last few days.

Grimm wrote:I also cannot believe how fast the grass is still growing despite the 90 degree weather all week. Most of it had grown nearly 2 inches since I mowed last Friday.

Come to think of it, my grass normally would not be growing this time of year either. The overdose I'm giving it is really working very well. Apparently I need to up what I consider to be a satisfactory application. I have always said 10-20 pounds per 1,000 for ordinary corn meal (barely 9% protein). I have always applied it at 10 pounds. In the past by this time of year I would have applied a total of 2.7 pounds of protein in three apps. The grass was always thin and stopped growing in the heat. I attributed that to shade and heat. This year I am using corn GLUTEN meal (60% protein) and am up to 60 pounds of protein per 1,000 with another 36 planned. 0.9 pounds of protein per 1,000 square feet makes the grass green but does not inspire density or growth. 12 pounds of protein per 1,000 per month certainly does it all. I suppose rather than work my way up from 0.9 pounds per season I should work my way down from 12 pounds per month.

My organic experiment continues.