Drought stress is a lawn condition that causes areas of your lawn to turn brown due to lack of water. Drought Stress can occur very quickly. Virtually overnight, large patches of brown grass or even tire tracks from the lawn mower appear in your lawn. This is caused by your lawn becoming dry followed by a period of adequate irrigation or rain.
Even if you water everyday, drought stress can occur because a weather change (ie. hot weather) causes the irrigation system to fallbehind. Lawns with sandy soil or areas along concrete or asphalt are also commonly affected.
What to do? Don’t despair. This is a temporary condition. The grass plant isn’t dead. It just needs time to grow new grass blades.
• Turn up the water.
• Adjust sprinkler heads if needed. The grass plant will recover and your lawn will be back to new within 2-3 weeks.
• Also, if you have mower tracks in your lawn, make sure to avoid mowing on your lawn if the grass looked dull and gray.
• Another way to check is to step on your lawn. If the grass plants don’t pop back up and you make a footprint, your lawn needs more water.
Mower Tracks caused by Drought Stress