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DEVONSHIRE RESIDENTS
With increasing temperatures comes greater stress on our “St Augustine” lawns.
Our irrigation system is programmed to run 2x a week for a maximum 15-19 mins (at best). Many factors impact irrigation days and the amount of time water is delivered such as water table levels, previous rain, drought (where water restriction is enacted), etc. We as a community (nor Down To Earth) have “NO” control on the amount of water delivered via irrigation.
Like all lawn turf, St Augustine requires adequate water to remain healthy and green.
When not enough water is being delivered “HOT SPOTS” (browning dying areas) can result. With the warmer weather, HOT SPOTS are starting to show up intermittently around Devonshire. Lawn areas where the soil has depleted over the years…becoming more sandy are most suceptable…adding some compost to these areas can help…but “SUPPLEMENTAL WATERING” is recommended.
Hand watering – especially hot spots – can help reduce drought damage. Spritzing a lawn during the heat of the day will cool down the lawn and add humidity. Soaking hot spots will bring life back to withered dying grass. Note: Watering during the day does not damage your lawn – it helps your lawn.
Trust this is helpful.
Brack Leaberry
Devonshire Board Member
Lawncare Liason
Good news…DTE will begin our 3rd of 4 annual fertilizer applications…starting this week.
Commercial lawn service companies in Florida (by law) are not allowed to apply fertilizer b June and September… to these being the “rainy” months and the desire to ensure fertilizer product isn’t inadvertently
washed into the water table.
I had requested this next service be applied as early in October as possible to help green up and rehabilitate
lawns stressed over this past very hot summer where we didn’t see a lot of rain.
DTE confirmed to me this morning (per my request) that they will be applying the higher (20%) nitrogen product.
Hopefully, over the next few weeks Devonshire residents will start seeing a noticeable improvement
(the greening up and thickening) of their lawns.
Brack
2023 Lawn Fertilizer (jpeg)
Download Overall, our lawns are looking very good. In addition to our lawns being mowed once a week…we’ve benefitted from 2 high quality high nitrogen fertilization treatments since March. Shrubs have been trimmed / groomed several times. The beds are being sprayed to minimize and control weed content.
During these months of annual intense Florida heat, there are certain lawn issues that can arise…brown patch fungus…cutting the grass higher helps keep the ground cooler…also “webworms” prosper in the hot summer months.
Down to Earth (DTE) recently advised they were seeing evidence of “webworms”…which feed and can literally “strip” the grass on the surface. Sometimes where they’ve damaged the turf…it will look like heat stress creating a bare spot.
You’ll notice signs in lawns indicating DTE recently applied a full blanket insecticide treatment (cinch bugs and webworms, among others) to all properties.
Also, as a reminder, our irrigation times are controlled by the master system and what Lake County allows. Devonshire not DTE has any control in the number of days nor duration of the irrigation (times can fluctuate based on recent rain and water table level).
Currently we receive irrigation twice a week (Monday and Thursday). Best case…each resident receives a “max” of approx. 15-19 minutes per irrigation cycle.
If you want to mitigate risk of areas of your lawn “stressing / developing brown spots” during these months of extreme heat…supplementing with a sprinkler for good 20 minute soaking (if you’re able) is always a big help as St Augustine turf grass is actually not drought tolerant. It likes water.
Stay cool out there!!!
If you have questions or concerns about your lawn or the lawn maintenance you’re receiving, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
All the best !
Brack Leaberry
Devonshire Board Member
Lawn Oversight
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