Regarding the lawn, summer can be a tough time for lawn grasses
in the South. Once the dry spells, heat, and humidity of early
to mid summer arrive lawn grasses can start suffering stress.
Regardless of how your Bermuda, Centipede, Fescue, St.
Augustine, or Zoysia lawn was managed prior to the summer heat
and drought, to maintain maximum health and survival of the
lawn, considering the following management practices. Raise your
mower blade height. Mow the lawn grass higher and less
frequently than you might in spring and fall: no lower that 2.5
to 3 inches in height on warm season grasses such as Bermuda,
Zoysia and Centipede, and 4 to 5 inches in height on cool season
lawns such as fescue. As a general rule of thumb, never remove
more than 1/3 the height of the grass during a mowing. For
example, regarding a Bermuda lawn, allow the grass to grow to
3.5 to 4 inches in height, then removing 1 to 1.5 inches of the
height during the mowing. Avoid mowing if the lawn does not need
it. Never mow during the heat-of-