Is the grass dead, or just dormant?
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Susan Kim, Vince Vitrano. Video by tmj4.com
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WAUNAKEE - It's a question homeowners have been asking for weeks now...
When it comes to our lawns. Is the grass dormant, or dead?
"I figured we're at about six weeks, let's put some water on it and hope," says Waunakee homeowner Joe Zitzelsberger.
And hope is about all the soil seems to hold these days. After rounds of watering, the Waunakee resident is now starting to think the lawn's a lost cause.
"I was hoping for dormant. What I'm looking at now after putting quite a bit of water on it in the last several days. I think a lot of it is probably dead," said Zitzelsberger.
"The grass can usually take sixty to seventy five days before it will die. We're not really going to know whether it's dead or alive until we start getting rain or start irrigating it a lot to see if the grass bounces back," said Tom Schwab of OJ Noer Turfgrass.
Experts say most grass in the area should remain dormant at this point as vitality remans in the crown.
"The crown is right at the surface level or slightly below," said Schwab. "And that's everything. the tillers grow from the crown, the shotos grow from the crown."
Unless natures shares the riches of moisture soon, the crown will soon be without a kingdom.
"If it's really not coming back, I don't know," said Zitzelsberger. "I keep looking at the forecast. I see the forecast maps with nothing."
Watering will help as long as your goal is keeping the crown hydrated. And that means about a quarter inch of water a week. But if this drought continues another two weeks or so, that's when we may have some major problems.
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