June and July 2023 Update from Nebraska Turfgrass Science

by Amanda Folck, Assistant Extension Educator

August 7, 2024

2023 Drought Map

Friday, June 30, 2023

This is the happenings at the UNL Turfgrass Program and information to keep in mind as we are ending June and heading to July.

4 weeks until Nebraska Turfgrass Field Day 2023!

Register now for the Nebraska Turfgrass Field Day on July 28, 2023, at the East Campus Turfgrass Research Center in Lincoln.

GDD Update in Nebraska

We are collaborating with Nebraska gridMET on calculating the Growing Degree Days from 11 different locations in Nebraska. The table below is the GDD count for 32- and 50- degrees Fahrenheit from January 1 to June 26. We also calculated when the growing degree days of the first and second days of 50 degrees days at the 11 locations in Nebraska. This is also in addition to the total precipitation in the same timeframe.

Table 1. Growing Degree Days (GDD) from 11 different locations across Nebraska, the first- and second-degree days (DD), and total precipitation (in) from January 1 to June 26, 2023 (data from Nebraska gridMET).

Name of LocationGDD 32GDD 50First 50 DDSecond 50 DDPrecipitation (inches)
Alliance2129.04698.4910-Apr11-Apr11.700
Columbus2911.141250.7315-Mar30-Mar9.272
Fremont3009.61285.215-Mar30-Mar10.007
Grand Island2897.281179.4515-Mar30-Mar7.248
Lincoln3201.751346.675-Mar15-Mar7.642
Mullen2363.31853.658-Apr9-Apr13.897
Norfolk2738.251190.162-Apr8-Apr8.622
North Platte2479.86927.5415-Mar8-Apr11.551
Omaha3050.821280.8815-Mar30-Mar9.019
Scottsbluff2309.22774.1810-Apr11-Apr15.787
Valentine2430.63928.178-Apr9-Apr14.570

Drought Update 
Nebraska Drought Map 2023

Figure 1. Drought monitor for the state of Nebraska June 27, 2023. From droughtmonitor.unl.edu.

Updated information on Nebraska for Drought: https://www.drought.gov/states/Nebraska

For the eastern part of the state, there is still severe drought to exceptional drought while the western part of the state is no drought to severe drought. 

One thing to note with drought, an abiotic stress for turfgrass, is to not mow in the areas of drought. Keep traffic away from these areas. Allowing more traffic on the lawn will damage the grass further in the canopy with less chance of grass recovery.

Water Management in Turfgrass

Due to the drought conditions in the majority of the state, it is a reminder on how to manage water in turfgrass areas. Water is needed for grass areas and varies based on grass types. Check the grass areas and moisture to determine if you need water to avoid overwatering with a screwdriver or soil probe. If water is needed, you should be watering in the early morning hours and apply deep and infrequently.

Based on the NebGuide on Irrigate Home Lawns (Dworak and Reicher, 2011), this publication is a reminder of the amount of water used for home lawns in Nebraska based on grass species. From this publication, the table below is a reminder of how much water use for each of the grass species in Nebraska.  

Table 2. Water-use rates of select species suitable for home lawns in Nebraska († Zoysiagrass is not well-adapted for survival in western Nebraska; ‡ in adapted regions, zoysiagrass can survive with as little as 0.50 inches/week) (Gibeault and Cockerham, 1895; Fry and Huang, 2004).

SpeciesWater use rate (inches/week)Overall drought tolerance
Cool Season  
Kentucky bluegrass1.0-1.8Good
Perennial Ryegrass1.8-3.0Fair
Tall fescue2.0-3.5Very Good
Warm Season  
Buffalograss0.25-0.75Excellent
Zoysiagrass†1.0-1.25‡Very Good

 

For more information on how to properly irrigate home lawns, check out this NebGuide publication.

References:

Fry, J.D. and B. Huang. 2004. Applied turfgrass science and physiology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ.

Gibeault, V.A. and S.T. Cockerham. 1985. Turfgrass water conservation. University of California, Riverside. Cooperative Extension, American Sod Producers Association.

Also reach out to your local municipalities on possible voluntary water conservation mangement timing with your irrigation in severe drought areas. 

Lincoln Residents

Omaha Residents

UNL Turfgrass in the News

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Turfgrass program is profiled in the June 2023 issue (pg. 24-25) of SportsField Management Magazine, the official magazine of the National Sports Field Managers Association (SFMA). https://sturf.lib.msu.edu/article/2023jun.pdf.

Want to get this newsletter link via email? Email Amanda Folck at afolck3@unl.edu to be on the email list for the information directly to you. 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @UNLturfgrass!