Question
QUESTION: I have a lawn maintenance company that comes and applies the treatments to my lawn.  Recently I called and asked them to come and look at my brown lawn.  They came out and left a note that stated I have a heat stressed lawn.  There are no trees on my property and I have an irrigation system, can you help me understand and fix my lawn so that it becomes green again.  Sometimes when I think that I have over watered, mushrooms start growing.  Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

ANSWER: Where do you live, Bill?  A zipcode, just a state, anything?

Any clue what Grass you are growing there?

FYI: Mushrooms are not BAD for your Lawn.  Overwatering CAN give you a bad case of Fungus, but you don't want to UNDERwater just to keep Mushrooms away -- and drought-stress your Lawn.

I can help you with this, but please give me a little more information.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I'm sorry, the address information was not in the body of the message.  I live in Manchester NH 03103.  Not sure of the grass, the front yard is sod, the back yard is seed.

Answer
Any cool season Grass would be content with your weather -- this summer has been VERY cool, on average, with the exception of 3 days in late June that would have wiped out your Grass unless you took steps to water it enough.

Calling your Lawn 'heat stressed' is ridiculous.  Given the amount of rain you have had, and the cool temps, watering would be completely unnecessary -- except for those 3 days, as I said, in late June, which would have turned to toast any Grass that dried out then.

Moral: When the thermometer hits 85 degrees and there's no rain in sight, WATER YOUR LAWN.

Mushrooms are not bad for your Grass, they just sprout because you have Organic Matter in your soil -- a good thing -- and there's something to decompose.  If there was a tree there, even years ago, the dead Tree is still disintegrating down under.  Fungi that are doing all the work on the Tree are interrupted every time you put a toxin on your Lawn; they regenerate and resume their work, until you or your Lawn Service return with more stuff for your Lawn.  When the organic matter is finally used up, they will move on.  The organic matter is terrific for your Grass.  The mushroom-making Fungi are making more of it and are a positive sign.  If you hate the shrooms, rake them up in the morning.  But water your Grass when it gets searing hot, or it will fizzle and fail -- ESPECIALLY if it's growing in full broiling Sun.  If you want the Fungi to work faster, stop putting the 'treatments' down.  (Not such a bad thing, if you think about it.)

Tell me, is the Grass dead, or just on summer hiatus?

Next time your Lawn Service shows up, ask them what kind of Grass you are growing -- Bluegrass, Rye, Fescue, some/all of the above.  It's good to know, just in case something goes wrong.