Question
Hello Charlotte,
When our house was built about 9 years ago the top soil was scraped off during building and then respread when construction was finished. Our soil type is sandy loam, and we are in Battle Creek, MI, climate zone 5. The problem is the grass, Kentucky Blue Grass, still has bare spots, and burns easily when the weather gets in the 80's or higher. A soil test said the pH = 7, Phosphorus = surplus, Potassium = low. They recommended LS 400 lawn fertilizer in April and October, and Weed Free Zone spray on weed killer dandelions, etc. We have kids and pets so I'd like to avoid the chemical fertilizers and weed killers. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Dan;
You are wise to avoid chemicals, for the children and pets, yes, but also for the soil.
Chemical lawn products CAUSE problems, they don't sure them.
Kentucky Blue Grass is a cool season grass, but in the 80s it should be ok.
I had that for a lwan in K.C. Mo, when I lived there, and I know most of Missouri has Kentucky Blue Grass, and their summers do heat up.
Could be the root system is ahallow. This will stress grass more than just about anything.
A shallow root system causes the grass to suffer more from heat and cold damage, and the roots have to come to the surface to get water. They die, and trap other debris and this is what is knows at thatch.
It forms a tight waterproof pad that won't let water or anything get to the roots.
I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches. I water once a week even in our hot Texas summer.
My grass root system has grown deep from the deep watering, so when they top 3 or 4 inches of soil ar dry, there is still moisture down where the roots are. So the grass weathers these hot summers better.

The organic program I have followed for the last 10 years keeps my lawn weedfree, even though the winds seed in every weed seed known to man.
Before I started the organic program, the weeds I battled for over 30 years in THIS lawn were, dandelions, crabgrass, johnson grass, clover, chickweed, dollar weed, even poison ivy .
I put down sugar and watered it in, and in a couple weeks, there were about half as many weeds.
Now, my soil had had a lot od bark mulch and humus etc tilled into it, almost every year. Of course, I didn't know it, but all the benefits of the humas were undone by the chemical fertilizers I used.

For right now, if there have been no chemicals put on your lawn in the last 4 to 6 weeks, an organic program should be able to start.
Chemical fertilizers and all the other chemical products kill off all the beneficial microbes, beneficial nematodes and insects that will improve your soil, and feed on harmful incects, nematodes etc.
If they have had 4 to 6 weeks to wear out, and spring rains to help wash them through the soil, then you should be able to get some microbiotic organisms wotking in there.

I just used nothing but table sugar for about 9 years, and that balanced my soil out so that weeds no longer came up and flourished in my soil, and I just had thiuck, dark green, lusjh grassy lawn, and shrubs.
I only used baking soda disolved in water for fungus and molds etc.
Last spring I heard about alfalfa meal and lava sand, and they both do add a lot of good nutrients to your soil, so everything does even better.
On an organic program, the PH and nutrients in the soil will become balanced.
It does take a little time, but you are no talking years of waiting.
I noticed a huge difference in my lawn in the first growing season, and all I put on it was sugar.
Sugar ( or dry molasses) nourishes the beneficial microbes that work round the clock, enriching and improving the soil.
It does absolutely NOTHING but nourish the microbes. THEY do all the work.
Weeds like poor soil, and will not thrive in rioch soil. Make rich soil and any weeds that do come up will die out very soon. As the soil gets richer, weeds will not even germinate and come up.
I haven't seen a weed in about 8 years, in MY yard. The neighbors that WILL NOT try the organics still get their lawn seeded every spring.
Those of us on the organic program also have a green lawn longer in the fall and our's greens up faster in the spring, than our other "chemical" neighbors.

Corn Gluten Meal is also a good all-round organic fertilizer.

I just WILL NOT skip my sugar.
I put it down at the rate of 4 to 5 pounds per 1000 sq.ft, in the spring and fall, and sometimes in mid summer. I water it in well.
No, it does not attract ants, because it is disolved by the water and washed into the soil.
Besides, when you have a healthy enviornment for them, toads, lizards, and grass snakes will take up residence in your lawn, and they will eat all the insects you don't want there.
I don't even have to put out orage peels to get rid of fire ants anymore, because my lizards and toads etc eat all of them too.

I just broadcast the sugar ( and everything else I use) by hand.
Do this and it will get you atarted off on a good organic program.

Put down the sugar, and water it in.
These things can also help speed things along and add nutrients.
 Lava sand ( get it at a nursery, or even Walmart and Home Depot)  
 alfalfa meal ( you will probably have to go to a feed .store to get this).
 Horticultural Corn Meal ( for fungus diseases) at the rate of 10 pounds per 1000 sq.ft.

  Those things will get everything going.
Rabbit manure or bat guanno are organic fertilizers you can get at nurseries that sell organic products.
I have had these recommended to me, I have not used them.
I have a bag od organic fertliizer I bought about 4 years ago that I haven't used yet.
My grass and everything is so luch and green and healthy, I just haven't felt the need to use it.
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Some things that might help the heat bothering the lawn.
If you have been using chemicals, just a tiny bit too much can seriously burn a lawn, or if it doesn't get watered in well enough or soon enough, but if you use too much of the sugar or other organic products, it doesn't damage your soil or grass.
Too much of the bat guanno etc might turn it into a jungle of tall grass.LOL

 Set the blades og the mower up to at least 3 inches when the temp gets up to the upper 70s or lower 80s.
If you are mowing at 2 or 2 inches, too much heat can be getting to the soil, and stressing the grass.
The taller blades help shade the soil from the heat.

   Too shallow watering, and this causing the roots to be too close to the surface, so they are dieing. Water deeply, to a depth of at least 6 inches. This will make the roots grow deep, and help protect against heat, cold and drought damage.

Your problem could be brown patch fungus.
If you can grab a tuft of the grass where it is turning brown, and pull and it comes up easily, especially with little or no roots attached, and maybe a slimy feel, then it is probably brown patch fungus. Horticultural Corn Meal will cure that. If you can't find that, mix 4 teaspoons or 1 rounded TAblespoon baking soda per gallon of water, and spray.
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Not only is it safe for your children and pets to play on the lawn on an organic program, but they can be on it while you are doing these treatments, and they can even help with them. There are no chemicals or poisons to harm them.
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I have written out my program I follow along with some more things I have learned, but am not necessarily doing yet.
It is very long to add to what I have written here, but if you would like to have it, write me, and I will be glad to post it for you.
Charlotte