The ball has dropped, a new calendar has been hung on the wall, and New Year’s resolutions have been made. It’s also possible that some of those resolutions have already been broken, but we’re not here to talk about our lack of willpower. It’s time to look back on the year that was!
The Thirst Was Finally Quenched
We’ve been putting together posts reviewing and reflecting on the previous year for several years now, and they were starting to sound like a broken record. “WE NEED RAIN!” has been the overarching theme since the latter half of 2020. The biggest story in our world was finally having a growing season where we received rain in the spring and summer months! It can’t be overstated how important it was to finally have moisture to help our lawns, landscapes, aquifers, municipal water supplies, bodies of water, and agricultural production…very few aspects of everyday life are unaffected when there is a prolonged period of inadequate moisture. When it was all said and done, we experienced nearly 200 consecutive weeks of drought conditions in Linn, Johnson, and Benton counties. At times, Benton and most of Linn County were under “Exceptional Drought” conditions, which is the most severe level of drought possible.
In the middle of January last year, we were digging ourselves out of a massive snowstorm that dumped nearly a foot of wet, heavy snow across our area. It took several days to combat the numerous snow systems and heavy winds that kept creating drifts, but we were also happy to have gotten a large amount of snow. We were still battling extreme drought conditions, and any amount of precipitation was a welcomed gift! We didn’t receive much more snowfall to wrap up the winter of 2024, which was disappointing for an area of the state that was still incredibly dry.
A Sudden Spring Warm-Up
The transition from winter to spring was sudden and early! In the last half of February, we had numerous spring-like days, with a few featuring high temperatures over 70 degrees. Our soils didn’t freeze as deeply as “normal” last winter, so frost was out of the soil before March could come in like a lamb. We were able to start lawn applications on March 3rd, and we typically start them at least one week after that. The most important piece of data we use in determining when to start lawn applications is something called “growing degree days.” Those of you who grew up on a farm will know what that refers to, but simply put, GDDs are a measure of how much heat has accumulated in a growing season. Using this information, we can predict with incredible accuracy the right time to apply pre-emergent crabgrass control, preventative treatments for surface-feeding insects, and fungicides for pathogens that affect trees and ornamental plants. The spring of 2024 descended upon us so rapidly, in fact, that we were worried we hadn’t started our early spring applications early enough!
The Impact of Spring Rains and a Hot Summer
An early warm-up, while also experiencing drought conditions, can be incredibly hard on our ecosystem. Warm soil temperatures trigger growth, but there needs to be ample moisture to accommodate that. We saw a very nice green-up and flush of growth throughout spring, as the timely rains of April and May helped to hydrate a landscape that had been in dire need of moisture for several years. Our mowing staff stayed very busy, trying their best to keep up with rapidly growing lawns. Despite the occasional workday lost due to rain, we gladly accepted those if it meant healthier lawns and keeping our staff busy! Below is a graph from the National Weather Service, showing 2024 precipitation compared to outlier years and what has been accepted as “normal” for our area. As you can see, our precipitation amounts in 2024 were very conducive to a “normal” year!
If you look closely at the graph, there are two things that stand out: a spurt of rain around the 1st of August that temporarily created some rather wet conditions, and a 7+ week stretch of no rain from August 30–October 23. Both of those created separate issues that led to many phone calls from customers and service call visits to properties.
The extra rain in late July created some disease conditions not only on lawns but also on ornamental trees and shrubs. Hot, humid weather favors the development of disease on plants. We had calls about dollar spots on lawns, which is fairly common on Kentucky bluegrass. This disease is rarely fatal to turf and usually goes away once new growth pushes out the diseased leaves.
However, we saw an increased amount of disease on ornamental trees and shrubs. The biggest offender was Pseudocercospora Leaf Spot, which was widespread on lilacs! Lilacs have always been a hardy, fast-growing, reliable plant featured in many landscapes and coveted for their sweet-smelling flowers. It’s very, very rare for something to damage lilacs, so it was alarming to have dozens of customers wondering why their lilacs looked so sickly. This disease moves very rapidly, and by the time we were notified, affected plants looked like the picture on the right.
Fungicide treatments are not recommended for this type of leaf spot. Instead, pruning all dead and diseased material out is necessary, and ideally, that material would be burned. Disease spores persist on leaf and twig debris over the winter, and clearing that from the plant will help make sure there’s less chance of disease next year. We aren’t concerned about this becoming a regular event, as the weather conditions that led to this showing up are not a common occurrence.
After that 10-day stretch of tropical weather, we dried out and had a very mild August. High temperatures consistently settled between 75-85 degrees, with cool overnight temperatures. However, as Mother Nature tends to do, the heat cranked back up when kids went back to school. For as unpredictable as weather can be, it feels like a guarantee that the first week of school will be one of the hottest weeks of the year! The month closed with a 2-day rain event that dropped nearly 2” of rain on our area. It was a great transition to our favorite month: September!
September’s Dry Spell
September is the month where temperatures cool down, daylight hours shorten, and lawns recover from summer stress. It is also the best time for seeding. For those of us in the grass-growing industry, September is a bright light at the end of the tunnel! However…September 2024 was kind of a stinker. A very dry stinker. Part of the anticipation around getting to September is the expectation that there will be periodic rains to assist in turf recovery and help our seeding projects come along. That did not happen! We received 0.00” of rain for the entire month, and that dry stretch continued 3 weeks into October as well. The lack of rain made it difficult for anyone who had installed seed or sod to get things growing and established. The fact that we went into September with ample moisture was nice, but going that long without rain had a detrimental effect on lawns and landscapes. It took months for our area to recover from a long-standing drought, only to slip back into dry conditions when we needed rain to finish the growing season positively.
Looking Ahead to 2025
By the end of October, we were receiving rainfall again, but turf growth had largely stopped, making it difficult to see much of an impact. We will never complain about rain when it’s needed, but it had a “too little, too late” feel to it. Any moisture we received in the late fall and winter will certainly help the upcoming spring get off to a strong start!
We experienced many positives in 2024, and we’re always hopeful for the best in 2025!
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