BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Yards across Baton Rouge are showing patches of dead grass as extreme heat and drought-like conditions take a toll on lawns, according to Dan Weintritt, horticultural manager for Treppendahl Landscape.
Weintritt said soil compaction around tree roots is contributing to the damage. He compared the effect of tree roots in soil to a vacuum bag.
“A tree root in the soil is kind of like doing a vacuum bag effect — it just sucks all the available air, all the available moisture out,” Weintritt said.
From too much rain to not enough
Weintritt said Louisiana spent the early part of the summer with heavy rainfall, receiving more than an inch of rain multiple times per week. He said that rainfall compacted the soil. Conditions have since shifted to drought-like conditions…