Any lawn care experts-lawn treatments on dormant lawn?

[HeyIt'sMe]

Any lawn care experts out there?

Like alot of the country our area is in a severe drought and we've had a long string of 100+ degree temperatures. Our city is on water restrictions and we are only permitted to water our lawns on certain days based on our addresses. Even before the restriction we stopped watering the lawn because the water bill was outrageous. Our lawn has gone dormant.

We have lawn treatments applied by a lawn care company. They just called with a reminder that they'll be out to apply the next broadleaf & fertilizer treatment next Tuesday. I asked the rep why they were applying the treatment to a dormant lawn and she gave her spiel about now is the most important time to put down fertilizer since the lawn is in "survival mode" and also weeds can take over the lawn.

Anyone know if that is true? Am I wasting my money?

TIA!
Debbie

 

[pantherlj]

Not an expert but I do know that too much fertilizer can actually burn up your lawn in drought conditions! You need to be able to water you lawn after an application so I would skip it until closer to the fall if you aren't currently watering your lawn.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

I would not be putting any fertilizer down now. I also think it is way to early to apply broadleaf herbicide. Having your grass go dormant in the middle of the summer is fine but it still needs some water.

 

[Chelley00]

We're also in Indiana, and our lawn care company stopped treatments on lawns since we can't water. We'll pick back up if we ever get some rain, or in fall.

 

[PrincessShanShan]

My husband owns a lawn maintenance business and does this on a regular basis. I asked him your question. He said while your grass is not growing, the roots are still alive. If you put broadleave on it the roots will absorb it like it would rain because it's so dry. This could do more harm than good to your lawn. His suggestion is to wait until you can water or conditions aren't so dry.