Preparing your courts for a dry summer

Croquet lawn coming out of winter dormancy, hoops and a peg in view

Queensland croquet courts are coming out of dormancy right on schedule. Most of our courts are Santa Ana couch or similar cultivars. They turn straw brown from June to August. Now spring is here. The grass is waking up.

The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed a strong El Niño in June. It is still intensifying and tracking toward the strongest ever measured. This does not mean a dry summer exactly. The rainfall signal from El Niño is strongest in winter and spring, then diminishes by summer. Rain usually finds its way back by January. The real danger is a hotter, drier run-in through spring. This stacks cumulative stress on the turf. It happens before the summer heat even arrives. On clay-loam profiles, visible drought stress can appear in 10 to 14 days. It happens even faster on sandy coastal soils.

Dormancy is ending now. The first mow, the first feed, and the first watering of the season will all land in the next few weeks. This timing is a genuine advantage if you use it. You cannot fix water infrastructure overnight. A written water policy takes a committee meeting, and a new tank takes weeks to install. A bore can take up to eighteen months. Getting your habits and your hardware sorted while the grass is still waking up is the only way to stay ahead of the heat.

Cracked, drought-dry ground in ink and wash

There are five things worth putting to your groundsman or committee this month. None of them require new equipment or a big cheque.

1. Soil testing. If you have not had a test in two or three years, do one now while the court is dormant. A basic test covers pH, nutrients, and organic matter. It means your September feed is targeted instead of guessed. You can use SESL Australia or Nutrient Advantage for this. Get a current quote from the lab for the latest pricing. Read more about soil testing on ClubHub. 2. The September feed. Do not fertilise during dormancy between June and August. The grass cannot take up nutrients then. It risks burning the stolons instead. Apply a balanced NPK product in September at 3 to 4 kg per 100m2. This is the court's one real chance to recover strength before the heat hits. 3. Wetting agents. These are vital for sandy coastal courts. Apply them preventively at the start of the dry season. If you wait until dry patches show, the soil has already gone hydrophobic and will repel water. Professional products like Qualibra or CalWet ensure water soaks in rather than running off. Check the summer lawn guide for more detail. 4. Watering habits. A good soak every two or three days is better than a daily splash. Aim for 10 to 15mm per event to encourage roots to grow downward. Always water before 8am. Watering in the afternoon leaves moisture on the leaf overnight, which is the primary trigger for brown patch and fungal disease. 5. Water status. Check your exemption status with your water authority now. Most sporting facilities are treated differently than residential users. Get this confirmation in writing. It is much harder to secure a retroactive exemption once restrictions are already active. Check your system readiness and the latest dam levels online.

Seasonal timeline: dormancy ending, September feed, spring flush, first mow

Mowing the lawn, ink and wash

For a club with no spare budget, the mowing and watering discipline is free. It matters most. Follow the one-third rule: never remove more than one-third of the blade height in a single pass. This prevents scalping a heat-stressed lawn.

These same five steps work for your home lawn too. If the grass is just ending its dormancy in your backyard, the timing is the same. Targeted feeding and deep morning watering will help your home turf survive the spring lead-in.

This is the short version of the prep required for a record El Nino.

### Want the full detail?

ClubHub's Grounds and Facilities guides carry the full how-to on each of these steps.