MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The scorching heat is taking a toll on the Mid-South.
An ambulance was called to an apartment on Greenlaw Drive Monday, after reports of a person suffering from heat exhaustion. Similar calls had been going out all day.
Sprinklers were also working overtime to quench thirsty yards in the Mid-South.
David Hicks was protecting his investment. He just put down sod at his Bartlett home and knows water is the one thing that will keep it from dying out before it even gets rooted.
“I am watering now just about everyday. Different sections at any one time. Most the time in the morning,” Hicks said.
At Bartlett Nursery and Landscaping, they’re answering many calls about protecting parched yards.
“I am seeing a lot of yards drying up and turning brown,” Conroy Barber of Bartlett Nursey and Landscaping said.
He says even though grass may turn brown, it’s what’s underneath that lets you know if you have a problem.
“See, this is pieces of the root . It’s a nice healthy root system. All it needs is some real good food and good moisture,” Barber said as he showed us a section of grass.
Sun, regular watering in the morning or evening, and a slow-release fertilizer will bring the color and health back to any grass.
“It’s a slow-release nitrogen. That’s the most important thing, plus iron. The iron helps to green the grass a lot quicker,” Barber said.
He says you can check the root of your grass by shoveling up a small section and looking at the bottom. If there’s no root, just dirt, then you may have to re-sod and hope for some rain help from mother nature.
There is some good news in this heat wave. Martin Luther King Jr. Prep High and Ridgeway Middle School, which closed last week because of the heat, are back open after getting their air conditioners repaired.
