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Only brown yard in NJ - Advice appreciated

13 years ago

My problem is, that my lawn is the ONLY brown lawn in my neighborhood. It turns color every fall/winter and will be green during the summer. If I cut my lawn to short you can see the brown. I try to keep my lawnmower blades up high. I don't get it, barely any of my neighbords water their lawns. Why do they have green lawns during winter when I don't?

Ae there any cheap homemade solutions? Would those Jerry Baker's, "beer, ammonia, and dish soap" stuff work for me? I just want my lawn to match my neighborhoods (all year long).

Appreciate any help, thanks

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Comments (3)

tiemco
13 years ago
What type of grass do you have? Most cool season grasses (Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye, tall fescue, fine fescue) will lose some color during winter dormancy, especially if it is covered with snow for a long time, but in general they don't go completely brown. If you have Zoysia, which is a warm season grass, it will completely turn brown or tan from the first frosts till spring. Some pictures of your grass would help in determining what you have if you don't know. If you have a cool season grass your problems might be soil based, in which case a soil test would be recommended.
bpgreen
13 years ago
It's possible that you have a warm season grass and your neighbors have cool season grasses. Zoysia grass has been marketed as a "magic" solution and many people planted it in areas where it has a very short growing season. In NJ, it will survive the winter, but it will be brown in the fall, winter and spring while other grasses are green.

If you've got zoysia, the only way to "fix" it is to wait until it's growing well and kill it, probably using something like glyphosate (brand name Roundup is the best known). Then in late summer/early fall, after the heat of summer, plant a new lawn using cool season grass.

If you've got a cool season lawn and it's going dormant during winter, you probably need to fertilize with 1 lb of actual N per 1000 sq ft in the fall, after the top growth has stopped, but while the grass is still green.
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The ratio is 1:1. 90% of bag is usually Tall Fescue, and 10% is bluegrass. The ratio still 50% bluegrass and 50% fescue - which is what you want. Bluegrass seeds are VERY small compare to Fescue, hence the 90/10% ratio. auteck's message is important. To carry it further, weed seeds are quite often like dust. When you look for seed, read the analysis. The "Other crop" and "Weed seed" should be 0.00% or close to it. At 8,000,000 seeds per pound, it does not take much bentgrass (Other crop) to give you a bentgrass lawn. Example (caution - mathematical content): Other crop: 0.01% (but it is bentgrass). 0.01% of 8,000,000 seeds per pound is 800 seeds PER POUND of other seed. In a 10-pound bag that's 8,000 bentgrass seeds. Moral: You get what you pay for in seed. Get the best you can afford.
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About the only thing you can do is mow regularly. It's a bit too young for weed killer, but mowing regularly will prevent most weeds from going to seed. You can use herbicides after the first few mowings, read the labels. Fertilizing in spring is generally done around Memorial Day, so now is OK. I would probably put down a half application of starter fertilizer, being sure to water it in. Most hydroseeded lawns are ready for their first mow in about a month when the grass reaches 3 inches. Why yours is growing so slowly could be any number of things. Since this spring was cooler than normal that is probably a part of the problem. If the landscaper used mainly KBG and fine fescues, those take longer to grow. If you haven't been watering often enough is another reason. Spring seedings are often fraught with problems like longer establishment times due to lower soil temps, weed pressure, and disease during the upcoming summer. You will probably lose some grass if this summer is anything like last years, but if it's cooler and wetter then you might make it through with minimal losses.
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nearandwest
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Based on your description, I'd almost bet the farm that your lawn is a warm-season grass.

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