Help with Lawn issues

15 years ago

Hi,

Would appreciate help figuring out the issue with the lawn in our backyard. The lawn is less than 2 years old (we moved into the house when it was brand new in Oct 06 and the sod was laid about a week prior to that). Its made up of a mix of Kentucky Blue Grass and some other grasses to help with Minnesota winters. I have (tried to) attach some pictures below.

If it helps, the house is east-west facing so this part of our backyard is east facing and gets direct sunlight in the morning and almost throughout the day. The grass in the front of the house is a lot better and does not have this problem.

Anyways, so over the past year or so we have been noticing this area in the backyard develop patches like those shown in the figure. It started with a smaller area and seems to spread to other areas of the backyard over time (typical signs of grubs?). After reading through this forum, I lifted up the sod in a few spots to look for grubs and sod webworm feeding on the roots but didnt find any insects underneath, let alone grubs.

I have since applied Scotts with Halts fertilizer. So am not sure if I can do any more raking/lifting the sod to look underneath since the instructions for this fertilizer says to wait for several weeks before raking the soil so as to avoid breaking the barrier it creates?

Some other suggestions have been the clay in the soil which when compacts makes it harder for the grass to grow.

Would appreciate any guidance so that I can figure out what is causing this problem and how I can fix it.

Thanks,

Topper

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

philes21
15 years ago
Welcome to the forum!!

The usual symptoms, with a lawn that looks like that, amount to one thing, which I'll try to eliminate right now, and we can move on to another potential problem area.

At that sod farm, the seeds were planted, and gently watered, and they sprouted. From that point, the very beginning of their existence, they were fed, gently, every two weeks. A half application of fertilizer, something like Milorganite. The sprouts liked that: they grew, and they spread out, knitting themselves into a thick, green carpet of dark green lawn. They still got fed, every two weeks. Great food, too: Milorganite. A gentle (nothing heavy, it's a 6-2-0 formula, not like a big boomba first number, a 24-2-4 or something like that) fertilizer, delivered at regular intervals. Fed, and fed. Thrived, and thrived.

Then that sod got delivered to your house.

How much food has it had since?

Did you fertilize four times, that first year? (Which would have been a real cut, from what it had been receiving....).

Did you fertilize four times last year? A serious cut, from what it had been used to, but at least, it could survive. Did you give it a big feeding (two would have been better) in the fall? With a big first number fertilizer? Like a 28-3-3? Or a 30-4-2?

How much fertilizer has gone down on that lawn this spring?

As you might have guessed, this is leading up to the fact that most sod installs suffer from one thing: Fertilizer Starvation.

Tell me how much fert that sod has received, since it has been moved to your yard. If the answer is 'not much'....you need to get some fert down on the lawn. If the answer is 'darn little'.....you need to get More Fertilizer on that lawn. And if the answer is 'none'......well, you know what you need to do.
dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
How often do you water?
How high do you mow?

And what is your problem again? I see the pictures but what part of the picture are you concerned about? I see clumpy turf in the background and a gray and brown turf in the foreground. In the clumpy area I would be worried that the Kentucky bluegrass has been eradicated by disease while the fescue has survived. How long has it looked like that? Does it ever fill in? The grass in the foreground looks like it has not received any water this year. Or it could be mowed too low which dries it out.
Related Discussions
Need Help Diagnosing Lawn Issue
Q
Comments (3)
Definitely looks like drought stress. Were those areas dark green before they turned brown. TTTF gets very dark when it is drought stressed, then it will turn brown shortly thereafter. It looks like the grass on the edges of the brown spots are dark green. Do the blades in those areas look folded up and thin? If so, that's drought stress. You would be well advised to water the area ASAP. Hitting it with shampoo before watering might help water get into those areas faster, as it looks like they might have some hydrophobic soil. Fungal diseases usually start out as rings or circles, sometimes accompanied with fungal mycellium. Then the blades collapse and die, and if conditions are right spread outward. If I remember correctly you live in Westchester county, and the weather in your area hasn't been that conducive to fungal diseases yet.
...See More
Help - New Lawn has Issues, did I over water?
Q
Comments (2)
This is exactly the reason I always suggest people take pictures on a cloudy day. I presume this is a St Augustine lawn, but I can't really be sure. 20 minutes per day is exactly the wrong way to water. The watering mantra is deep and infrequent. Deep means 1 inch of water all at once. You can measure 1 inch using a cat food or tuna can. Place several around the yard and turn on the sprinklers. When the last can is full, that's how long you need to water. Infrequently means not every day. When the temps are in the 70s, infrequent means once every 3-4 weeks. In the 80s, water every other week. In the 90s water once per week. Above 100 you might need to go to watering once every 5 days, but NEVER water more frequently than that. Special exemptions are granted if you live between Banning, CA and Junction, TX south of Green River, UT. That area has a combination of soil, sun, and lack of shade issues which may allow watering every other day; however, I know people in Phoenix who water once a week and they do just fine. Take a picture of the grass with the camera about 3 inches away from the blades. If you have some yellowing or poor looking blades, get a pic of those. The pictures you posted look weird because I don't see any dead grass between the living grass. Also if looks like you are mowing on the mower's lowest setting instead of the mower's highest setting. Change that right away. St Augustine does much better when it is taller. I have an experiment going on with unmowed St Augustine. After nearly 2 years without mowing, some of it is 32 inches high. Much is still down around 9 inches. Most is in between. All of it is healthy looking without any fertilizer and very little watering since Oct 2011. I've not watered for 3 weeks and just left town for a week. Temps are near 100 every day in that area, and I'm not worried. But I'm not suggesting you go to that extreme. I'm trying to prove that taller St Aug is healthier and needs much less water.
...See More
Need help with the lawn issue
Q
Comments (8)
Picture 1 looks to me like Black Medic which many people confuse with clover. Difficult to control even with "weed" poisons. Picture 2 looks like a thistle, as in Canadian Thistle. Picture 3 is difficult to identify. As a rule "weeds" get established and grow when the turf grass is not and that is often because of a soil related problem. The soil may not have enough available nutrients to feed the grass. There may not be enough soil moisture to support the grass for a number of reasons, but if that lack of soil moisture is the result of drought there may not be anything you can do, at this time. These simple soils tests can help you understand more about your soil and what you could do to make that soil a better place for grasses to grow with less of a "weed" problem. 1) Soil test for organic matter. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsÃ¯Â¿Â½ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.
...See More
Need help identifying lawn tractor starting issue
Q
Comments (3)
one thought - you did not provide any tractor or engine numbers. the tractor battery may be completely shorted and there is not enough voltage for the anti after fire solenoid. This device is part of the carburetor. Fuel flow through the carburetor stops.
...See More
superman03
15 years ago
I need help with my lawn. I live in South East Idaho and I am looking for something that can grow at least marginally in an area with dogs. Is there anything that I can plant that will grow in high traffic areas? paul_ricks@hotmail.com

Help with Lawn issues

Comments (3)

philes21

dchall_san_antonio

Related Discussions

superman03

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US