Looks like you need to water.

How much watering is Mother Nature providing?

Up until yesterday we have been an inch or two behind in rain. But yesterday it rained like hell all day and we got half an inch. Will continue to rain and be unseasonally cool for the rest of th week.

Somehow I overlooked this in the Organic section. Maybe I left it because I thought you were asking more about the grains and I don't know much about fertilizing with grains.

If you're getting rain now, see if that helps it turn green. If so, you're done. If not, you may need more fertilizer. What grains are you using and how much with each application? When was your last application?

Keep in mind that it takes about three weeks for the N from the grains to be in a form that grass can use, and that soil temperatures need to be above 40F also.

All grasses need water to stay green/growing. Some varieties of grass go dormant during drought like conditions. Some will die without sufficient moisture. Although dormancy may not be the most attractive/green, it is perfectly normal for some grass varieties to do this.

If you desire a green, thick lawn you will need to provide supplemental irrigation during these drought periods. Unless rain is forecast in the next 24 hours, lawns should be irrigated when 30 to 50 percent of the lawn shows signs of wilt. Your objective when irrigating is to get the maximum amount of water to the root zone without over-irrigating. In most soils, this is somewhere between 1/2 to 1 inch of water. Irrigate early in the morning(between 12am-6am) so that excess moisture on the leaf surfaces will dry during the day. Irrigating late in the day can cause turf leaf diseases. Irrigating during the late morning and afternoon will waste irrigation water to evaporation. To determine how long to run your sprinkler system to apply this much water, set out several tuna fish cans (or any same size straight sided cans) at random in each sprinkler zone and see how long it takes to fill them to the desired depth.

Continue to mulch mow high with a sharp blade.

What type of grass and soil do you have?

Well, about all I can offer after looking at your pics is to say its probably illegal to bury people in your back yard....

bpgreen, I am using mostly SBM as I bought way too much this spring. I do use UCG with the SBM. I don't know exactly how much grains I use but I have medium size Scotts spreader and use about 1.5 tubs on all of my lawn in the almost fully opened position if that makes any sense. This is my second application of grains this season. The first was at about March which was probally too soon.

skoot cat I have KBG/Fescue I believe.

rcnaylor, LMAO. I know it looks like a grave the MIL is buried there. No, really it is my first attempt at a lasagna garden. I installed it last fall before I discovered EarthTainers and the wife had a covered porch built casting a shadow over the garden bed.

All I will wait to see if the cool weather and rain will help. At first I thought the brown areas were because I used chemical ferts, mowed way too low and did not mulch mow for the past few years and it had stressed the lawn.

I don't use grains on my lawn, so I don't know how much that translates to. Also, even if I knew how many lbs of grains that would be, it only tells part of the story because I don't know how many sq ft of lawn you have. I think the goal is to try to use 20 lbs per 1000 sq ft of lawn per application. I would guess that a spreader holds about 10 to 15 lbs, so unless your lawn is pretty small, you're probably not using enough. When I was using synthetics, I think I used about that much to cover 4000 sq ft. I'd need about 8 times as much if I were using grains.

ok I have about 1350 square feet of lawn. I suspected I did was not using enough. In my mind I probally didn't want to over do it. Mindset left over from using synthetics.

You don't need to worry about burning when using grains. The only damage would come if you applied enough to smother the grass.

1350 sq ft is a pretty small lawn, but I think you may still be under applying. Depending on the size of the hopper, you should probably be applying 2-3 hoppers of grain instead of 1.5.

But I still think the biggest problem looks like lack of water.

bpgreen you know you are probally right. Rain has been really thin lately and I thought I was not putting enough grains down but being inexperienced I didn't know any better or have anything to compare. I will add more grains this weekend when I mow and with the recent early spring like weather hopefully will get things hopping. I never did see the amazing green up from the grains like some people claim.

When you do add the grains, keep in mind that it typically takes about three weeks for the nutrients to be available to the grass. You don't get instant greenup with grains.

It will take more time. 3 weeks would be if you have healthy soil to start with. You are trying to create that environment. Go to your local garden center and obtain some leaf compost or composted manure and apply a bag (usually 40# bags) per 500 sq ft. Apply your soybean meal as discussed above. If you fear applying too much just do it more frequently - every 2 weeks would be ok rather than all at once. Water as discussed above. I'd say water is your number 1 friend for your grass. Based on my transition to organics, 3 months is more likely for a return to a nice green lawn.

soccer dad when you used chemicals, was your lawn obviously lacking in luster? Do you have a pics of your lawn now?

When I used chemicals I didn't really care for the lawn culturally like it should have been. So no luster, but the annual weed & feed did green up the few clumps of fescue I had at the time.

I now have developed a long term approach to improving the soil through organics, proper cultural techniques learned on this board, and an improving lawn. It will probably take a few more seasonal rotations to get it to where it should be. No pics, but maybe someday.

pardon my piping in, but what I'm seeing is a plain old case of Fertilizer Starvation. Moderate, not severe. But certainly not 'light' either. If you want to stay 'organic' I'd run out and get some sewage-based fertilizer, like Milorganite, and put it down. Thirty days later, I'd do it again.

Honestly, with that lawn needing that much nitrogen, why not give it a light shot (light, not heavy: summer is approaching) of a big-first-number fertilizer with smallish second and third numbers? 18-2-1, 20-3-3, 24-2-6, something like that, from HD or Lowes.

I'm only being a little flippant, but I do want to make the point: Your lawn is an Ethiopian Poster Child, as seen on TV. Whatever kind of food there is, that kid has not been getting it: skin and bones, and a hangdog, hurt look on his face. And you want to quibble about his vegetables? Even if you're right (and you may not be) the kid needs a lot more than vegetables, doesn't he? If this is somehow inconvenient for you, the fact is, you can throw that kid out, and start over, with another kid, you know, set it up so your theories can start from 'square one', where it will be a lot more fair to you (not to the kid, of course, but we were talking about your theories).

Raw sustenance is what is needed. And not too much at once. But right now (switching back to your lawn), what is needed is nitrogen. Light doses, fast acting, fairly often (meaning Do It Again), or you're going to lose the lawn. There just hasn't been enough food, for a good long time, for whatever reason.

Now run down to Lowes, get a couple bags of fertilizer, and put it down, using your hand-held whirley spreader, at half the rate recommended on the label. Next week, do it again.

Let us know, in a month, how he's doing.

No pipe in anytime philes21. Ya know we have had some amount of rain for the past 2-3 weeks and the lawn does not look much different. It could be a starving lawn. It really neglected it over th past several seasons and now it is biting me in the tail. I hate to put chemicals on my lawn because my little one loves to play on it. Tell me more about this Milogranite?

Milorganite is a pelletized product made from the leftover bacteria which eats Milwaukee's sewage sludge. Obviously, the bacteria is converted to pellets, and baked. But the organic content is about 100%, and the nitrogen content about 5% and phosphorus 2%. It's a mild shot of nitrogen, which won't burn the lawn. You don't put it on sandwiches and salads, you put it on your lawn. And no, it doesn't smell like doo-doo. But for hot weather fertilizing, it's the best, in my opinion.

You need to establish a good watering schedule -- forget about what Mother Nature will provide. Water every 4 days if there has not been rain. Also start a quarterly fertilizing schedule. Here's a link that should help.

http://www.allaboutlawns.com/lawn-maintenance-care/watering/effective-efficient-watering-plans-for-your-lawn.php

Here is a link that might be useful: watering tips