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jamessr

Lawn is fading fast! What's hurting it?

jamessr
16 years ago

I started a new lawn from scratch back in April based on Scott's part sun/shade mix. Before applying seed with starter fertilizer, tilled-up loam and organic compost with existing soil. Lawn came up great and established nicely. Kept happy with 1x weekly mowings at 3' height.

Over the past few weeks, however, one section of approximatley 10x15 feet (150 sq) has developed signs of ill-health, while the rest of the lawn remains as lush as ever. Signs: stagnated growth, thinner blades, very tops of blades remain 'brown' from last cut from mower. Still mostly green, but not brilliant like the surrounding grass outside of this 'problem' area.

Watering is even, so I can't blame lack of coverage. Basically, entire lawn has been taken care of exactly the 'same'. Just this one little area isn't happy and it's been several weeks now so I'm a bit worried.

* Watering daily, in early morning, allowing for about 1' per week. Consulted with irrigation specialist about my system on this; it's pretty accurate/even.

* Mowing grass at 3' height. This usually works out just fine for most grass types and I've had other lawns that I've mowed at 3', have had friends with nice lawns recommend this height, etc. etc.

* Mower blade was sharpened at blade/tools specialty shop this Spring.

* Guy at local nursery suggested that it's possible that the Scotts Step 2 stuff (which I've used with much success on other lawns) nitrogen content is very high and he suspects that it's fertilizer burn in that area. This suggests that I made one pass too many with the spreader on perhaps just that section. Possible I guess... hey, I'm human right? ;-)

* He went on to suggest (since it's been at least 8 weeks since last 'feeding', that being Step 2) I could give a feeding of E.B. Stone Nature's Green Lawn Food (organic stuff). This stuff ain't cheap, but I know it's very good stuff relative to mass-produced Scotts (which, again, I've used with high success overall). It's much lower in nitrogen than Scotts. So, I'm going to go ahead and feed the lawn with the E.B. Stone stuff and water it in real good, etc. and be extra careful with the spreader settings, etc.

* OBSERVATION: Leafhoppers? LawnMoths? Spittlebugs? >>> I went out there this evening to take the pictures, and went to the 'problem' area and gently ran my hand over the blades. NUMEROUS little 'bugs' popped out! They're hard to describe, but they flutter/fly, very briefly, from the grass, then settle again almost immediately. They're very thin, and maybe the length of, oh, a grain of rice. I can't say I recall seeing these on previous lawns I've cared for, but a bit of Googling on small moth lawn or leafhoppers brings up some unsettling results.

PICTURES: I have a kodakgallery account, so the following link will take you directly to a 5-picture album/slideshow of my lawn, with descriptions under each picture. Hope this helps pinpoint what's going on. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=z7ozlcj.64j827pr&x=1&y=jvqnsi

Thanks for the help!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lawnpics

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