My sod has dirt patches

8 years ago

I moved in a month ago and my yard has slowly lost color and grass thickness. I live on Oahu, HI. At first the sprinkler timer was set to 18m twice a day. About 2 weeks I changed it to 5m twice a day. My yard still has dirt patches along with thin wirery grass. I've tried raking, putting down seed, and gently walking on it. I used Scott's Turf Builder after the sprinklers run and nothing is helping. My lawn mower only has one setting and its maybe 2 inches. Someone please give me a home remedy to fix this

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Comments (3)

reeljake
8 years ago
What kind of grass makes up the sod? Is it a shady tropical lawn, or does it get a full day of Sun?
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dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Well for one your watering is not right. But I like the shade problem, too. Most grasses need full sun to thrive.

On a mature lawn you should be watering more like once every three weeks instead of twice a day. You could easily have a disease that is taking out the grass. The watering mantra is deep and infrequent. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Measure an inch by placing cat food or tuna cans around the yard. Put them in the good areas and the bad areas. Then time how long it takes to fill the cans. That will be your watering time from now on. Infrequent means you allow the soil to dry completely before watering again. With temps in the 90s you should water once a week. With temps in the 80s water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, water once every 3 weeks. That should cover it for you unless you live at altitude. By watering this way you discourage the fungal diseases from getting started. You also discourage weed seeds from sprouting. Your current watering is what is recommended for sprouting new seed. This watering schedule works everywhere with very few exceptions (Las Vegas sandy soil mixed with blazing heat means they might have to water every 5 days in the hottest part of summer). In HI you might need to stretch out the frequency due to humidity keeping the moisture from evaporating out of the soil. Rain counts, too, so if it rains, restart the calendar.

What was in the seed you put down? There is a Guaranteed Analysis on the bag or box.

Would you be interested in investing in a new mower with some flexibility in mowing height? Most grass does best when mowed at 4 inches. Bermuda and centipede do best mowed at around 1 inch.

Images always help. If you take a picture, please do it on a cloudy day. If you want to take a picture of the dead grass near the fringe of the bad/good spots, get down to 3 inches away so we can see what the individual blades look like.

Also you might want to look into organic fertilizer. The simple way to do that is to visit your feed store and get whatever is cheap. Usually that is corn meal (if you live in the states) or alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). Scatter that around at a rate of 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Here is a link to feed stores near Honolulu.
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Watering = trying to stick to once a week with deep watering. But it's been raining a lot over the last few weeks up here in MA so not that much irrigation. But sometimes I water twice a week when it gets hot as the lawn is relatively new. I dont think its a water issue. Mulch mow = yes. So I did cut it more than 50% twice in a row (with 3 weeks gap in between each time). I just havent had the time and its been raining a lot so I couldnt mow. So it's possible the clippings are causing heat/lack of sun damage. But this dead grass underneath started a while back already, so its possible the mulching isnt helping, but I dont think its the root cause. Fertilizer = yes, once this year in April. Scotts with crabgrass preventer. Shade = in the mornings from home, but from around midday it gets full sun until 7-8pm. Sun isnt an issue here. If anything, the lawn gets hit by heat in the height of summer, being exposed for so long. Not sure what species this grass is (I think Kentucky Blue), but it doesnt do well in heat. But again, sun isnt an issue here. Other = I did put down compost in April. The grass was pretty covered, but emerged as a rich green. It looked fantastic. I'm not sure if it may be doing something to the lawn now though, a few months later? Any other thoughts? I really would like to fix this. I'm worried about all my hard work going down the toilet. Every day I see more of these spots. Thanks.
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owlnsr
8 years ago
Was the sod newly installed when you moved in? If not, do you have any idea how old the turf was before you bought the home?
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My sod has dirt patches

Comments (3)

reeljake

dchall_san_antonio

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