New lawn is dying - What can we do?

8 years ago

Last June we had our entire back "yard" excavated. We spent nearly 4 long years chopping down trees to even get to that point, but I digress. The landscaper who did the work put down some kind of fast growing seed and hay here and there to help with erosion until we could finish things up. At the very end of August we put down 4 inches of screened soil and hydroseed. I realize summer is the worst time to try to start a lawn but this was when the landscaper got us in and because our entire backyard is a hill (we live on a mountain) we had to contend with things like erosion and the very real threat of heavy rains washing away all of the new (very expensive) soil we put down. He lives nearby and assured us that our timing was fine given our conditions. Anyways, new grass took ok after a rocky start but was sparse. We had a limited budget left after the excavation so maybe the hydroseed was spread thinner than it should be, but from the beginning we had a lot of thin areas in our new lawn. We gave it time and thought maybe we should just overseed like crazy this Spring, but DH has been throwing down seed here and there and crabgrass is already taking over, grass is dying, and we have a lot of thin and patchy areas. DH is talking about hiring a pro to deal with it because he's so frustrated. Is that the only way to go at this point? Neither of us are very plant savvy and I have a deadly record with all things green.

For reference we're in SE PA and our property is on a wooded lot, so it's very shaded and the ground stays wet pretty long after heavy rains. When we get really heavy rain we have water pool in the back a little, but the excavation has helped with that a bit and now there's a swail around the side of the house. We had a lot of trouble getting grass to take off in that area right behind the house at the bottom of the hill and it's still one of the patchiest areas. Our neighbors admit to having to reseed their lawns every few years.

We just had a new fence put in so I just have these photos I took a week or so ago, but you can see the problem pretty clearly I think. Don't mind the well pipe... we haven't had a chance to cut it down yet (the old ground was level with that before the excavation!)

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
You planted the grass at exactly the right time. The end of summer is THE best time of year for northern grass seed to go down.

Reseeding fescue type lawns is a tradition and a ritual that you need to get used to. Fescue is a bunch grass that does not spread. Kentucky bluegrass is a sod forming type plant that spreads. With your shade fescue is going to be your only option, so just put that in your mind to reseed as necessary at the end of August. By doing it at the end of August that gives you time to evaluate the density of the grass coming in. If it's not dense enough you still have time at the end of Sept to put more down.

By seeding this time of year you will sprout every summer annual weed there is. Crabgrass is one of those weeds. This, alone, is good enough reason to seed in the early fall. Crabgrass will never get a good hold on your lawn because it needs full sun. It might germinate, but it will suffer badly without enough sunlight.

I realize Mother Nature has Her own thoughts about watering, but as much as you can you should follow the following guidelines.

Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

By following this guide you will minimize summer weeds and develop a deep rooted, drought resistant, turf.

Also you should have your yard helper set his mower up to the highest setting. Tall fescue develops deeper roots (erosion control), helps shade the soil keeping it cooler, and shades out the weed seeds that do germinate.
Danielle thanked dchall_san_antonio
Adam Bray
8 years ago
My opinion, YOU can do this better than a "pro" for a whole lot less money and very little effort. Others who know more about cool season grass will be able to help you. DON'T hire someone.

You mentioned crabgrass. Crab should not be out yet. Especially in the NE. I suspect you might have Dallisgrass. Do you have a close up picture?
Danielle thanked Adam Bray
Related Discussions
Lawn Carnage! New lawn dying hard and fast. :(
Q
Comments (3)
Definitely sounds like fungus and heat killed your grass. Watering at night is a no no when it's hot and humid. The prolonged moisture is an ideal enviroment for fungal disease. Tall fescue is one of the more heat tolerant cool season grasses, but not the heat you have. Also, you really can't successfully seed a cool season grass in summer in OK. I think the only cool season grass you could have success with is hybrid bluegrass. For your area a warm season grass like Bermuda, St. Augustine, or Zoysia would be the better choice.
...See More
What's killing my new lawn, and what should I do about it?
Q
Comments (1)
1) Can you confirm this is a lawn fungus? Pattern has been, grass gets a dry area and then develops the yellow color of doom. Mostly this happened in a handful of places the irrigation doesn't cover too well. I'm not an expert at disease in northern lawns, but if I had those spots in my St Augustine I would declare it a disease. 1) What is the best path forward from here? Just hope and wait the fungicide works? Am I watering too much/too little? Can I over fungicide? Can I go get immunox and double down or will that kill the grass? You can absolutely overuse fungicide. As far as I'm concerned you already have. To my belief using a fungicide is like poisoning your soil, so I stay away from it. Why? Because most of the beneficial microbes in your soil are fungi. Best path depends on the watering issue. Are you watering too much or too little? You'd have to tell us how much you're watering to help us with an answer to that. How often do you water and for how long? If you are still watering multiple times per day, as if this were just installed, then you're watering too much. That would be my suspicion. Transitioning from new install watering to mature turf watering can be tricky. At this point if you are watering more than once every 10 days to 2 weeks then I'd be suspicious of too much water. Put some cat food or tuna cans in the yard and turn on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill them. That's how long you should be watering. 2) Is the yellow grass a goner? At this point in time I'm planning on having to resod a handful of places come September, but if it'll come back on it's own I'd be very happy. Agree. Adjust your watering for now and resod selected spots at your leisure. Boston area is a forgiving climate for new grass, unless you got bad advice on watering the new grass.
...See More
Our flowering pear tree is dying. What is this, and can we save it?
Q
Comments (6)
Fire blight is a bacterial infection that occurs in cool, damp weather. Pruning off all the affected growth helps to control it. Could you show a photo of the whole tree?
...See More
New Sod is Dying, is There Anything We Can Do?
Q
Comments (14)
Yes, I did say that if you were paying attention, but I'm rethinking that. And it's not going to be causing that kind of a problem in the specified ten days. But now we have the magic rotating argument where it's the weather, then the watering when the weather is proven to be absolutely not the issue, and so on. Also, review that the OP also amended the soil. And even dried it out for a "day or two." So consequently, even that level of watering wasn't consistent. One of my sprayers only puts out 0.17" an hour. For the weather you had, that is not unreasonable. Fan sprinklers are really inefficient things as well. And if that's 40 minutes total, moving the sprinkler around, it's not all that much grand total across the property, now that I think about it... OP, can you be much more specific on how you watered and with what? Did each section see 40 minutes of water? What type of sprinkler did you use? Have you ever measured the output using a tuna can or other straight-sided can or glass? Many sprinklers put out a LOT less water than one might, actually, think. My watering system requires 3-4 hours (depending on where you are) to output 1" of water. Your weather actually was kind of stinking hot there for a while. Sod's usually OK with that...if it really does have enough water. If not, that could be an issue. And I might have miscalled that pretty badly initially.
...See More
Danielle
Original Author
8 years ago
dchall_san_antonio- THANK YOU for your thorough response. I greatly appreciate that. I think when I was Googling about this yesterday, I dug up a thread from another person in a very similar situation and you had some fantastic advice that I linked DH to read yesterday. I'll be passing this info along to him as well and hopefully it will restore his faith in our lawn. We have about 3/4 acre fenced in the back and side (and will be doing the front hopefully this Fall), so it will probably take all day to water. Right now he's been watering about once a week for a few hours at a time, moving the sprinkler every half hour or so, but it sounds like we may need to get a second sprinkler going and water less often until the temps go up. I wonder, since our ground doesn't dry out as fast in the shade, could we have a fungus?

Adam- We had a very mild Winter this year and some real boomerang temps. We were getting in the 70's in March already and have had plenty of days where we nearly hit 80. Now we're back in the 50's. Daffodils bloomed real early and the bugs came back long ago. DH says lots of crabgrass but I haven't personally looked closely myself. My biggest gripe is the moth eaten look of the lawn, which seems to be getting worse. The dog is mostly doing all her business out front, so I don't think she's the one killing it. Of course that will eventually be more of a problem when we seed the front lawn and she has to move out back. But that will be another thread lol.

New lawn is dying - What can we do?

Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio

Adam Bray

Related Discussions

Danielle
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

New lawn is dying - What can we do?

Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio

Adam Bray

Related Discussions

DanielleOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Danielle
Original Author