Lawn problems

[Luck e 1]

So after I did my initial crabgrass preventer and fert back in Late April my lawn looked amazing. green...thick...even...looked great.

So three weeks ago I did a weed and feed and now my lawn looks like [PoorWordUsage]. Lost the thickness...lost the color. Patches that look dead. (I did it the day before we got all those rains for days in a row...so I know it got watered in well). I don't have a sprinkler system...but I do water regularly.

Is it possible that I over applied? (my wif says I got greedy and am now paying the price...haha)

So what if I did over apply...what could I do now to get the thickness and color back?

[hotrod1]

You may have a turfgrass disease from all the water durring hot humid weather.

If you can get some good pictures and post them here, it may be easier to diagnose the problem.

[Steve Foss]

Certainly could be applied too heavily. Symptoms sound like overfertilizing burn.

I don't know of any remedy other than time and, most importantly, leaving it alone. Only time, sun and water will tell you how much is gone and how much will remain. Could be you just have an overall thinning and the grass will thicken in OK over time. Could also be that some spots will be totally dead and will require reseeding. I'd do nothing until September, when I'd underapply a good low-concentration fertilizer. Come next April/May, you'll get a better read on what to do. If you have total dead spots (which you'll already know this season at some point), reseed as mentioned. For the thin areas, you'll need to be careful that weeds don't get a foothold.

I hesitate to say it, but I think your wife is right in this case.

Good news is, it's only a lawn. Nothing really important.

[Powerstroke]

Water it granular or liquid? Its very easy to overapply with granular, especially weed and feed since the particles are typically small. Did the results show up right after the last treatment or has it been gradual?

Could be you have a type of turfgrass that doesn't like heat. Could be disease or insects which tend to show their effects during the heat of summer.

Lawns of fescue (dense turf with very thin blades) are typically "shade" type lawns are do very well in the cool/wet spring and fall, but they struggle in the summer. I have this type of lawn.

[Luck e 1]

Thanks guys...our wives are always right.

Thats kinda what I was thinking...just give it time and water.

It did seem to immediately get worse after the last GRANULAR weed and feed. Classic rookie mistake. Only my second full summer with my own lawn.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks guys...our wives are always right.

Thats kinda what I was thinking...just give it time and water.

It did seem to immediately get worse after the last GRANULAR weed and feed. Classic rookie mistake. Only my second full summer with my own lawn.

Sounds like it's figured out.

Many, many lawn years to come for you. Here's to greener pastures ahead!

[LwnmwnMan2]

Did you apply IMMEDIATELY before we got all that rain?

It could be something along the lines where if you applied it, say, on Monday evening, and then Tuesday you got 2" of rain, that it could have caused some pooling of the granules.

You could have applied it correctly, but then the granules, before they had a chance to get watered in, floated on the heavy rains to slightly lower lying areas, which then caused the "look" of a misapplication.

If anything, this is what I would tell the wife as to what happened.

[fishnowworknever]

I am having the same issue with my front lawn. The back looks absolutely awesome, dark deep green, thick grass.

It looks like the tips of the blades are browning in the front yard and lost it's dark green color, I'm thinking about sending in a soil sample, good idea?

[LwnmwnMan2]

jhall -

Two quick questions.

1. Are the front and back yard both the same types of grass? ie, all sodded, all seeded, etc.

Also, does it have the same amounts of shade? Irrigated or not?

2. What type of soil do you have? Is there a slope?

Which area gets more afternoon sun? I'd bet that the front is drying out, that the back gets more shade, or at least less afternoon sun??

[fishnowworknever]

1. We just moved into the house 2 years ago, the yard was a mess. It's been a cleanup/restoration of the yard since day 1. I believe the back yard is 90% KBG and the front seems to have a thinner blade, so I want to say no they are not the same.

I did a core aeration this past fall, that seemed to help a ton. I then over seeded with KBG through out. The grass is definitely thicker this year than last in the front.

The front yard gets MUCH more shade (2 big maples) than the back.

2. I want to say the front has a much more clay type soil than the back. However both front and back are back filled with chunks of asphalt/rock about 9" down. It's quite flat all around.

The back yard does get some afternoon shade, but the front gets much more shade (faces East). That's what I don't get...is it possible the heat from the road is causing this? It almost seems like the closer to the house you get, the greener the grass, but half way from the road to the house it starts to get brown spots/it looks dried out almost.

I water (a long soaking water) and it doesn't do a thing.

[LwnmwnMan2]

You're not going to like what I have to say.

If you have 2 big maples (mature?) you should have overseeded with a fescue grass rather tahn KBG.

KBG likes full sun, which would explain why you have a better grass in the back.

The issue with the smaller blades is the grass has come to the end of the life now that the trees are shading the yard.

Does this make sense?

[fishnowworknever]

Makes perfect sense. That is obviously why this spring the front looked great (before the leaves were present) and slowly declined.

So what about this:

If I core aerate again this fall, really go over it and get a lot of plugs up, then over seed with fescue...will that eventually lead to a greener front yard in the next couple of years? Maybe even over seeding this fall and even this coming spring with a fescue?

Also, what brand do you suggest using?

Thank you very much for the information!

-Josh

[LwnmwnMan2]

If you're sticking with the plan of having grass in the front yard, I would start with sending in the soil sample from the front yard. This will give you a solid base and understanding whatever amendments you need to make to the soil.

Secondly, if you're so inclined, I would have a tree guy come in and try to open the Maple trees up some, meaning thin out the branches and try to get more sunlight to the grass.

Overseed with a fescue. A certain brand I cannot recommend. Travel to your local hardware, garden center or feed mill for the seed.

Once you get the grass to grow, fescue is going to want to be mowed at 3.5-4" tall. It won't hurt your KBG to mow this high as well.

If you're not completely stuck on having grass in the front yard, now that the trees are matured out, think about putting in shade loving plants under the trees and putting mulch in. You'll reduce the amount of mowing time, plus you won't have to work your butt off to get grass to grow.

You could just keep a ring of grass around the edges.

I would put mulch in and not rock, since when the trees die, or if they suffer storm damage, or whatever reason the trees need to come out, the rock would be harder to replace than mulch.