Dysfunctional Grass?

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Is anyone else mowing yet?  My whole neighborhood is turning green but not a ton of growth yet....Except my lawn.  Its half way up to my knees in some spots, thing is not a single other lawn in my neighborhood is and nobody has started a mower yet!  Only thing I can think of is that I spread my own fertilizer from a bag and everyone else in the neighborhood pays to have the companies come spray liquid 3 times a year.  Could that make a difference?  Any trouble with starting up the mower yet?  Also dragging my feet because I'm going to pick up a new rider this weekend and really want to be lazy and not push.

[gunner55]

No, but if you do set it high, 3" minimum. About the only thing I can think of is you didn't get a real even application or the long areas are shaded. How old is your spreader?

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Just now, gunner55 said:

No, but if you do set it high, 3" minimum. About the only thing I can think of is you didn't get a real even application or the long areas are shaded. How old is your spreader?

Spreader is only a couple years old.  By some spots I mean extremely large  areas, and the spots that aren't quite that high are still much higher than the rest of the neighborhood.

 

[delcecchi]

Fertilizer makes a big difference.  Slope and exposure also a big difference.   There is a guy in our neighborhood who fertilizes and his lawn has a pretty decent slope to the south.  He needs to mow when the snow is barely off my lawn, which doesn't get much fertilizer and slopes to the North and NE.   It is truly amazing to see the difference in the spring. 

As for the spot thing, it is sort of tricky, at least for me, to get uniform coverage and no double coverage when spreading the granular stuff.   Like where you turn around can get doubles. 

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Im south facing so thats something but so is half the neighborhood.  No slopes what so ever.  Its your pretty typical cookie cutter neighborhood where all lots are the exact same.  Oh well I'll probably just give it a mow this weekend.  Only other thing I can think of is I read a few months back that you can pressure wash your yard right after the snow lifts while its all matted down and it breaks everything up to allow growth.  Didnt think it would work but I gave it a quick shot(looked rediculous back in late march) but I wonder if that didnt actually do something.  May try again next spring just to see.

[gunner55]

I have to agree del. Just like the yards on the north side of the street( face south) are always free of snow 1st & green up faster. Same with the ditches. The amount of overlap on your passes can make a noticeable difference as well. A wide overlap with a high nitrogen (1st #) fertilizer in combination with some hot days can burn your lawn where it was overlapped & that's why they say it should be watered in or applied before some rain or even a heavy dew will help break it up

[Moon Lake Refuge]

I really don't think its how the fertilizer was laid because its large areas of the yard not strips. Will look again to see if I can find any patterns but I usually put it down pretty straight and always cut the spreader off at the end of the yard so I don't dump on the ends of the yard.

[delcecchi]

34 minutes ago, Moon Lake Refuge said:

Im south facing so thats something but so is half the neighborhood.  No slopes what so ever.  Its your pretty typical cookie cutter neighborhood where all lots are the exact same.  Oh well I'll probably just give it a mow this weekend.  Only other thing I can think of is I read a few months back that you can pressure wash your yard right after the snow lifts while its all matted down and it breaks everything up to allow growth.  Didnt think it would work but I gave it a quick shot(looked rediculous back in late march) but I wonder if that didnt actually do something.  May try again next spring just to see.

If nothing else it might have warmed the soil.  The first place to green up on my lawn, such as it is, is where the outlet for the sump pump dumps on the hill.  There was a strip of green in a sea of brown where the water went down the slope. 

[Moon Lake Refuge]

It definitely 'fluffed up' in the days after... Maybe allowed the warm air to get at it quicker.

[RebelSS]

Just mowed mine a second time..gonna need it again.......nice, thick and lush.  Took pic yesterday. 

[delcecchi]

Looks good.   Might be a few days before I have to mow the first time.  But I'm not into fertilizing the lawn too much.  

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Picked up my new rider yesterday and got out to mow... Looks great! First round of fertilizer and spot sprayed a couple weeds that came up but the dead spots from the dogs are even starting to grow over.  Having a decent rider again sure feels good.  Not dreading the lawn anymore and actually looking forward to keeping it nice and low!