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| Wasn't sure how to describe it, but it appears my blend of grasses are "unmixing" causing visually distinct areas of green in the lawn
I do not know the original blend of grass the first owner used, I'm assuming its a KBG, Rye, Fescue mix In these first two pics pic1 pic2 you can see 2 very different shades of green My first thought was I screwed up the fertilizer somehow but then upon closer look it appears the light areas are predominately a skinny blade of grass while the darker rich green area are a wide blade, I'm guessing that is the KBG In this pic it is mostly the skinny grass with the thicker blades in the lower right I'm wondering which grass is the aggressor here? Should I overseed with a desired grass only or use a mixx to overseed with? |
Here is a link that might be useful: Yard pics
Follow-Up Postings:
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| The thin blades look like they might be some sort of fine fescue. If the fine bladed grass is spreading at all, it's probably creeping red fescue. I can't tell what the other grass is. Pull a blade out and look at it. Is it "boat shaped"? If so, it's probably KBG. I'm not very good at grass ID, but somebody will probably come along who can tell you what to look for. |
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- Posted by nearandwest 7 (My Page) on Mon, May 9, 11 at 18:07
| The lighter shaded grass appears to be in the Poaceae family - Poa Trivialis or Poa Sapina? |
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| It could be that certain areas were renovated or overseeded with different seed mixes over the years. Also if some of those areas are shadier than others, more shade tolerant grasses in the mix might have done better, while the less shade tolerant ones thinned out. That bluish area in pic 2 could be a creeping bentgrass infestation, or it could just be a photographic artifact. Nearandwest, the Poaceae family comprises all the grasses. Scientific names like you provided are comprised of the genus and species, not the family name. KBG (poa pratensis), tall fescue (festuca arundinacea), perennial rye (lolium perenne), annual bluegrass (poa annua), rough bluegrass (poa trivialis), etc. are all in the Poaceae family. |
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- Posted by nearandwest 7 (My Page) on Mon, May 9, 11 at 22:26
| Ah, I guess the internet is a source for more current information. |
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| No, that's how it's been done for hundreds of years. |
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- Posted by nearandwest 7 (My Page) on Mon, May 9, 11 at 23:22
| hmmm...and to think that all this time I was led to believe that grasses were a member of the graminaceae family. |
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| I think you mean the gramineae family. You can use either, but Poaceae is the more current family name. Taxonomy has been, and still is, an evolving branch of biology, especially with the current innovations in molecular genetics. I have one question...if you were led to believe that grasses were a member of the graminaceae (sic) family, then why did you write, "The lighter shaded grass appears to be in the Poaceae family - Poa Trivialis or Poa Sapina?"? |
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- Posted by nearandwest 7 (My Page) on Tue, May 10, 11 at 10:00
| Yes, gramineae is the correct spelling, and apparently Poaceae is the the more currently used family name for grasses. When I was studying turfgrass management in college many years ago, the Poaceae family was a subfamily classification of grass species (bluegrasses) in the gramineae family. Ok, this class time has been amusing, but this is not helping the OP with his issue of grass ID. And I have to go repair a computer network. Have a nice day! |
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- Posted by rockfordchris (My Page) on Tue, May 10, 11 at 14:09
| Went out and took some more pictures A yellow flag marks an area where grass is lighter and the blue flag is the area where it is the nice dark rich color I'd like throughout. Landscape notes: I have a very tall (3-4 stories) tree line on the back of the property that provides a lot of shade. The trees are on the right side of this picture next to the darker grass There is an easement that diverts water from the farm land behind us. In this picture the easement starts by the right most white flowering tree and heads towards the center of the photo then curves down to the left In this pic you can see a 36x36 area of grass that used to be a play area If it matters the tall tree line is a North/South line and I was taking pictures on the western side Blue flag Not sure if I got "boat shape" from that...? Is the solution still to overseed with a desired grass or do I need to get better on grass ID and see if I have an "infestation" of something? |
Here is a link that might be useful: Another gallery of pictures
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| Here's the bottom line. If your lawn is inconsistent in color and texture, and you want it to be a uniform lawn with all the same grass(es), then the only real option is renovation, i.e. killing it all, and starting over. Overseeding desirable cultivars could darken and improve the overall look of your lawn, but it will probably still be inconsistent and patchy in places. The pictures aren't much of a help, from what I can see it looks pretty nice, and pretty uniform, pictures tend not to show what you can see with your eyes. |
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- Posted by rockfordchris (My Page) on Tue, May 10, 11 at 16:08
| Thanks for your time and thoughts Not that it matters since a true fix would be renovation anyways, but here is my last example of the colors I'm seeing. I took an area from one of the above pictures and pasted it 3 times with different effects. To me at least, I can see this color difference in the other areas, I realize my camera might not be capturing it, but it is noticeable to my eye.
Anyways, guess I have to do some thinking / gutcheck on how much I really want to renovate it Thanks again |
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