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Brown and Green Lawn?
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Posted by
pintopkp 6 (
My Page) on
Tue, Jun 19, 12 at 10:47
| Hello all. I've been an avid reader for a while and really don't post much, but for the past couple of years, something has had me baffled about my grass and I don't think I've really seen it answered elsewhere. Bascially, in the spring my lawn starts out nice and green. Then, around this time (early to mid June) I start to see some "speckling" of brown. That is to see, it's not like full brown patches and other parts of the lawn are green; I get some (what appears to my untrained eye) as thicker, brown/dead shoots mixed in with healthy, green grass. I've attached some pictures below to show what I mean. My blades are sharp, we just had plenty of rain, it's been a nice cool 60's and 70's, and I put down milorganite to spec a couple of weeks ago (two weeks ago at the most). I also have a ton of clover, which I'm told is a sign of a nitrogen deficiency. Is my problem a feeding problem, disease? As I said, it always starts off great, but then it looks like this as the year goes on. This is the worst it's been in years, hence, why I decided to post. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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First, the close-up shows ragged blades from cutting with a blade that is improperly sharpened (wrong pitch or dull), too low an rpm, or trying to cut too much off at a time. This causes stress to the turf and gives disease the opportunity to take hold. Also, always keep a lookout for insect infestation--it's grub and web-worm season. However, from your pictures, I'd say that it is also showing symptoms of dry spots-variations in topsoil thickness, what is underlying the topsoil and/or especially the condition of the soil. Where are you located?
Clover is not a sign of nitrogen deficiency--that is simply not true. Clover produces N internally (well a microbe within does) and when clover dies it can place N into the soil though decay. Somehow this became: clover is a sign of N deficiency. |
RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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| I agree with grass. Plus I may be wrong here but your grass looks like it isnt getting enuff water. I know my yard here in Arkansas normally gets watered once a week for an hour. But anytime the temps get above 90� like it has been the last few weeks I have to water twice a week. But my yard is all yukon burmuda so im sure it all depends on what cultivar you have. |
RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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| Thanks. I am in SE NY (just 30 min north of NYC). I never thought about the soil underneath, but I usually don't have much of a problem growing anything. How can I correct this? Is it just a matter of spreading topsoil? I notice the ragged grass blades too, but I could have sworn my blades are nice and sharp. Maybe I should give them a second look. Do you see any sign of insect infestation? Thanks again! |
RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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| I don't see the dying off patterns usually associated with insects or disease, but that's not conclusive. I don't see any lesions on the blades (sign of disease) in the close-up--you should check the lawn in other areas. You can check for insects by closely inspecting for bilbugs, little black guys with tube snouts, for web worms by pouring some soapy water on a spot of the turf and inspection for larve comming to the surface, and check for grubs by pulling a section of the turf back and looking at the roots--also the turf will be easy to pull up--like pulling the toupee off a man's head. As far as any soil problems (rather than trying to physically add soil depth) --water is the answer and making sure water gets absorbed by the soil and to the roots--the shampoo boys will be along to give you advice, not sure about the shampooing thing myself-I'm a more mechanical guy--but they say it works and I don't know of anything that I would recommend this time of year to improve water absorbtion/retention. |
RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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| About the only time I would recommend a soil test is in your situation. I might suggest one sometimes, but I think you need one. Check out loganlabs.com. They are a professional lab that does testing far beyond what you normally get from a university and they do it for the same price or less ($20). All the grass gurus use LL. Post your test results here and someone can help you interpret them. For example you might need help finding the proper form of boron or something to tune up the soil. |
RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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RE: Brown and Green Lawn?
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| Ok. I'll check out LL and post back when I get the results. Thanks again. |
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