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Mon, Jul 4, 11 at 12:30
| Need help, lawn care amateur. I bought a house a year ago in august and the lawn was a mess. full of weed and crabgrass. i've managed to recover a bit by applying winterizing fertilizer in the fall, aerating, overseeding, etc. come spring applied fertilizer with crabgrass preventer in early march. then applied a weed and feed fertilizer end of april. grass came up beautiful in spring. thick, full and green. i maintained by cutting high 3.5-4 inch setting.
Now, it is beginning of July and the lawn is turning brown in most areas. my property is sloped and it appears the grass at the bottom of the slope is in better condition and still thick and somewhat green. i'm assuming the run-off is causing the sloped part to lose its nutrients faster. I just don't know what to do to attempt to get it back. Do I apply anything? water heavily and pray? wait it out until fall and hope for the best next year? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I will try to post a picture when I figure it out. |
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| There are a few things that cause grass to turn brown. Disease, lack of water, and dormancy are the main reasons. Most grass needs about 1 inch of water per week, but that is just a general rule of thumb, there are many circumstances where grass needs more. Grass like any plant needs water. Do you irrigate or do you leave it up to mother nature? I am leaning toward lack of water, since the grass at the bottom of the slope is doing better, sounds like the water is running off the slope to that area. Before most grass goes brown from lack of water it usually gets a bit darker as the blades fold up, then it turns a gray color, then brown. Did you notice any of this texture or color change? Fungal disease will cause grass to turn brown, but it usually occurs in patches and generally starts small and spreads out in circular patterns, but not always. Often times in the early morning dew you can see a cottony growth on your grass blades if you have fungal disease. Usually disease progression is pretty fast. Grasses that turn brown with dormancy are generally warm season grasses. Dormant cool season grasses usually stay greenish in color, albeit a bit lighter and grayer, sometimes purple. Some cool season grasses can go dormant during drought, like KBG and fine fescues, tall fescue and perennial rye grass will go dormant for a short period of time, but then they will turn brown and die if that dormancy is too long. Do you know what kind of grass you have? A picture would be great. Lack of nutrients generally doesn't cause grass to turn brown and die, unless you soil is totally depleted. |
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