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New grass is browning

User
9 years ago

I planted a new fescue lawn in mid-September. The tips of some grass blades are starting to turn brown. In a few places, entire blades have turned brown. What would cause this?

I may be overwatering. I've been giving it a light watering once a day since the first planting so the seeds would germinate--I added more seed a few weeks ago to some bare spots. I've also been trying to give the grass 1/2" to 1" of water ever week. I live in Durham, NC, and the soil is hard red clay.

EDIT: I've been reading some forum posts that said a dull mower blade could cause this. I've given the lawn one mowing, but the grass in the picture wasn't cut by the mower blade; it wasn't tall enough, yet.

This post was edited by mtstalker on Sat, Oct 25, 14 at 14:39

Comments (16)

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Another image is attached. It shows some grass blades that have turned completely brown.

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    It looks like a combination of things. If I'm reading the colors correctly, a slight rust infection, plus some normal blade cycling as the grass matures.

    As of now, you can cut back watering to every other day. In another two weeks, every third day (longer than that if the weather gets cold). Two weeks after that, every fourth day.

    And so on until you get to once a week, an inch at a time (less, of course, in cold weather, and rainfall counts).

    That grass also looks mildly hungry, so a gentle feeding at about half strength (synthetic) or normal strength (organic) wouldn't be a bad idea.

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback!

    1) What do I do for a rust infection?

    2) Does normal blade cycling happen in the first 2 months after germination? All of the grass is new.

    3) When you recommend a feeding, do you mean using fertilizer? I applied some 30-4-10 fertilizer in mid-September. It has ammonical nitrogen, with 50% control released nitrogen for 4 months. Should I do anything else on top of that?

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    1) Nothing. New grass is susceptible to it, particularly if over-watered. It tends to go away on its own, and this is not a wide-spread infection. Mine had wide areas of it the first fall, but grew out of it. Nowadays I might get a tiny bit now and then.

    2) Yep. That embryonic blade drops early to give way to the formal (and more efficient) grass blades. Plus blades themselves have limited and short lifespans, which is more apparent when grass is just growing in and not as dense as it'll be in the future.

    3) Yes, fertilizer. Your mid-September feeding had controlled release, though, so I wouldn't do that again. If you want to put down some Milorganite now, I wouldn't object--but probably not anything else right now. Your next full feeding with a synthetic fertilizer should be when the grass stops growing for winter.

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    1) and 2) Good to know. The more I learn, the better!

    3) Is there a chance Milorganite could hurt the grass?

    Also, as I scale back the frequency of my watering to every 2 days, should I aim for 1" total every week?

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    3) There's no chance of Milo harming your lawn at normal application rates. Fast-release nitrogen levels are pretty low, and the slow release portion of it is incredibly slow. The iron in it should deepen the green of your lawn at the same time, and iron is also pretty harmless in the forms in Milorganite.

    Always aim for an inch a week, give or take some--although as fall moves on, grass' water demands will also drop. Don't beat yourself up if you water less in cooler weather, it's fine.

    Very young grass shouldn't be stressed, so keep an eye out for that happening and water extra if it does.

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    How water should I aim for using in the winter? 1/4", maybe? The soil on the shady side of my house has been damp for weeks, even without much water, so I can't imagine the grass over there needs much.

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    ...or could I just stop watering in the winter all together?

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    If it goes into dormancy (turns brown), stop watering. If not, water if it gets dry and the soil isn't frozen, which probably won't happen.

    Water usage is extremely low during the winter, while evaporation is also extremely low. Watering even in October and November in areas with reasonable rainfall is only rarely required, same as March and April.

  • dchall_san_antonio
    9 years ago

    As a side note to the conversation, down here in Texas, unless we get rainfall, we need to water mature turf about once a month in the winter. When we get a dry cold front the humidity drops down into the 20s and sucks up all the moisture from the soil. The plants aren't using it but the beneficial microbes in our warmer soil still need it.

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    Humidity can reach the twenties?

    :-)

    For us up here in the Arctic, humidity is usually between 50 and 90 percent (outside). Indoors, it may hit the twenties, and many of us expend a fair amount of effort raising that to something less lip-cracking.

    Plus frozen ground isn't doing much in terms of microbe activity, although I'm wondering if we're going to freeze this year. We haven't even had a hard frost yet.

    Every year varies, and I do keep an eye on the evergreens and make sure they have ample mulch and the soil is slightly damp even in winter. It reduces burn.

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This could be a beginner getting worried about nothing, but the issue seems to be getting worse. Some patches are turning fairly brown (see the attachment), and there isn't any mature grass replacing the embryonic blade.

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    Patches like that are not a good sign.

    Check for grubs--lift the turf in a square foot that's OK but not great, and see if there are grubs in and around the roots. Count them.

    If it's 10 or under, it's probably not worth worrying about. More than 10, you have a problem.

    I can't see what kind of damage that might be characteristic of--but my eyes are terrible. Grubs are worth a look.

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I dug up some soil and didn't see any grubs. I looked closely, though, and saw some spots on some blades of grass.

    At any rate, I spread some Milorganite. Hopefully that will take care of things.

    This post was edited by mtstalker on Fri, Oct 31, 14 at 20:24

  • User
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I spread some Milorganite around two weeks ago. No changes for the better, yet, but I'll give it some more time. I noticed that the areas where the grass is yellowing/browning doesn't seem to be maturing well. There are other patches of my lawn where the new grass is a dark green, and is shooting up. I've been able to give these areas 2-4 mowings now. In the yellowing areas, the grass still hasn't grown to 3.5" tall, and it's been close to two months. The grass that is susceptible to yellowing is still fairly thin, as well. Is this par for the course for a new lawn?

  • neil.corrigan12
    9 years ago

    This has happened to our new lawn too. Some grass blades turned brown. Reading the comments above, I realized that the cause was probably the dull mower blade we had for a few years now.