I may be mistaken, but I think I'm seeing signs that it's greening up. I'm not familiar with creeping bentgrass, but the "creeping" part tells me that if any places got killed off, they should fill in. I think you're looking at a temporary problem.

Bentgrass needs to be cut with a reel mower, at a height lower than 1" to promote good spreading and dense turf. Otherwise it'll produce a lot of thatch and thin out.

As for applying fertilizer, I'm going to see how it looks this weekend. I'm waiting for it to get at least 50-60% green before I dump the fertilizer on. We're also expecting heavy rain Thursday/Friday so if I applied fertilizer tomorrow it'll get washed away.

bpgreen, it is a creeping grass that spreads via stolons. I hope you are right about it being a temporary problem. This fall I will definitely be applying snow mold fungicide so I don't have to bite my teeth all over again next spring.

I will continue taking pictures every few days to better help track the greening up process visually.

Can creeping bentgrass invade another healthy non-bentgrass lawn? Are they aggresive?

woodycrest manages two golf courses in Canada with a mix of bentgrass and clover. Ask him about mowers and mowing height, heh, heh. Also ask him about fertilizer and snow mold fungicide. Personally I think you are a little to anxious to use a synthetic fertilizer. I would wait until I mowed it twice.

Is it aggressive? About a billion people seem to think so. It doesn't get much discussion on GardenWeb, though. Bermuda is always talked about but bentgrass isn't.

Hey, once again, get your hand on some of this stuff: --> http://www.hjefertilizer.com/Professional/PDF/Greens/Greens13-2-13.pdf

You bentgrass will love it...

Could you post some more updated pics?

Friday update. Two inches of rain fell yesterday and today is windy and in the lower 50s.

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I think it looks better every day... What your lawn really needs is some food!! Give it some fertilizer, it's starving...

Have you check soil PH?

Fed it today. Its supposed to light drizzle tonight which should water it in, and then 60s coming next week. By next weekend we should have an explosion!!!

And no I didn't do a soil PH test yet.

Today's picture - 04/14/08. Today's high was 48F, soil temperature is 47F. Grass still looks like hell. Argh! Please tell me I won't be in for overseeding this year. I'm hoping the bentgrass spreads into the damaged areas before the weeds do!! I dropped nitrogen on Friday of last week.

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Supposed to hit 66 tomorrow and 72 on Wednesday. If it don't revive by this weekend, I'm gonna give up hope.

I think you might be a bit impatient. It's only April 14th. You got a ton of snow mold, as did I this year, even though we're in different states. It's still been cool as well. Wait until it gets warmer on a regular basis and we have more sunny days.

Every day my grass looks a little better and better. I have one extremely large area that seems to be closing in. Not thickly yet, but closing in none the less. Lawns damaged by snow mold are supposed to green up a bit slower, and I think that's just what is going on here.

But I don't blame you, I have to keep reminding myself of what I just said all the time :)

How many pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 did you apply? Also, what fertilizer did you use? Brand, NPK, iron/no iron, etc...

I think that most of that grass you see brown in the most recent picture will not comeback. Bentgrass is prone to desease everywhere it's grown, so my guess is that it's dead grass you're looking at. On the positive side, bentgrass is VERY agreesive a spreading as long as it's fertilzed and watered on schedules.

What I recommend you do is to topdress the dead areas with some fine compost or topsoil, fertilize every 4 weeks with Howard Johnson's 19-25-09 for two solid months, then switch over to 28-04-12 in late spring, then 13-02-13 for the summer months.

Be sure to check your soil's PH as well.

Keep posting those pictures...

Put down Scotts turfbuilder at 1 lb per 1000 sq ft. It's 29-2-4.

One lb per 1,000 sq ft. is barely enough. It's like an apetizer to us for lunch after not eating for 4 days... You need to feed the grass the first year between 5 and 6 lbs of nitrogen per 1,000 sf. if you want better results.

Another observation, I know your soil is very wet from all the rain and snow, but if the fertilizer does not come in contact with water, it's not going to breakdown and feed the roots of the grass.

Keep the pictures comming...

I agree with auteck. Did you read the directions on the bag? Most bags say to put about 4lbs at least per 1,000 sq. ft. You also have to water it in, if you didn't already. Even if it has rained, it may not be enough to thoroughly water it in, so you should drag out your sprinklers.

I don't know much about bentgrass, but I think more patience is needed. Many lawns here in central MA look like that and we have hit 70 a couple times. My back yard is on year 3 and is for the most part greening up, but the front yard I did last fall, that is still patchy yellow/green. If you just planted last year, you might expect it to be a bit slower on the first spring.

Maybe add another pound per 1000/sq ft, but really, I don't think it will benefit much this early. If you are adding synthetics, just don't over dose it so early in the spring.

I went through this 2 years ago with back yard. Actally mine was much worse. I only added 1/2 dose of starter and a full dose of soybeanmeal. It came back by early May. Nd then hit with another full dose oof soybean meal on memorial day.

April 12th
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April 19th
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April 25th
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June 6th - lawn in background really growing fast...ignore low areas flooded by water.
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egghead, what kind of grass is that?

That would be KBG (Award, Blackstone, Bedazzled), I know it's not bentgrass, but I just think it's early this year especially for a young turf to green up this quick no matter what type it is. It has been a long winter.

egghead, I had to asked because the color is so deceiving for a bluegrass lawn. Bedazzled is suppossed to be dark green and Blackstone as well. It must be lack of fertilizer or low soil PH...

Bentgrass has a very similar dormancy period to bluegrass, so there's correlation there.

Does your lawn look better today?

Egghead, do you have any pictures of how it looks at the moment? As you know I'm needing a little bit of reassurance myself with the snow mold problems.

I agree though that we just have to wait it out. A week ago monday I raked some of the worst areas of snow mold for the first time, and one area in particular I already see filling in. Just little sprouts here and there. It's not much, but it's got me hopeful. I'm going on vacation next week and when I come back on the 25th I'm sure I'll be surprised at how much things have changed as you will too.

I have some 20-29-5 in the garage that I'm probably gonna drop in two weeks or so, hopefully to kick off lateral growth in May. I dropped 29-2-4 last Friday.

auteck,

Yes I was low on PH. The test was done in 3/2006 and it was 5.9 at the time. Those pics were from 4/-06 and 6/06. I hit it 2 times with 25# per 1000 sq/ft of lime that spring and summer. The lawn did darken over the last 2 years, but I am in need of a new test this spring.

fourstringdrums,
I'll be home tomorrow...working all night so I can stay home for the beautifal day ahead. I'll take some pics of the front which is still yellow/green, but it is in its first spring. Then the back where it is in its third spring and a bit darker.

I should put together a blog about my yard renovation. It was an interesting and long project, just not so web site savy though.

Here's a pic from tonight. Yesterday was 60F and today was 75F. Is it looking better to anyone? LOL

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This is almost like one of those "spot the difference" games.

Not really, no, but I think the whole "a watched pot never boils" adage applies here. I should talk though. I hate looking at my lawn around 6:30 because of the height of the sun it casts shadows that make the lawn and the spots I have look worse than at any other time during the day :-D

There's a definite improvement from the earliest pictures (not just the ones with all the snow, but the ones where the grass was showing). I don't see much of a difference from the picture taken the 14th, but I think it has improved since the 11th. Considering the winter you've had, it could just be that it is taking longer to wake up. I may be imagining things, but it seems the greenest near the driveway, and the soil would warm up faster there than in the rest of the lawn.

I agree, the driveway will suck up heat from the sun. There is where your greenest grass is. You can fertilize, it only can help, but I think another 3 or 4 days of warmth will green more up.

I donÂt think you should fertilize yet, it isn't really growing enough.

It looks like it might be dry enough to give it a good raking  have you done that yet? Mine looked like yours, then I raked it. Now, it looks more fluffy with brown spots, but I see the green peaking through.

I find it interesting to watch other people's grass grow. : )

Well, I re-raked the backyard today to fluff up some matted down areas, and I noticed some green sporatic growth in the matted areas. The soil temperature today was 54F. I've been researching Penncross Creeping Bentgrass online a little and I noticed that it has poor spring greenup. And its growth really doesn't start until the soil temperature hits 55F. So, since the crowns reside under the soil, I'm hoping that once the soil hits 55F in the next week or so, I will see an explosion of growth in the old snow molded areas. I'm also hoping the raking I did today stimulates the above ground stolons to spread in areas the growth doesn't resume.

I've never wintered a bentgrass lawn before, so thats why I'm so nervous. I just keep remembering to August 4th last year when I spread 10 yards of topsoil by hand and was sweating buckets. I want that to still be worth it :)

Oh, here it is raked. Looks better than yesterdays pic I think.

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I understand how you feel. I tried raking my side yard today (it takes forever for the grass to get going there), but in some spots itÂs still too moist/cool, so all I was doing was raking up the roots to expose soil, so I quit until another day. ItÂs tough being patient, though.

Your lawn does look a bit better now that youÂve raked it. I find it always does. Thanks for posting your photos.

wxman81, two additional suggestions for you:

1- Bring the mower down to the lowest setting just right before scalping, mow it, bag it, then lightly topdress the damaged areas with top soil.

2- This is an experiment, allocate an area of your yard, plant an irrigation flag (the orange ones you fine at HomeDepot or Lowe's) place it there, then warm up some water (not hot, just warm) about 80 to 90 degrees F. then water the asigned area 3 times a day for 3 days. The warm water should warm the soil up, the warm soil should kickstart the that area of the lawn and growth should resume.

If you decide to do it, let us know how it worked out.

I don't like the warm water idea. Sounds like plant/root shock.

Then skip it. I did the opposite last year in the summer. The water was right at 34 degrees F. I didn't do it consistanlly enough to see some results, so I'm not sure if it worked or not. An irrigation system attached to a well water source should produce some releif to a cool season turf during the hot summer months... Well water is usually around 50 to 60 degrees F.

A temperature controlled irrigation system should work wonders on any lawn during winter or summer stress.

Here's today... soil temperature is up to 59F now. Mowed yesterday to get the faster growing areas.

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What you all think compared to the pic two days ago?

Sure is filling in fast. Looks like you got worried for no reason! :)

Big difference! It's going to get better and better every day... Keep fertilizing every 4 weeks and mowing every 5 days and you'll see fantastic results.

if you are fertilizing every 4 weeks then u should be mowing every other day and make sure u collect the clippings!!

dont let the bent get ahead of you!!

Mowed my bentgrass today at 0.625" with my reel mower. It was technically the 2nd cut of the season, but I'm only counting it as the first because when I mowed on Sunday, the mower just took down a few high areas. But today, a lot got mowed. After finishing that, I went to Home Depot and bought 1000 lbs of sand and spread it on my lawn at a 200 lb per 1000 sq ft ratio. Broadcast spreaders work nice for that, but make sure the sand is dry. I bought the dried quikcrete play sand. Worked wonderful! Now I should get some good lateral growth starting after that topdressing application. Soil temperature today is 58F. Here is a picture:

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Looks great!! I would remove those dead grasses from there or topdress it so it will fill faster. The dead grass gets in the way of the new spreading new grass.

You can rent an aerator to plug some hose in the damaged areas, then fill them up with weed-free topsoil or compost.

Good job, keep the pictures coming.

wxman81,

That very first picture with the dirty snow is KILLING ME!

Your lawn though is filling in quite nicely!

auteck,

I topdressed with 200 lbs per 1000 sq ft yesterday. Using 100% sand.

egghead2004,

Yeah this winter sucked. It wouldn't stop snowing. Not the best thing for a brand new lawn. I'm surprised that its filling in as fast as it is. I thought I had 50% or more kill back in early April. I was in panic mode.

What is your neighbor's grass type?

And is that a railroad track in the back?

Don't know what the neighbor has. Probably close to 100% Poa annua because it turns crispy brown and dead looking in the summer. Also its riddled with dandelions and creeping charlie. He don't do any lawn care. Last year his yard got a foot high and then he wacked it down to 1".

And yes that is a train track back there :)

Isn't it funny, they guy who dosn't to crap to his grass, his turns green first.

Don't worry , you'll pass him in spring green up a couple years from now.

Ok, its an all out war now. I found poa annua in my bentgrass!!! What an atrocity against all bentgrass!

Today's pic. Air temperature hit 77F and we had 1.5" of rain overnight. Nothing but goodness for my bent!

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Well I'm back from a week long vacation. Glad to see that your grass is filling in! It gives me hope for mine. I definitely notice an improvement from just 8 days ago before I left but I still have some larger areas that need help. I'm sure that just like yours it will take alittle longer and anything that needs to be fixed isn't substantial.

Today's picture. Soil temperatures are back in the upper 40s. Air temperatures were near 32 at night and in the 40s during the day most this week. I think top growth stopped again. Meh.

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That is stunningly lovely and the small holes are all filling in.

Mine stopped too as temperatures plunged into the thirties. It'll start up again soon.

It was 37F. this morning in Raleigh, but top growth has not stopped. It has been growing rather quickly sience April 16.

Meh, your lawn looks awesome for such a short time and having all that dirty snow on it for months!!

I just seeded today a small area of my yard with A-4 bentgrass. I just want to see what it does during the summer with homeowner care treatment. The golf courses here are loaded with bentgrass, but they have an Army of people, chemicals, tons of water, and a virtual open check book to buy anything they want to keep the grass green all year long.

Keep the pictures coming...

wxman81, Thanks so much for posting this. It is fascinating to see how a stand of this grass is actually doing. This is encouraging.

One thing I read is to put down a fungicide right about the time of the first Fall frost. Will help protect against winter fungi like snow mold.

What a lawn you have! Anyone going for Creeping Bent is brave.