Gonna have to ask for pictures because I can't envision your descriptions and don't really expect anyone else can. It's just that we need specifics to help identify a problem. I've never heard of grass turning black(ish). There may be black(ish) spores resulting from fungus, but the grass blades themselves don't turn black. I also can't envision dry grass that is watered, so please show us pictures of your affected areas or be as descriptive as possible. You may have to closely examine the blades to check for spots, streaks, shredding, fungus, etc. - anything you can see. Also, please explain what you mean by "turning blackish and drying."

Tell us what is your irrigation method. Sprinkler system? Oscillating sprinkler? Impact sprinkler? Other?

Just to let you know, I'm pretty sure there is a disease/fungus of some type, and you're watering way too much, which is making it worse if not having been the cause. Too much water is the cause of disease, never the cure.

Mallory,

It's the same thing I experienced lately. The darkening of the blades is the process when grass blades goes to dormant state.

Like what you folks told me, my lawn most of the time is under full exposure to the sun, and morpheuspa's analysis was that I wasn't providing enough water, which results to "the darkening" of the blades. Another person told me that the color is ashen or dark grayish.

penaddict, I'm changing my watering from once per 2 weeks to once per week. These are deep watering btw. Or someone also suggested to me twice a week. 1/2" for the first watering and second 1/2" for the second watering. Don't water during hottest hour of the day. Water like 5am-7am. Don't water in the evening so that you won't invite bad fungi.

Do you know what kind of soil you have? I know a lot of the soil in Colorado is clay, but there are also pockets of very sandy soil. Usually, it's more difficult to get clay to absorb water, but once you do, it holds the water longer. Since you're using Revive, it's probably clay, but I thought I'd check to be sure.

What time of day do you water? In the intermountain west, we can get away with watering in the evening more than people in most areas can due to the low humidity, but early morning is still the best.

Your neighbor probably really does water twice a day for 5 minutes each. As a result, his grass has all of its roots very close to the surface. If you get hit with watering restrictions, his grass will go dormant very quickly and maybe even die.

Here are a couple of things for you to check.

Do a "tuna can test" to see how much water you're applying when you water. To do this, place tuna cans around the lawn before the sprinklers go off. After they finish, check to see how much water is in them.

In one of the areas that look bad, before watering on one of the off days, stick a screwdriver into the ground to see whether it's still damp, and also to see how deep you have to get before you get to damp soil. If it's not dry to at least 4 inches, you shouldn't be watering.

I water from 1 AM to about 4:30 AM. I was watering just once a week, but with the triple digit highs (and the tuna can test showing that I was getting less than half the water that I used to) I've switched to twice a week.

I also water in cycles. I water each station for a set amount of time (varies based on the station due to the coverage of each station). It takes a little less than an hour to get through all the stations. I wait a little longer, then start over again (and repeat the whole thing a third time). My cycles are at 1:00, 2:15 and 3:30. That gives the water a chance to soak in rather than run off.

Another person told me that the color is ashen or dark grayish.

That, too, but never black. I'd describe mine, when stressing, as purple-green with a peculiar blue overtone. Light ashen when going dormant, and then the lightest tan (close to khaki) when it's dormant. But I repeat--never, never black.

I was watering a few times per week (20 minutes each in two sections to cover the area).
Now I'm watering everyday in the areas that are looking like they are burning.
But now it looks like it's spreading.

Is a few times a week twice or five? Depending on your sprinkler, that could be way too much water--and it does sound like it's probably too often.

Stepping up to every day is...not real good. You're encouraging your grass to throw away more root than it should. Like Ron said, you're also putting out engraved invitations for disease.

I'll second (third?) the request for a photo--it would really help.

Ok, maybe it's not blackish but darkening in color. When I'm looking at it at eye level, it looks darker (grey maybe) in two large areas. I'll try and take a picture. (forgot how to post it)
I'll do a water test this weekend as the sprinklers just went off this morning. I set them to go off at about 6 a.m. There are eight zones but only two are for the grass (set at 23 minutes for each zone on the grass).
Maybe I'm over watering, but don't think so. If I don't do extra watering in these specific areas, they dry fast.

Bingo! I asked for your type of watering system so I could translate the time frames into amount of water actually applied, and sure enough you are watering waaayyy to much. More than likely, your 20 minutes is all a sprinkler system takes to apply 1 inch of water, which is all the grass needs but only that amount for the whole week. Yet, you were doing it "a few times per week" and then began watering every day. Absolute no no. Your neighbor, on the other hand, has a better idea. His five minutes during a heat wave is only enough to relieve heat stress. I don't know what type of irrigation system he has and twice a day isn't necessary, but it's not enough to cause problems either.

Secondly, it is a contradiction in terms to say wet grass looks dry. Get me? Saying so doesn't help us to help you, it can only confuse us in trying to interpret. So, we need to know what you are calling "dry." Does that mean it turns brown? Tell us why you feel it is dry.

Gonna ask for pics again. We need to see the area and also closeups like this lady did.

To post pics, upload them to Photobucket.com. Instructions for posting are here. Photobucket has changed somewhat. Instead of the Tag line being the second one (in the middle), it is now the third line that says
HTML Tag.

If your pics are very large, here is a way to resize them.

Ok, here are the pics.
I tried putting a screwdriver into the ground and it didn't feel moisture. The ground at the base of the grass feels dry and I can pull layers off. This is not this way for all of the grass, just the opposite corners but seems like it's spreading.

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Looks like classic draught stress. Deep and infrequent watering is the way to go. Try to increase draught tolerance of your lawn. Introduce organic material into your lawn. Mulch mow returning your clippings and mulch in all your Autumn leaves. Topdress with compost, especially in the problem areas. Consider organic fertilizers. By the way, your pictures look great.

If I understand you correctly, this is happening only in the corners. I suspect that your sprinkler system is not getting to the corners. Sprinklers often have trouble hitting the corners and/or edges of a lawn. If you're getting dry spots only in some sections, I wouldn't try to solve it by increasing the irrigation for the entire lawn. I would take the hose to those sections, turn it on and let it run slowly until the ground is saturated. I'd do that every week or every other week if the lawn isn't getting stressed before then. If the sprinklers aren't reaching to those spots, watering longer or more often won't change that. It's possible that the sprinklers used to get there, but no longer do. With the extended drought that has hit the intermountain west, the water pressure is much lower in many areas.

I currently use Richlawn for my fertilizer. Planned to fertilize this week but I think I'll hold off since it's really hot still.
How much of a topdress of compost should I use? (how thin or thick, just toss around?)
I had been using a hose to the corner dry areas but was doing that everyday or morning and night.
Would I just use a sprayer on the hose or just take the nozzle off and water that way?
Thanks for all of your help! I'm fight to keep the lawn healthy and feel obsessed over it.

I have to agree. Probably/hopefully only a sprinkler problem.

You might consider changing your sprinkler heads or nozzles if possible. Use a good quality head (Hunter, Toro, Rainbird Pro, etc) All of these have changeable nozzles and a wide variety of spray patterns.

A few things to consider for improving drought tolerance:

1.) Apply only enough water to wet the soil in the rootzone. 3/4 inch of water is generally sufficient. Do not water the lawn again until signs of wilt occur. This technique works regardless of turfgrass species, soil type, season, or other environmental conditions.The Tuna can test works great. Link Below is the full instructions on how to calibrate your sprinkler system

2.) Set you mower to the highest setting. (encourages deep roots)

3.) Return/recycle grass clipping back the lawn (adds organic matter)

4.) Use a Sharp, Balanced Blade (Leaf cut will heal over quicker and lose less water)

5.) Never mow off more than one-third the height of the leaf blade at any one time. (minimizes the shock of cutting)

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Calibrate Your Sprinkler System

I would not fertilize now. It's way too hot. It may not be as bad where you are (since you're zone 4, I'm guessing you're at a higher elevation), but we've been hitting triple digits pretty consistently lately. Also, I don't think you want to fertilize until you get the drought stress relieved.

I think some people spread compost with a shovel and go around later with a broom or rake for the spots that have it too thick. I think you want to keep it at about 1/4 inch or so.

For the "hand watering" in the corner with the hose, since you can't stick a screwdriver in, it sounds like you have compacted heavy clay. That's both good and bad. The bad part is that it may be difficult to get the water to penetrate very deeply, at least at first. The good news is that once the water soaks in, the clay will hold the water for a long time, so you shouldn't need to water very often, even in our low humidity.

What you want to do is take the nozzle off, put the hose on the ground and turn the water on maybe 1/4 of the way. Then walk away for about 20 minutes. If it's not running off, leave it for another 20 minutes. At that point, check how deep the water went using a screwdriver or small shovel. You want it to get to at least 6 inches deep. Eventually, you'll want it deeper than that, but right now, your grass probably doesn't have very deep roots due to the recent frequent watering.

If it starts to run off before it gets 6 inches deep, move the hose to one of the other dry sections and do the same thing to that section. After an hour or so, move it back to the first spot. That gives the water a chance to soak in deeper. Eventually, you should be able to water longer without runoff, especially if you add compost and you mulch mow.

Boy, you guys are good *normally*, but I'm going to bop your heads together like the three stooges LOL. I have no idea what you're thinking. There is nothing classic about what is happening in those picture. Well, except for classic behavior of Poa trivialis in the heat.

Think about it. He said he was applying 3 or more inches of water each week, then he doubled that. Wouldn't it be safe to assume he already did make sure the sprinklers reached those areas? Then, he said the problem is spreading. Drought stress does not spread.

Does this really look like drought stress to you?
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Or any of it, for that matter.

You're thinking the sprinklers don't reach the outer edges, but the overhead pics tell a different story.
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That is too much area and too close an area to assume the sprinklers are not reaching them or to think drought stress can spread into irrigated portions.

Plus, he has another area brewing here
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The problem is either trivialis or a disease. Tell us if see anything weird looking on the grass around 8 in the morning. Or take samples w/roots to your local Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Service. There is likely one near you. They will diagnose the problem.

As I look at that second pic I posted, I see it looks wet.
I could be wrong, but does it look wet to you guys?
What does that tell you?

I admit that the spreading made me question drought as the cause, but the fact that a screwdriver wouldn't penetrate was what made me come back to it.

In the second picture (the overhead one), I think the corner (upper right hand corner of the picture) looks a lot like there are two impact sprinklers that overlap in the middle and fall just shy of reaching the corner.

I don't think the grass in the second picture looks wet, but I've kind of forgotten what wet grass looks like, so I could be wrong. If it is wet, fungus could be a problem. Fungus isn't usually a problem in the intermountain west, but it can crop up if somebody over waters.

Some of the area (left side of picture) was watered before I took the picture, so it probably was wet (grass flattened). There are six sprinklers that rotate and that do have overlapping.
What would fungus look like.
As I mentioned, I was overcompensating with extra water in these areas that looked like they were drying.
Any suggestion on removing fungus if this is the case?

Anybody nitpicking that lawn would definitely be unhappy living in the southeast. I don't know how you keep it green there in CO.

Always hard to guess from pictures but to me it looks like drought stress.

20 minutes a few times per week is not a lot. My sprinkler system requires more than an hour a zone to hit the 1" water mark. Even then, it needs to be divided into multiple sprinkler cycles or runoff will result. That said, some areas are quick to show drought stress. You never know what kind of soil you have underneath and for how deep. Under my lawn is full of building debris, in some cases just 2-3 inches below the top soil. These areas are really quick to dry out and show stress.

Also, deep and infrequent watering does no good during the sweltering, dry summer. Root building is just not occuring so driving water past the rootzone is a wasted effort. There is something to be said for watering lighter doses daily during the summer--In fact, that is exactly what Michigan State recommends and they claim that grass is healthier with LESS disease. Watering under this protocol is done at the heat of the day (shortly past noon) and total water should be 1-1.5 inches per week (same as conventional watering). Some of the water serves to satisfy the lawn's water requirements and some just to cool the turf.

My sprinkler system requires more than an hour a zone to hit the 1" water mark.

Two hours and a bit more for mine. I designed that way as I have heavy clay with runoff pretty fast. This goes down slowly enough that it can absorb.

The tuna can test is really the only way to be sure of what's going down. Using sprays, an hour is a lot of water. Rotors, not so much.

penaddict, You say that you use "Revive". If the product has been evenly distributed AND the irrigation covers the entire lawn, then you should not see the drought stressed areas. I am not familiar with "Revive" but the internet suggests that it might be 'dehydrated poultry waste'. The combined effects of this product and inadequate irrigation coverage may well produce the symptoms shown on some parts of the lawn. Only you know the recent 'history' of events on your lawn and you will know whether this makes sense or not. I'd rule out disease...very cautiously. I do not believe that the humidity caused by your watering and the high temperatures coincide to manifest a fungus; and the "melting down" (characteristic of a fungus) is not evident. But there are bacteria and viruses. I am not familiar with insects which may attack KBG but a soap flush will confirm or eliminate this cause. So it is back to cultural or environmental. I would run an impact sprinkler on a spike (stuck in the ground near the 'latticed container' and adjusted for that problem area on the corner, third picture). Quarter circle, 15 minutes a day should show results in about 3 days. It is an interesting challenge and we will all learn something if you care to share the ultimate solution.

I spoke with and sent an email with pics to Colorado State University (thanks for that advice). I have a feeling it is because of drought status. The woman on the phone said she highly doubts it's a fungus considering our weather conditions here.
It did finally rain (a little) today.
I did the hose technique as suggested above and I think that might be helping a bit.
I also moved a plant (liatrus, sp?) to a new location because it was blocking one of the rotating sprinkler heads. I also adjusted the distance of another but that too is having some impact from an overgrowing liatrus plant.
I will monitor the water absorption and hope things improve.
Thanks to all of your input!

Try seaweed liquid at the rate of 2 ounces per 1 gallon per 1000 sqft to help grass tolerate stress better.