In the northeastern past of NJ. Two weeks ago I decided to overseed my back yard. I had neglected it towards the end of the summer. It had gotten brown and patchy. Not enough water and no fertilizer. Infrequent mowing. Used a sun/shade mixture. Perennial Ryegrass, Red Fescue, and Bluegrass blend. Not sure what the existing grass is as I moved in recently.

I mowed it short and dethatched. Put the seed down and starter fertilizer. For the first week I watered twice a day for 15-20 minutes. I know I should water deeply and infrequently but I also had an area in the back where I was establishing new grass. I watered early in the morning and later in the day (as I get home at 5:30pm). This past week I cut that to once every other day.

Most of the lawn greened up nicely. New grass came in in the back of the lawn. Towards the front I noticed some areas weren't greening up so well. Hit them with the hose for some extra water this past week, but no luck. Today it's worse and it looks like it's mostly dead or dying. Checked for grubs but there are none. Roots are still there.

So is this grass a lost cause? Did it just die over the summer? Or was it fungus that started over the summer and I just made worse by the constant watering, and watering late in the day and the infrequent mowing? I'm thinking suddenly mowing it super short didn't help either.

Pics below, thanks!