Can't Keep Grass Green!

9 years ago

We recently purchased a new home and have been working since July to improve the lawn (Hydroseed). We've overseeded a few times, making sure to water consistently. Seed has come in - we've filled quite a bit of the bare patches. However, we can't seem to keep the grass green. It's definitely turning to the yellow side. We've fertilized, checked pH, added calcium. We overdressed (added topsoil) to a good portion of the yard. The yard was looking pretty good and after our last mow it started yellowing. We're also noticing quite a few areas where there's like an under-layer of dead brown flat grass. Almost like thatch, but still attached to the ground. Any idea what causes that? Or the yellowing? We've also noticed random areas of beautiful green grass (circular), occasionally with a dead patch in the middle of it, but not always. We'd like to try and correct the problems before we overseed again.

Featured Answer

andy10917

9 years ago

Do you have a dog that is sometimes using the lawn as a bathroom? And please explain what fertilizer was applied the the yard, and at what application rate. Was the Calcium that was applied in the form of Lime? Was the Lime applied closer than two weeks from the fertilizer?

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Comments (7)

Jessica Cashman
Original Author
9 years ago
No dogs using this yard. We used MagiCal from jonathan green about one month before adding the fertilizer. The fertilizer we used was winter survival by jonathan green at a rate of 3 lb per 1000sq ft. Thank you for any help that you may have! We also did some closer examination this afternoon and it seems like we may have rust as well. What a mess!
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andy10917
9 years ago
Hmmmm - those certainly look like dog urine spots.

The "Winter Survival" product is 10-0-20, At 3 lbs/K, you applied about 30% of the amount of Nitrogen that would be considered optimal for a single application. And I'm not crazy about the 20% Potassium (the 20 in the 10-0-20) - there has been University testing that indicated late-season K may increase Snow Mold likelihood over the Winter.

Fall is the best time for applying Nitrogen, but you need to know how/when to stop when the grass slows down for the Winter, and then hit it once more when it just completely stops.
krnuttle
9 years ago
In looking at the picture I noted the green spots that has been discussed but also the green lines in the yard. What kind of equipment did you use to apply the fertilizer. The lines and green spots could be caused by a defective spreader.
dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Those are CLASSIC dog urine spots. If not dogs then foxes or cats or something. Classic, though. The dark green color around the spots is telling me that your chemical fertilizers are not working, but the organic fertilizer from the animal is working great. At this point I would put down an organic. Any commercially produced bagged product will work, but also you can use ground up animal feed. For example dry dog food or cat food both work very well. Also soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, corn meal, or corn gluten meal are available in plain brown bags at your feed store. The application rate for all of them is 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Give them 3 full weeks to work and the grass should green up all over. I would suggest incorporating at least one organic application per year either instead of one chemical app or in addition to the chemical apps.

Where do you live? If your soil temps are in the 50s, the fertilizer might not work right away or may take longer than 3 weeks.

What is your watering schedule? How often and for how long do you water?
dollface121817
9 years ago
What about grubs underneath?
dollface121817
9 years ago
What type of grass is it? Could also be somethimg fungal.