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william_weaver56

Grass turning light green

8 years ago

I have brought my lawn from dirt to a quite flush lawn. However no in spots its turning light green. I have read that Im over watering but we in West Texas get no rain fall so I water all the time. Here are photos.

but now it is getting light green patches in it. It cant be from over watering can it? I live in west Texas where we get no rain! help!!!!

Comments (8)

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I live in Odessa.. I try and water every evening for about mins cause I thought the heat and the dryness of the ground could use it. I guess just wild bermuda. I brought it from dirt by watering weeding and fertilizing with normal fertilizer and pigeon poop. My mower I have no set to just cut the top 1" off.. I was just trying to get it looking decent for my wedding but now that the wedding is over Im obsessed with it. here are the photos of what it started out as and where it is now in order. The more the grass grew the less I fertilized and more I watered is about all I have changed!! HELP PLEASE

  • 8 years ago

    Not much nutrition in that dirt, probably just needs some iron or nitrogen or both

    William Weaver thanked reeljake
  • 8 years ago

    Ok thanx so where do I get iron.. And its it true that pigeon poop is good ( specially for nitrogen?) And how often would be healthy to water.. I greatly appreciate it!!!

  • 8 years ago

    I have no idea about pigeon poop. Iron you can get in a bag at Lowe's or home depot, called ironite

  • 8 years ago

    Wait! Before you start buying stuff, change your watering. That looks very typical of an overwatered bermuda lawn. You have great coverage but it's changing color.

    Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

    If you had a different kind of grass or it looked much worse, I would suggest gradually moving toward deep and infrequent watering. But yours is common bermuda (bulletproof) and looking fine. Just go for it. If it looks dead, the bermuda will come alive with the next watering. You will probably find that you get runoff long before you get 1 inch of water in your cans. When that happens stop watering and stop your clock. Find a tasty beverage and let the water soak in for 15 minutes to a half hour. Then resume watering until you get runoff again. Repeat beverages and soaking until you get the 1 inch or until you can't walk, which ever comes first. If you already know that you have soil which cannot take a long watering, then before you start to fill the cans, spray the lawn with shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Don't use your wife's best shampoo. Use the cheap stuff from the dollar store. It should be clear and not cloudy shampoo. Then start the water to fill the cans. The water will absorb into the soil better after the shampoo. My lawn only needed one shampoo treatment, and it lasted for years.

    It's always interesting where people from West Texas actually live. Lubbock is considered West Texas but their situation is a lot different from yours.

    William Weaver thanked dchall_san_antonio
  • 8 years ago

    Yes Lubbock is more north of here and they get tons of rain, hell Midland ( town 30 miles north) gets rain it goes around Odessa. So I will not water and this weekend I will see how long it takes to get one full inch in cat food cans and just do that once a month. I dont know I just thought that you couldn't possibly over water your yard.. I greatly appreciate all the info. If I could only get rid of the goat heads now.

  • 8 years ago

    Usually goat heads go away with any kind of lawn care. They don't like to be watered, mowed, or fertilized. Try any of that to get rid of them. Before you start that, find some old fabric or old rug or something and drag it over the area where the goat heads are. The goat heads will collect in the fabric and you can throw it away. Otherwise the watering might sprout the seeds and prolong the agony.