I would raise the cutting height a bit, which might help to improve the color. Looks like you might be cutting off too much of the green grass blades. Sometimes mower wheels will lay the grass down which can give the appearance of different shades of green. Iron will make the grass slightly darker green but it can also stain cement areas like on the bottom right of your photo if you are not careful. The effect of iron is short lived. I wouldn't worry too much about this but follow up with another fertilizer application at about 6 weeks interval, but no rush.

The height is the second highest setting I have on my mower. I usually hit the highest as temps go up a bit more. As for the color, it's definitely different as you go up close and inspect it and not the mower pushing/laying the grass down.

How often can fertilizer be applied and at what rate per 1k? I don't want the lawn to over exert that it doesn't have the strength and nutrients to survive the summer. Though I will say as of last year, I've been applying kelp and humic throughout the summer to help the lawn. Milo will go down Memorial day but I want to fix this discoloring ASAP.

"Initially I was thinking that maybe I didn't get a good pass with my drop spreader compared to the rest of the yard"

That's exactly what it is.....an uneven application of the 19-0-7. Essentially, it is a weed and feed product, which are generally discouraged from use. If you want to use a pre-emergent, get one that is not a fertilizer as well.

Personally, I wouldn't do anything to it but let it just grow out. Give it a week or so with normal watering and it will look the same as the rest of the lawn.

I'm not so sure it is an uneven application of fertilizer. Usually when that occurs with a drop spreader, there are distinct lines of light colored grass where the fertilizer was missed. Or heavy green lines from overlap. I don't see how an uneven application of fertilizer creates a checkerboard pattern. Maybe if you went in both directions. But color variations require a large discrepancy in fertilizer. Usually any slight variation in fertilizer is not noticeable. I am not a fan of drop spreaders. You should get yourself a broadcast spreader. Much easier to do an application that is fairly even without lines.

The discoloration will undoubtedly go away in a few days. Don't sweat it. Tall fescue needs about 2 to 4 lbs of N per 1000 sq ft per year. Four to six applications of fertilizer evenly spaced between now and October.

gardengal, I don't see why there would be any objection to a pre-emergent combined with fertilizer. Weed and feed doesn't make much sense because the weed killer has to stick to the weed leaves to work, but a pre-emergent needs to be watered in, the same as the fertilizer application, so there is no conflict.

A weed and feed with a pre-emergent herbicide is no different than a weed and feed with a post emergent herbicide. Both are almost always in a granular formulation - no need or ability to stick to anything. And because it is a fertilizer app as well, both will also need to be watered in. And the Lesco product is both a pre- and post-emergent weed (some) killer.

Weed and feed or multiple purpose lawn care products are uniformly recognized as being inefficient in their methodology and environmentally unsound.

Ive been using the Lesco product for years. Its given me good results so, Im okay using it. Though I have looked for pre-em without a feed but, big box stores dont really carry them, well definitely not near me. Like I said in my post, I initially thought it was due to the drop spreader but, as Greg stated, it shouldnt cause a checkerboard pattern.

Im thinking I can fit one fertilizer feeding in before we hit the summer heat at the higher rate and then anything in the summer would probably be on the lower end coming from my Milo application. Would applying iron along with the nitrogen be ideal for a darker color?

I see the OP is in central NJ.

I’m in north central NJ. It used to be easy to find local retail sources for stand-alone granular pre-emergent herbicide. That’s no longer the case. Same is true for grass seed that isn’t 50% seed coating or other non-seed ingredients by weight. Things may be different in the pnw.

And concerning the comment that granular post emergents don’t need to stick to anything:

Scotts weed and feed is the most commonly stocked product around here. 2,4-D and Mecoprop-p. Are Scotts’ application instructions to apply to moist turf, and then not water (nor allow rain to fall) for 24 hrs afterwards unnecessary?

I’m not a drop spreader fan, either, Greg, but in can come in useful if you are looking for complete lawn coverage ( re: pre emergent) while avoiding a bordering planting bed where desirable seeds are to germinate. I don’t use one.

Pre emergent and post emergent herbicides are totally different in their mode of action and the way product must be delivered to be effective. A pre-emergent must be watered in before it is effective. A post-emergent must remain on the leaf surface of the weed to be effective and NOT be washed off by watering or rain. I fail to see any reason that applying fertilizer at the same time as part of a pre-emergent herbicide product is any less efficient or effective. A pre-emergent applied with fertilizer makes total sense. Granular fertilizer with post-emergent herbicide, like Scotts weed and feed, is only practical if one has the ability to thoroughly wet the turf before application, or else it must be applied while there is still dew on the grass in the morning. Makes more sense to spray the weed killer and apply the fertilizer as a granular.

A useful tool is the gdd tracker app at https://gddtracker.msu.edu/?model=7. Put in your zip code and it will tell you the latest to apply pre-emergent for crabgrass, and also when the crabgrass will start to germinate.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

3 days ago

“A weed and feed with a pre-emergent herbicide is no different than a weed and feed with a post emergent herbicide. Both are almost always in a granular formulation - no need or ability to stick to anything.”