My otherwise good looking lawn has brown grass, almost looks like straw , mixed in with it not in any particular pattern. A few weeks ago, the entire lawn was a deep dark green. Now some is green and some is this brown grass or the edges are brown. Any ideas/explanations. Could it be the unusual amount of rain we have gotten along the north east. Any observations appreciated. Thanks
John
What kind of grass?
How much rain?
Your lawn may have some sort of fungus.
Chinch or fungus.
weather, it's normal upon close inspection to see some brown/dead blades in cool season grass evenly distributed throughout the turf. The tips of the blades could be brown from mowing, more so if the blade is not sharp. The overall turf still looks good though.
On the other hand, if you have scattered patches where the grass is all or mostly brown, then it's either disease, fungus, or insects. Take a sq ft sample of turf at the boundary area to a local agricultural ext service, if there is one in your area.
Most lawns in N Ohio have at least a little red thread disease since the dew point went up to 70. (to be expected) A feeding helps control it most times but a fungicide will make it be gone fairly quick. (expensive)
Chinch bug and webworm are on the prowl now too, here in N Ohio.
ps. now is the time to prevent grubs.. in case anyone forgot
Or both and webworm. doomed lol
gout.
Nope, just makes it look sickly for the most part. I can prevent most of it with Bayleton. (expensive)
We have been seeing a lot of red thread and chinch in southern ontario right now.
I have a similar problem. In addition to the straw appearance, my lawn seemed to have stopped growing. I also noticed numerous spots where animals had apparently "core aerated" the lawn, probably in search of grubs.
For reference, I'm in Southern New Jersey and have an irrigation system.
Based on not wanting to repeat last year (described below), I applied the following:
- Spectracide Grub Stop at the recommended rate.
- Bayer Fungus Control. I kind of miscalculated, and put down about 5 lbs. per 1000 ft**2 instead of 3.
The lawn seems to be growing again.
I have a problem like this every year. Last year, I had a lawn service fertilize. During early spring, the lawn looked great - check the photo from May, 2005. However, it had to be cut three time a week. By late July it was awful. My theory was that the service applied too much nitrogen, causing all top growth and no roots.
I had the lawn core aerated last fall, and overseeded at that time, and in early spring. In shady areas, I used Poa supina grass. I applied starter fertilizer in May.
The lawn looked pretty good until a couple of weeks ago - the June
2006 photo. As I said, it seems to have bounced back a little.Any suggestions about what could be going on? The bad spots don't seem to correlate with sun/shade or any other obvious factor. One thing I noticed is that in a spot where two trees were removed last year, the grass is growing well and is very green. (I had the soil tested a couple of years ago, and it was OK, but this makes me wonder.) I don't know whether to fertilize or not to.
Mart>
You can fert again with a summer fertalizer, also check for chinch bugs. An easy way is to take a can, cut both ends off, and fill it with water on the grass until it stays full, come back in an hour and look for tiny bugs floating on the surface, if they are there then apply an pesticide to eliminate them.
Hmmm, unless you have some kind of miracle can, in far less time than an hour, the can will be empty.
Rob,
I can't claim to speak for others. In my case, the cost of the complete service was comparable to the cost of buying the materials myself at retail prices. However, based on the poor results the lawn service obtained, I'm taking care of the lawn myself again.
I could add that some people are allergic or sensitive to some lawn treatments, especially pestacides (the use of which vs. organic methods is another topic altogether) and don't want to expose themselves to lawn treatment materials.
There is also the question of expertise. Growing grass isn't rocket science, but given the volume of Usenet traffic, books, magazines, radio shows, etc. about lawn problems, people may turn to "professionals" in an attempt to obtain better results.
Finally, if people want to put their disposable income into lawn care and use their time for something else, that's fine with me. Personally, I enjoy yardwork, or I'd buy a condo, but obviously, that answer doesn't work for everyone.
Martin
The service industry is a big part of our economy, from pizza to brain surgery. Why should lawncare be any different?
increasingly here to (New Zealand). Pizza can be delivered, thats ok as I like pizza. I also like caring for my lawn. Seems a waste of time having one and letting someone else look after it. If you simply want some green outside but not the hassle of caring for it why would you care too much what it looks like.
rob
When I want something done right, or don't have time to do it right, I usually get someone else to do it.
This include pizza and brain surgery, so I understand why people hire others for their yard work.
later,
tom @
Some have it done because of time constraints, others have it cared for because they don't know much about it. Some are just lazy.
Nothing at all bizarre about it.
For many it's probably a matter of available hours. My house is on 1 acre (~4,000 sq meters) waterfront, with about half of it being lawn, the remainder in gardens or oak hammock. I use a lawn service to mow it each week because it would take me 4-5 manhours to mow and trim, and those are hours I can spend in the wood shop, or fishing in the lake, or --- . Especially when I'm working, there aren't enough hours in the week to do my own lawn care and the other tasks around the house that need doing.
Regards --
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