gray and brown lawn

[Moe]

Hey all,

I'm sure these question comes up a lot, but I at a loss.

About 60% of my lawn is new (like 5 weeks old) and was started on fresh loam. The grass grew fine for the most part, but I'm having two problems.

1) Gray/Blue-Gray areas mostly in the new part. The grass has no rigidity here (just lays flat) and watering doesn't seem to help. A web search yields that this is a time to water. Does this mean that I didn't water enough in the growth phase so that the grass didn't develop deep roots? Is there any chance here?

2) I'm getting brown patches (on existing and new parts) about the size of footprint. It's very strange since the grass there looks like it died from underneath and the strawlike blades are just left hovering. Plus the patches aren't round and don't have halos or anything, so I can't seem to diagnose it. Ideas?

Thanks for the insight!

--Moe

[evolutionman 2004]

Did you lay sod or is the lawn from seed? If sod, then some of the brown spots are normal (roots didn't extend far enough into the soil underneath). You may also have some dead grass at the edges; normal also.

[Chet Hayes]

It's virtually impossible to diagnose this type of problem without actually seeing it and knowing what kind of grass it is, soil conditions, the weather, watering practices, fertilizer/chemicals, etc. If your state has an agricultural service, you may be able to take them some samples for diagnosis. Or call in a lawn service.

You;re right that the blue/grey look, with no bounce back, is a classic sign of not enough water. Have you contined to water it regularly? At 5 weeks in moderately hot weather I would be watering at least every other day. This is one of the reasons why spring is not the best time to try to establish a new lawn. If you apply water when it first looks this way, it should bounce right back. Also, what kind of fertilizer or chemicals have you applied? Too much fertilizer with not enough water makes it worse.

[Moe]

Indeed. Good idea on the ag. service. I may bring in a sample of the brown patches.

This is probably what's going on. Once most of the grass came up I quit watering. This was fine for most of the lawn since I had shade there, but the blue-gray patches are all in the constant sun. I'll do some frequent deep watering to see if that helps.

Thanks for the input!

[Johnnyboy]

I had some of the same problems with my lawn. It actually turned out to be a fungus. When I to the local store and picked up some fungicide. The spots went away.

As you said the grass seemed limp, unwatered and grayish blue. I took it to the local nursery and the determined it was fungis.

This might help.

Jon

Moe wrote:

-- Johnnyboy

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[Chet Hayes]

When you have a serious problem like this, applying fertilizer is one of the worst things you can do, though that is precisely what most people do. Nitrogen, water and sun only fuel most fungus and disease problems, which he may have. Lawns don't go from growing great to this condition in a couple of weeks from need of fertilizer.