Lawn is looking worse every day - Pic attached

[turbosl2]

I have a 1.5acre lot in upstate NY that we just seeded last sept/oct. The grass came in really thin last year because it was to late and cold to get it to get higher than an inch or two. I added Scotts winter (4 -

15,000sqft bags). This spring (about april) my grass looked FANTASTIC, really dark green but not very thick yet. Some areas that are shaded more are nice and thick and green but the rest of the yard the grass is yellow and burnt looking. It looks like the grass is rotten or brown and dead at the base but as it gets to the top it gets greener. I am in complete sun and in pure sand. I have an inground irrigation system with rainbird 5000 heads. Last year i watered 15mins per zone (i have 16zones, each zones nozzles totaling a flow of 12GPM). Meaning to water 1.5acres i am using roughly 2900 gallons of water. I did this 4 times a day to get the seed to germinate. This year i did the same in the spring, but the rain sensor tripped when we had rainy days. I keep reading to cut back and water deep and in the morning. I changed to 20mins a zone, every other day starting at 5am until i think around noon. The grass got crispy and dried out. I now water 15mins a zone (which is a 4hr cycle) starting at 5pm, then at 10pm, then again at 3am, then at 8am. The grass is looking better but still yellow and crappy. I just put down scotts turf builder today HOPING it will come back to normal.

Can i cut back on my watering, or is it because i am in pure sand that i need to water this much. I cannot seem to water deep and get it to survie, and remember i have 16zones which 30mins takes 8hrs so i feel i have to water at night.

Or is my lawn just lacking nutrients and now that i fertilized i should be good? How can i tell when it is in need of fertilizer nice water?

What do you think?

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[allen73]

The fertilizer given to lawn should contain the macronutrients, with basic nutrients:Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), and Potassium (K). Micronutrients are also important for healthy plant growth.Lack of calcium turning your grass yellowish.

Before applying lawn fertilizers,go for soil testing which ensuring the right fertilizers are given to lawn.

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[willshak]

turbosl2 wrote the following:

There is not much nutrients in sand to support growth. Overwatering it just washes what there is of it down further. It is probably growing better under the trees because the decaying of falling leaves provide nutrients there. You will have to rake in some compost wherever you want grass.

[trader4]

If it's really just sand, as opposed to sandy loam, then I'd agree that is part of the problem. However, I suspect the bigger problem is the watering practice. When you've seeded you need to water several times a day to keep it constantly wet for germination. But that was last Fall. Now the grass needs to be watered at most ONCE a day and then not again until it needs it. With sandy soil, that might mean watering it every 3 days. With average soil you might get away with every 5 days this time of year. That assumes no rain from nature, typical temps, established turf.

There are a few things wrong with watering it the way it's being done. By splitting up the watering, you lose more to evaporation. It takes a certain amount of water to get everything wet before water reaches the soil. And when you stop, what's left on the grass evaporates. You're only running 15 min cycles, so a significant amount of what you are putting down never reaches the soil, ie a higher percentage is being lost than if you did it in one shot.

Watering at 10PM is the worst time. It leaves the grass wet all night. With summer temps that can be high at night, that is a prescription for fungus and disease. Given your location and the weather so far, you're probably OK. But if you get into July with higher temps, watch out. You want to water starting in the early morning hours so that it's ending before the sun can evaporate it. That way you lose the least to evaporation, but also don't leave it wet all night. Watering during the day should usually be avoided because more water is lost to evaporation.

Finally, even if you put all the watering you are doing into one period which would make an hour, you might be surprised at how little water is making it to the turf. Get some used tuna cans and place them in random spots and find out how much water you are actually putting down. The fact that the grass is doing well in the shady areas suggests to me that there is a good chance this is a watering problem. In full sun with 1.5 acres, you're going to need a hell of a lot of water. You should be putting down a min of 1/2". I don't know what kind of system you have, but if it's the typical residential system, I bet it's going to have to run a very long time.

[trader4]

After posting this, I went back and ran the numbers on the data given. You're putting down 2900 gallons of water 4 times a day on 1.5 acres. That works out to a whopping .07" of water each of those

4 times a day that you water. Most of that gets used up just getting the grass wet or in evaporation and very little makes it to the roots. If you applied it as ONE watering, then you'd be putting down .28", which is better, and a larger percentage would make it into the soil, but it's still not much water. And that assumes the water is perfectly distributed, which it is not. Bottom line, to water that area the way it needs to be done could take 32 hours of watering.

Couple of things you can do to verify this, besides putting out the tuna cans. Take a look at the grass in the few inches around the sprinkler heads. The heads always leak some and those areas will get more water. If that grass is green, it's telling you something. You could also lift a few sections of turn with a spade and check how much moisture there is 2-3 inches down.

[turbosl2]

You could be correct, i do NOT bag my grass either.

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