Help needed. New turf problem.

Hi all. I laid some turf 5 weeks ago and since then the grass has gone a bit brownish and patchy and I don't know what to do. The turf was bought from b&q and I watered it every day for about 15 mins each time for the first 2 weeks. The grass was very lush and had grown quite a bit by the time I gave it its first mow 2 weeks after i laid it. It was then that I realised something wasn't right. When I had finished mowing I noticed that there were now many sodden bare patches with rotten grass in them and some of the grass had pale blades and had become quite thick, the grass also looked a bit pale generally, and no longer fine and lush. I was pretty sure that I had over watered it, so I stopped watering it for a few days to try to let it dry out and did it every 2 days after that until it started raining which we had on and off for a couple of weeks so I didn't water it as much during this period. The grass never really recovered and now looks pretty sorry for itself. I gave it a mow a few days ago on one setting lower than it's highest and it now looks a lot paler and more brown. I'm thinking about giving it a feed to see if that returns the colour back to it, but I thought I would come here first to get your advise about what you think is the best way forward. I really don't know what to do, if anyone has any ideas please let me know. I have included some photos here showing it newly laid, what it was like a couple of weeks ago and what it is like now. Thanks, Ben.

 

Hi Ben, It can't have been easy getting turf established this Spring!
Firstly, I'd ease up on the mowing until the roots are a bit more established. When it appears to be growing strongly again, then give it a trim on the highest setting. It would be worth leaving the grass fairly long during it's first year. Meanwhile, if the soil is moist, you could try a light dressing of fertiliser..preferably one that is higher in N and P than K Nitrogen will encourage green leaf growth, Phosphorus will encourage strong root growth and you don't need K, potassium, on a struggling lawn.
The only other thing that springs to mind is a leatherjacket problem. I'm not sure whether it would have been warm enough where you are for them to be actively feeding on roots, but if they were in the ground before the turf was laid, they might be responsible for the 'dead' patches. One trick to find out if they're present is to lay a sheet of black plastic on the lawn overnight, then whip it off the following day. Any nasties will have come to the surface and can be disposed of! Hope this helps a bit....

 

What sort of soil do you have underneath, clay, sandy etc.? If the roots are established (you can't lift the turf) then I would water once a week when it doesn't rain and mow with a slightly higher cut as Noisette suggested.

New lawns shouldn't need feeding in their first year but if you have a sandy soil then I would try it as nutrients tend to disappear very quickly when it's well drained.

In your pictures the lawn looks well screened with shrubs on that side creating shade, if so you may be over watering. Unfortunately it's a case of trial and error to see what works. Good luck!

 

Hi thanks for your comments. The soil just looked like standard soil, not dry, not wet and not clay or sandy, it was a bit peaty in places too for some reason. I'm not au fait with soil types so it's difficult for me to say exactly what it is. I've attached a picture of what it was like before. Not sure about the leather jacket problem but may try out the bin liner solution. Also I might still give the fertiliser solution a go too. A question to add to the mix, would the grass be suffering too because of my lawn mower? Its a Flymo Hover and I'm wondering if that type of mower is not suitable for new turf, and whether a push mower would be better, what are your thoughts on that?

 

The peat could be there from any plants that were planted in the past. Peat will hold water and not drain very well. The soil as a whole looks fairly light which would suggest it'll need watering more often, although what I have suggested, once a week should be fine.

Hover mowers are not really ideal for lawns, they are really something that you would use for grassy banks etc. and I don't think you can adjust the height on those. A normal rotary or cylinder mower would be better and both will have the height adjustments.

 

I'd second the advice re. height adjustment, Ben. A big part of the road to success to a good lawn is adapting the height of cut to soil and weather conditions

 

The usual problem with hover mowers is IF the turf is not properly rooted the hovercraft effect can suck the turf up and then the blade scalps it. You'd know if that had happened! so I don't think that's a problem. May not be ideal, but if that's the mower you have then it should be OK (if you can borrow a more suitable one off a neighbour for a bit that might be better). For new turf sharp blades are more important than type of mower, I would say.

The ones I have come across have some disks on the shaft that drives the blade. You can remove/add disks (between blade and "hood") to adjust the height of the blade. May be other mechanisms too, but either way I agree that new turf should be cut "long" to start with.