Year Old Lawn - Straw Coloured Stems

We had our new turf laid last summer. I duly watered for 6 weeks, as directed, and it has taken really well. This year it has started looking a bit odd. It's hard to describe but I'll attach photos. In amongst the green grass are lots of straw coloured stems which are very spiky and hard - when I run my hand over the grass these straw bits are noticeably harder than the rest. I can imagine if you were to lie on it, it would be quite uncomfortable. So, my questions are basically, what are these straw bits and what can I do about them. I have a suspicion, but I'm no expert - my suspicion that this is rye grass (the grass that grows tall shoots when seeding?) that has been allowed to grow too long and when it's been cut it's not recovered - so it might be dead? Does that even make sense? I don't really know what the composition of the turf was but it looked good when it was laid.

 

I'm no lawn expert and can't tell ryegrass from any other sort of grass, but in the absence of any other replies, looking at your photos, it looks like what is known as thatch, which is a layer of partly dead grass in your lawn.
The usual advice is to scarify the lawn either in Spring or Autumn - i.e. rake out the dead bits using a hand rake, or an electric scarifier which is what I use.
But thatch usually builds-up over a number of years, so I'm not sure why your lawn seems to have quite a bit of it so soon.
You may well be right about it being ryegrass, and that's just how it grows, but in all honesty, I don't know
Hopefully you'll get some other suggestions

 

Hi and Welcome to the Forum,

Suspect it might be the remains of some very course grasses in the original turf that are now dying off due to the shorter mowings you are doing.

Think we would say keep on mowing on a regular basis which keeps it short and encourages the finer grasses while those courser grasses will eventually give up.

Also ensure your mowers blade/s are good and sharp, if blunt they can pull and tear the grass leaving a similar looking picture.

 

Thanks. Having done a bit more research I'm convinced now that these are rye grass seed stalks (?) that have been cut back. In retrospect, I've probably let the grass grow too long and not cut often enough once it was established. Seems like the only way to remove those stalks (short of getting down on hands and knees and pulling them out) would be to cut lower - and let the green grass grow back and hide them. Unless the stalks will eventually die back? I'm always wary of cutting too short though.

My rotary mower - which is pretty new - struggles with them, in that it never seems to cut them cleanly - presumably because they're so tough. They all look frayed on the cuts.

 

I only really know about wild meadow grasses and with these you get a mixture of warm and cool weather species. I do know that grass seed is made of mixed species and it could be that you have a species that naturally dies of in the summer. It's partly why the average lawn looks much greener in the winter.

 

You really need to cut at least once a week and doing so should eventually make it easier to cut and for the brown bits to be collected as well.

As you cut more regularly you may, in a month or so, be able to reduce the cutting height by a notch, which again will promote the finer grasses.

Also check the blades cover as with all the wet weather the cut grass can build up and hamper the cutting action.

You could lightly scarify the lawn to try and rmove the brown bits but think thats a bit too drastic at the moment, something to try if it does not look better by October.

 

That does tend to happen if you let it get long and then cut it back - like a hay meadow after it's been cut. Mowing little and often but not too short (don't scalp it) should sort it out in time.

 

Rotary mowers are good, I like them, but then I just have grass and not a lawn, you need a cylinder mower if you want a lawn IMO.

I agree with the others, little and often regarding cutting, long grass will get dragged and look straw like a few days after cutting.

I know you say the mower is fairly new but how sharp is it, is it electric or a petrol one.

If its struggling it will slow down the revs, so in effect squash the grass rather than cleanly cut it.

 

I need to have a closer look when I have a chance, but are these (let's call them) dead stalks likely to have green leaves attached - or are they proper dead, never to recover or produce any green leaves.

 

It's an electric mower and TBH, I don't know how sharp the blade is. But it's only about a year old - bought when we had the turf laid. Not sure I'd know what to do even if the blade is blunt - short of replacing it. I don't remember any of the rotary mowers I've had over the years having a particularly sharp blade - not like the ones on a cylinder anyway.

 

Might be worth considering changing the direction of cut; ie dont always cross in the same direction. Also try lifting the 'straws' by brushing with a medium stiff broom prior to mowing, then reduce cutting height by one notch and mowing again in the contra direction. Best to do this immediately before certain rainfall so as to get a regrowth rather than a baked brown look.
Regarding blades on rotary mowers, what is important is that the cutting edges are smooth, and at 60 deg in cross section. The blade is relatively simple to remove (Unplug first !!) and can be filed equally along each cutting edge to maintain this profile, You need a 10" smooth cut reaper file with a handle thus :
FILE-10'' REAPER

or this:
Farmer`s Own Reaper, Chillington Farmer`s Own Reaper, Files

Remove equal amount from each end to retain balance and avoid vibration.