"Yellow" Lawn problem

Greetings all,

had a new lawn laid in around early June, which looked good for a while. Alas my girlfriend thinks she is come kind of lawn mower godess when infact she is not, she repeatedly scalped the poor lawn and just left all the clippings to form a thick thatch, she also she push/pulls etc etc. Now, having purchased a copy of The Lawn Expert I know these things are not good for the lawn! To that end I've tried to repair the damage by scarifying quite aggressively etc in the autumn and also top dressing and re-seeding bare patches (scalping & perhaps over zealous scarifying!) which have seeded well and started to regrow.

The only issue I have at the moment is the fact that whilst on the surface the grass is fairly thick and a nice green, on closer inspection the "base"? of the grass is all yellow. I've had a look at some other lawns/patches of grass around the local area and this seems to be quite common. Looking up this particular issue brings up all kinds of things! Low nitrogen, Low iron, iron cholarisis or something similar!

I'll post some pictures tonight hopefully to show you what I mean, it's a tad misleading to say yellow grass because the grass itself isn't really yellow..

Can anyone help me with what the problem might be? Just the cool weather and not enough nutrients for the lawn? Poor prep of the site - it had had concrete slabs laid on it for about four years which I just removed and raked up the sandy soil beneath (I know now I should have laid some top dressing...)

Any help appreciated! Photos soon!

 

Hi

As you can see, taking in to account little prep , Sweeney Todd girl friend scalping anything in sight .

Grass is quite tough

Leave alone now apart from removing leaves.

Give a good feed in April

oh and re-wrap up in xmas paper "The lawn expert" and put into girl friend stocking

Spruce

 

Scotts Autumn lawn builder fertilizer .... 2,5 kg box costs under a tenner and covers 100 sq meter

the larger bags cost approx £25 and cover 400 sq meters

Scotts Lawn Builder Autumn Lawn Food: Prepares lawns for winter by strengthening the roots | Gardening tips and advice | LoveTheGarden.com

some controversy using it this late due to the nitrogen content, but thats the best solution I have for you, and this product is marketed for autumn/winter

acording to the book the 'lawn expert', phospates and potash can be applied in autumn

 

Hi Dim

Its late to apply, but unsualy warm for November so it would probably work


Spruce

 

Dunno ... according to the label, you can apply this till feb? .... there was a heated discussion about this very subject a few days ago with different opinions (and my opinion) :o

I'm still trying to figure all this out ... but today, I did come accross an interesting paper from the US on turf management/lawn fertilizing:

Turfgrass Fertilization: A Basic Guide for Professional Turfgrass Managers — Center for Turfgrass Science — Penn State University

hopefully next year sometime I may be more confident in giving recomendations as regards lawn care as this subject really interests me

what does baffle me though is that I have read several suggestions stating that in late fall/early winter, lawns need their roots to strenghten ...

if one looks at the NPK of fertilizers, it states that the P is for root development, yet when you look at the autumn/winter lawn fertilizers, they have zero of very little P ?

back to the OP's original question about some yellowing ....

could it be a lack of water/moisture? .... In my area, we have had no rain for a long time?

 

Plenty of water in Yorkshire! :D

 

Dim , very intresting I did weed and feed my front lawn in late September early October last weekend was the 3rd cut , but it does look good realy green and makes next door look even worse

fertilise now and a couple of days of heavy rain will just wash it all out , so you do need a dryish fortnight and now I cant see that happening

I would leave till the spring and remember they want to sell the product so dates will be made longer to apply /

Spruce

 

Photo finally;



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Hi

Looks about normal to me for this time of year, slightley a little long .

Seasonal temperatue being the main one , as it just shuts dowm for the winter like I said earlier just keep the leaves off and you if it gets to wet.

And easily solved in the spring with a weed and feed and regular cutting at least once a week (blade at the right height) from April onwards and I normaly move it up to two as the season progreses.

Next autumn you can start airating and top dressing if you want a perfect lawn

Spruce

 

a bit of a sidetrack but still relating to lawns

was reading about some type of slow fertilizer that they are using in the USA ... (mainly used by groundsmen who tend to golfcourses and sports pitches)

one application feeds the lawns up to 180 days ... some of the guys on that forum have used it and are well impressed ... (there are different ones ... 90 days, 120, and 180 day) ... apparantly the lawn colour goes deep green

from what I understand, they are slow release and not activated by water ... they are activated by microbes ... apparantly there are other slow release lawn fertilizers that are activated by the soil temp/heat ... and it does not cause 'surge growth'

Not sure if anything similar is avail here in the UK yet as I only read the info lastnight and never researched further ...

here is a link that was posted of one of the companies that sells the stuff:

http://spreaditandforgetit.com/howitworks.html

Turf Fertilizer-Controlled Release Fertilizer for Green Turf All Season Long-Spread It and Forget It

 

arrrrrrghh, more problems!


The seed I sowed at the start of October, which had germinated nicely and was growing well...now looks like it's dying?! It has the consistency of dry grass :/ I'll put a photo up tomorrow, wonder if its the dreaded damping off? :( gutted

 

our area has not had much rain recently .... have you watered the new grass regulary?

 

Not really, but it has been wet here though? Not soaking wet but I'd say the grass has been wet each day. I'll give it a good soaking (probably too late) when I get back home

 

think that the wet you are referring to is dew in the mornings ... (that is only on the leaves) .... it's not the same as watering the roots

however, its supposed to start raining heavy in the midweek

 

Here's some pictures, I'm gutted :(

I'm not after the perfect lawn, I just want a bit of grass my daughter can play on next year than can stand up to some wear and tear. I'm fully aware I'm probably going to have to do some major work each year after she's run riot hehe. I was thinking if I get it right the first year and have it nice and ready hen it'll be a great start, but so far all I've had is problems :(