Year Old Lawn - Yellow/Bare Patches

rampantbunny

Hi all.

Planted a lawn last year using no. 2 seed. This was at the end of the dry spell, and when the rain came the grass was a very vibrant green. After a little time, and lots of rain, this has given way to a dull yellow/whitish during the rainy season. Maybe half of the lawn is affected in total.

I took the advice of the person that planted the lawn re. feeding the lawn which was to to just let it be. No fertilizer or other.
Yesterday, on the recommendation of a garden center, I bought a product called Instant Green Lawn Tonic (I'm not a salesman for this product). Bit dubious though, as this promises results in 24hrs! - sounds too easy and like it might be a treatment for the symptoms not the actual cause.

Looking for any advice you can share.

rampantbunny

Picture uploaded.

Harry Palmr

Sounds like the soil is not fertile enough over it's total area the winter rain could have added to that problem washing nutrients deeper (or towards one end if on a slope). Certainly use your tonic as directed and be patient. if it's something else get back.

rampantbunny

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Sounds like the soil is not fertile enough over it's total area the winter rain could have added to that problem washing nutrients deeper (or towards one end if on a slope). Certainly use your tonic as directed and be patient. if it's something else get back.

Ok, tonic it is.

Incidentally, the top soil used is a mix of soil native to the site, and imported soil from two other locations. I can't actually point to one poor area and say that this is due to soil from supplier A or B etc. i.e. the problem seems to be spread across the whole lawn area.

Question; tonic vs fertilizer...what is the difference?

Harry Palmr

Tonic is just a name, I'm sure the ingredients list will tell you what's in it - nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) etc.

fryup

this stuff may do the trick

rampantbunny

I've already bought the Instant Green Lawn Tonic so will give that a try.
Have already found it €10 cheaper than what I paid for it yesterday (only 10 miles apart)...good ole Ireland.

twignme

I'm not as experienced as many of the posters here on lawns, but as it is a relatively new lawn, just be aware that it could be a target for crane fly which will show itself with yellow patches as they eat the tender roots of the grass. It's more than likely not to be that, but worthwhile checking just in case by digging just a little below the ground to check for the grubs. I was caught out a few years ago, so I may be a bit paranoid about them now!

rampantbunny

twignme wrote: »

I'm not as experienced as many of the posters here on lawns, but as it is a relatively new lawn, just be aware that it could be a target for crane fly which will show itself with yellow patches as they eat the tender roots of the grass. It's more than likely not to be that, but worthwhile checking just in case by digging just a little below the ground to check for the grubs. I was caught out a few years ago, so I may be a bit paranoid about them now!

I've had reason to dig the lawn over the weekend. A spade job initially but mini-digger after that. Didn't notice anything unusual but I wasn't looking out for anything. I'll take a closer look, thanks.

fryup

rampantbunny wrote: »

I've already bought the Instant Green Lawn Tonic so will give that a try.

might get that stuff myself, please tell us how you get on with it

rampantbunny

Just an update on progress

Applied product to lawn last Sunday. Went with the standard strength dose to see what would happen. By Monday morning, brown coloration was obvious in places. Has turned darker over the last number of days. See pic.

Details on the container say something along the lines of 'immediate results, rich deep greening', so I wasn't expecting the brown tinge - but I'll give it a chance and see what happens.

Almost looks as if moss is being killed off, but there is no moss in the lawn.
Also looks as if I sprayed only patches. There's a chance I missed some areas but not so random as in the picture.

my3cents

twignme wrote: »

I'm not as experienced as many of the posters here on lawns, but as it is a relatively new lawn, just be aware that it could be a target for crane fly which will show itself with yellow patches as they eat the tender roots of the grass. It's more than likely not to be that, but worthwhile checking just in case by digging just a little below the ground to check for the grubs. I was caught out a few years ago, so I may be a bit paranoid about them now!

Just put a sheet of polythene on the grass and weigh down the corners with bricks then see whats crawled out of the soil the following day.

buzz11

I was in the same situation 4 years ago, a newly laid lawn that started to go a bit yellow and weak looking after the first year.

What I learnt was that the ground was running out of nutrients to keep the grass growing strong & healthy and that regular cutting and removing clippings was stripping away more nutrients.

So now I feed the lawn with a good granular fertilizer every year and I cut the grass more often and leave the cuttings on the grass to rot down and feed the ground further.

I also did a soil test which showed low nitrogen levels so the granular fertilizer boosts this a lot.

Google mulching/grass cutting and you'll get a lot of advice and info.

hope that helps

rampantbunny

I tried the polythene test for crane fly/bugs but nothing visible on surface after one night but not sure it's right time of year to monitor this.

@buzz11; yup, thinking there is a nutrient deficiency alright but topsoil came from three different locations (one being native to the site itself) and the patchy growth is sporadic. Soil wasn't intermixed all that much so I would nearly have expected to see specific areas look worse than others and from this to recognize the poor soil.

I've ordered a wider boom for my 20ltr knapsack sprayer. When that comes I'll go back over lawn with the 'Instant Green' tonic.
You mind me asking

1. what product you use to fertilize
2. soil test/where and how much

Have been debating mulching but wife is definite no-no to this. I can't commit to being able to cut the grass as often as required to keep the cuttings small so kids would destroy the house.

buzz11

rampantbunny wrote: »

You mind me asking

1. what product you use to fertilize
2. soil test/where and how much

Have been debating mulching but wife is definite no-no to this. I can't commit to being able to cut the grass as often as required to keep the cuttings small so kids would destroy the house.

I've used a mix of stuff over the last few years but you should be guided by the soil test results, basically your trying to add in what your soil is missing so my soils is low in nitrogen so I'm looking for a medium to high nitrogen content in the fertilizer, but not too high because they you get a crazy spurt of growth which needs a lot of cutting but then drops off again. The guy who laid the lawn left me a bag of 7-6-17 which was quite good and I bought a 20kg bag in a farm supply place very cheaply. I've used the retail 'feed weed and moss kill' products from woodies/garden centres and its fine too but pricey. I prefer to lightly fertilize 2-3 times in the growing season than too much at once.

I prefer the granular feed because the rain washes it into the soil, enhancing the soil itself...not sure if a spray is going that deep, but you need a decent broadcast spreader, not the cheap aldi rubbish which doesn't spread evenly.

Soil test-- I just used the simple diy kit from the garden centre, I took samples from various locations in the garden and the results were broadly similiar i.e. low nitrogen levels.

Mulching -- totally agree, our dog brings in the wet grass so its a pain all right.

Final and most important point; if you have weak poorly growing grass, then the weeds & moss will fill in the gaps. Thats where I'm at right now, the weeds & moss have outgrown the grass cos I wasn't feeding the grass properly...now its a battle that the grass will never win.

fryup

rampantbunny wrote: »

I bought a product called Instant Green Lawn Tonic (I'm not a salesman for this product). Bit dubious though, as this promises results in 24hrs! - sounds too easy and like it might be a treatment for the symptoms not the actual cause.
.

got that stuff myself..

as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating...so here's a before & after pic'c of my front lawn...two weeks apart after application





what'd ya think is there a substantial difference?

rampantbunny

fryup wrote: »

got that stuff myself..

as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating...so here's a before & after pic'c of my front lawn...two weeks apart after application


what'd ya think is there a substantial difference?

It does look greener in the second pic, but tbh, even the bushes at the back look greener so the picture overall is better. Must be great stuff if it even managed to improve the quality/color saturation of your photos
I've a barrel of the stuff mixed at my own place ready to apply, but have some weeds to spray first. Waiting on more than 12hrs of dry before I spray..big ask in the wesht at the moment!

Shaunoc

fryup wrote: »

got that stuff myself..

as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating...so here's a before & after pic'c of my front lawn...two weeks apart after application

what'd ya think is there a substantial difference?

marginally better

Slasher

rampantbunny wrote: »

By Monday morning, brown coloration was obvious in places. Has turned darker over the last number of days. See pic.

... looks as if moss is being killed off, but there is no moss in the lawn.

Something similar happened to my lawn a couple of weeks ago after applying a similar product. Don't understand it.

Harry Palmr

Does that stuff reference seaweed at all because liquid seaweed is the dog's whatsits for making everything amazingly lush in no time.

my3cents

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Does that stuff reference seaweed at all because liquid seaweed is the dog's whatsits for making everything amazingly lush in no time.

Iron sulfate is the greenkeepers answer to green grass. It greens the grass and kills the weeds win win.

rampantbunny

my3cents wrote: »

Iron sulfate is the greenkeepers answer to green grass. It greens the grass and kills the weeds win win.

So iron sulphate for lush greens vs sulphate of iron to kill moss.. or are they the same thing?

my3cents

rampantbunny wrote: »

So iron sulphate for lush greens vs sulphate of iron to kill moss.. or are they the same thing?

Same thing. I should also mention that you can over do it.

You can use it as a spray to green grass up and in lawn sand (iirc 2-5% iron sulphate).

As you mention a good moss killer (only a weed killer when applied dry as lawn sand).

fryup

rampantbunny wrote: »

It does look greener in the second pic, but tbh, even the bushes at the back look greener so the picture overall is better. Must be great stuff if it even managed to improve the quality/color saturation of your photos

it wasn't photoshopped (hand on heart)

rampantbunny

fryup wrote: »

it wasn't photoshopped (hand on heart)

Didn't think it was, but the point I suppose is that there doesn't look to be a significant difference in the before and after. Hard to use before/after pics for comparison unless there is a large change. A few clouds in the sky on one of the days and the comparison is skewed.

rampantbunny

Old thread, but relevant because I'm back with questions on same lawn.
Had lawn tested during year as part of batch test of brothers agricultural land. Recommendation was to add 6-7-17 fertilizer. I haven't done this yet because over time I've noticed a lot of what I would call invasive grass growing. To fertilize the lawn now would be to fertilize this grass also.

See pic attached: IMG.jpg
I'm in the countryside so I expect it is farm/meadow grass but not sure. I'm resigned to spot spraying it, then digging it out later but the roots are dense. Digging will result in large sections of the lawn being upturned.

Before I go shovel in hand though; any recommendations from anyone? Any other way to get rid of this grass and going forward, to stop this grass getting a foot-hold?
I originally suspected it was able to grow because lawn grass growth wasn't very strong in places, but it has even taken hold where there was lush lawn grass.

qaz123

rampantbunny wrote: »

Old thread, but relevant because I'm back with questions on same lawn.
Had lawn tested during year as part of batch test of brothers agricultural land. Recommendation was to add 6-7-17 fertilizer. I haven't done this yet because over time I've noticed a lot of what I would call invasive grass growing. To fertilize the lawn now would be to fertilize this grass also.

See pic attached: IMG.jpg
I'm in the countryside so I expect it is farm/meadow grass but not sure. I'm resigned to spot spraying it, then digging it out later but the roots are dense. Digging will result in large sections of the lawn being upturned.

Before I go shovel in hand though; any recommendations from anyone? Any other way to get rid of this grass and going forward, to stop this grass getting a foot-hold?
I originally suspected it was able to grow because lawn grass growth wasn't very strong in places, but it has even taken hold where there was lush lawn grass.

I’ve very similar problem to rampantbunny. Wondering has anyone any suggestions to improve a lawn with these issues

rampantbunny

qaz123 wrote: »

I’ve very similar problem to rampantbunny. Wondering has anyone any suggestions to improve a lawn with these issues

See my post here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058075643 (no responses yet).

I think this is scutch/couch grass. From my reading it is a lot of work to get rid of. Spraying, re-spraying after a period, then re-spraying again might be required. After this, maybe digging the grass out completely and then replanting.