My lawn is half green and half brown. I can't figure it out.
The blades that are green look great. But there is a 50/50 mixture of
dead brown grass that is still rooted to the ground.

Last year I mistakenly thought this was thatch, so I bought a
dethatcher. But then when I learned how to check thatch by looking at
a cross section of the soil and grass, I found I had no thatch
problem.

Here's what it looked like last year:
http://www.mbsoundworks.com/tempstuff/grass1.jpg
http://www.mbsoundworks.com/tempstuff/grass2.jpg

The pictures were taken before the drought, so it wasn't a water
problem. You can see what it looks like compared to my neighbor's
yard!

Can anyone help me?

I'm in northwestern Illinois.
As the lawns are waking up, I can already see that it's going to look
the same as it did last year.

I plug-aerated in the Fall, and put down winterizer.
I've put down my Scotts pre-emergent/fertilizer already.

I'm willing to do the work, but I'm at a loss as to what the problem
is!

" wrote:
I've put down my Scotts pre-emergent/fertilizer already.

I'm willing to do the work, but I'm at a loss as to what the problem
is!

You can't seed after using pre-e.

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On 12 Apr 2003 00:13:26 GMT, wrote:

You can't seed after using pre-e.

Crap!
Is there anything I can do?
What's that brown, dead stuff, Mopar?

Mmmm......Mopar.

" wrote:
On 12 Apr 2003 00:13:26 GMT, wrote:

You can't seed after using pre-e.

Crap!
Is there anything I can do?
What's that brown, dead stuff, Mopar?

Mmmm......Mopar.

Was it like that all season? If not,you may be seeing the annual
grasses die during the summer. This is normal.

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wrote:
" wrote:
On 12 Apr 2003 00:13:26 GMT, wrote:

You can't seed after using pre-e.

Crap!
Is there anything I can do?
What's that brown, dead stuff, Mopar?

Mmmm......Mopar.

Was it like that all season? If not,you may be seeing the annual
grasses die during the summer. This is normal.

Forgot to ask,are you on a good fertilizer program,
have you taken a soli test?

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On 12 Apr 2003 11:53:26 GMT, wrote:



Was it like that all season? If not,you may be seeing the annual
grasses die during the summer. This is normal.

Yeah...it's been this way since we bought the house 4 years ago.
It's never looked all green, inspite of all my feeding, watering, etc.

" wrote:
On 12 Apr 2003 11:53:26 GMT, wrote:


Was it like that all season? If not,you may be seeing the annual
grasses die during the summer. This is normal.

Yeah...it's been this way since we bought the house 4 years ago.
It's never looked all green, inspite of all my feeding, watering, etc.

It's hard to tell from your pic,but the hour glass lesions on the
blighted foliage resemble disease damage. You might want to try a
preventitive broad-spectrum fungicide application fairly soon. Beware,it's
expensive.

Also a soil sample to at least see what your ph is.

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wrote in message
...
My lawn is half green and half brown. I can't figure it out.
The blades that are green look great. But there is a 50/50 mixture of
dead brown grass that is still rooted to the ground.

Last year I mistakenly thought this was thatch, so I bought a
dethatcher. But then when I learned how to check thatch by looking at
a cross section of the soil and grass, I found I had no thatch
problem.

Here's what it looked like last year:
http://www.mbsoundworks.com/tempstuff/grass1.jpg
http://www.mbsoundworks.com/tempstuff/grass2.jpg

The pictures were taken before the drought, so it wasn't a water
problem. You can see what it looks like compared to my neighbor's
yard!

Can anyone help me?

I'm in northwestern Illinois.
As the lawns are waking up, I can already see that it's going to look
the same as it did last year.

I plug-aerated in the Fall, and put down winterizer.
I've put down my Scotts pre-emergent/fertilizer already.

I'm willing to do the work, but I'm at a loss as to what the problem
is!


I would suggest that before you get too involved check to make sure that
you've got the right about of a good quality, slow-release fertilizer going
down. Do you know how to tell what the percentage of N is in the fert you
are applying? The first number of the 3 on the bag is the N%. So if you've
got a 50lb bag of 25-10-10 you know you're dealing w/ 12.5lbs of Nitrogen.
Then you want to apply the fert in 3 or 4 applications per season and you
want to lay down about 4lbs of N/ 1,000 square ft. for the entire season.
This means you are going to have to measure your yard or at least get a good
approximation.

I would work toward an application something like this.
early spring fert 1 1/4 lbs N/ 1,000 sq. ft.
later spring fert 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs N/ 1000 sq ft
summer fert about 1/2 lb N/ 1000 sq ft
fall fert 1 tpp 1 1/2 lbs N/ 1000 sq ft.
...... remember you are dealing w/ the nitrogen component only here....not
the weight of the whole bag. Your lawn is quite large so I would sugget that
you try to calibrate your spreader on a smaller section of grass that is
measured off accurately.

The only other thing I can suggest is that for the summer application you
apply a fert that has an insecticide built into it. At a glance I didn't see
any insect damage in the photo's, but I recomment a preventative 'cause it
would be a shame to get that lawn going and then have the bugs chew it up in
August.

Good luck w/ it,

Peter H

Thanks...I will digest all of this nitrogen information.

I've looked everywhere on the net I could find that has photos of lawn
diseases. None of the pictures look like what I have. Mine isn't
patchy or blotchy, and the green blades themselves never look like
anything is "attacking" them...they seem healthy and green.

I've already done the Scotts pre-emergent (Halts with Turf Builder).

I used two 40 pound bags, which are supposed to cover 15,000 sq ft
each. I ran out with only the small back corner undone.
I used a Scotts Brand spreader set to their recommended settings.

So, I can't be sure that this MEANS my lawn is a little over 30,000 sq
ft....I will figure out a way to measure and calibrate as you
mentioned.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 15:01:43 +0000, wrote:

Thanks...I will digest all of this nitrogen information.

I've looked everywhere on the net I could find that has photos of lawn
diseases. None of the pictures look like what I have. Mine isn't patchy
or blotchy, and the green blades themselves never look like anything is
"attacking" them...they seem healthy and green.

I've already done the Scotts pre-emergent (Halts with Turf Builder).

I used two 40 pound bags, which are supposed to cover 15,000 sq ft each.
I ran out with only the small back corner undone. I used a Scotts Brand
spreader set to their recommended settings.

So, I can't be sure that this MEANS my lawn is a little over 30,000 sq
ft....I will figure out a way to measure and calibrate as you mentioned.

If you take a look at your property deed you will see the dimensions of
your property. Take the dimensions of the property and subtract out the
square footage of the house. Then try to add in the square footage of your
driveway flower beds..ect. That will give you a ball park square footage.
This may or maynot be usefull to you but there are 43,560 square feet per
acre.
After looking at your pictures, my opinion is that your grass is not
suffering from nutritional deficiencies or disease. It looks alot like
improper mowing hight for the varity of grass you have or the pre-emergent
may of affected the annual native grass that is mixed into your lawn. The
latter is a bit of a stretch but possible. I would attempt to validate the
grass type you have and re-set the mower deck to the correct hight for
that varity. Then I would change the mower blades or at least sharpen
them. I have also seen this type of problem when people let their grass
get too high and they try to mow it to the right hight all at once. The
grass developed a longer, thicker stock when the grass was high and after
it was mowed that's all that was left of the grass plant. Hence the brown
stocks. Good luck, hope that helps.......
--
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wrote in message
...
Thanks...I will digest all of this nitrogen information.

I've looked everywhere on the net I could find that has photos of lawn
diseases. None of the pictures look like what I have. Mine isn't
patchy or blotchy, and the green blades themselves never look like
anything is "attacking" them...they seem healthy and green.

I've already done the Scotts pre-emergent (Halts with Turf Builder).

I used two 40 pound bags, which are supposed to cover 15,000 sq ft
each. I ran out with only the small back corner undone.
I used a Scotts Brand spreader set to their recommended settings.

So, I can't be sure that this MEANS my lawn is a little over 30,000 sq
ft....I will figure out a way to measure and calibrate as you
mentioned.

Yes to me your lawn didn't seem diseased. Normally diseased lawns are either
overfed or overwatered or both. To me it looked more like it was
undernourished.

Good lawns can take time to develop. I've just finished an 11 year stint in
the business and I always found it frustrating that new customers would want
a great lawn right away. If you concentrate on nourishing it properly this
season and then make sure to get the surface-feeding bugs during ther summer
I suspect that you will be fairly satisfied w/ it this year and the nice
thing is that you will then be set up for an even better lawn next season.

The main thing to remember is that during the heat of the summer you
shouldn't force it to grow. Your lawn will want to go dormant and you should
let it. Lawns are a spring and fall thing. Most turf species will only green
up in the cool weather. Golf courses keep their grasses green through the
summer by applying lots and lots of water. They also have to bath them in
fungicides to keep them goin'.

Peter H

"Adele" wrote:
wrote in message
...
Thanks...I will digest all of this nitrogen information.

I've looked everywhere on the net I could find that has photos of lawn
diseases. None of the pictures look like what I have. Mine isn't
patchy or blotchy, and the green blades themselves never look like
anything is "attacking" them...they seem healthy and green.

I've already done the Scotts pre-emergent (Halts with Turf Builder).

I used two 40 pound bags, which are supposed to cover 15,000 sq ft
each. I ran out with only the small back corner undone.
I used a Scotts Brand spreader set to their recommended settings.

So, I can't be sure that this MEANS my lawn is a little over 30,000 sq
ft....I will figure out a way to measure and calibrate as you
mentioned.

Yes to me your lawn didn't seem diseased. Normally diseased lawns are
either overfed or overwatered or both. To me it looked more like it was
undernourished.

Good lawns can take time to develop. I've just finished an 11 year stint
in the business and I always found it frustrating that new customers
would want a great lawn right away. If you concentrate on nourishing it
properly this season and then make sure to get the surface-feeding bugs
during ther summer I suspect that you will be fairly satisfied w/ it this
year and the nice thing is that you will then be set up for an even
better lawn next season.

The main thing to remember is that during the heat of the summer you
shouldn't force it to grow. Your lawn will want to go dormant and you
should let it. Lawns are a spring and fall thing. Most turf species will
only green up in the cool weather. Golf courses keep their grasses green
through the summer by applying lots and lots of water. They also have to
bath them in fungicides to keep them goin'.

Peter H

Leaf spot is the disease they're treating,rye and blue get it real bad,
I pre-treat quite a few lawns for it. (people with money)

Like I said,it's hard to tell from that one close up pic.

Micro-nutrients may be in order too, density is good.

I'm looking for the not so obvious, a soil test is in order for starters.

It may be a PH thing too. ?

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" wrote:
Thanks...I will digest all of this nitrogen information.

Take the first number on the bag and divide it in half.

That's how many 1000 sg ft that bag will do,at one pound
of nitrogen/1000. That's plenty for one feeding.

If you suspect it to be a nitro problem,try a -little- urea
in the far back,as a test.

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I'm looking for the not so obvious, a soil test is in order for starters.


Is that something I can do myself, with a kit?
Or do I go to an extension office?

" wrote:

I'm looking for the not so obvious, a soil test is in order for
starters.


Is that something I can do myself, with a kit?
Or do I go to an extension office?

There's either way. I'd go with sending it off.

Be sure to get soil from a few different areas.
This way you'll know what's up. You'd like a PH
of 6 to 7 .

With the extension report,you'll also find out
what your nutrient levels are,and you can adjust
accordingly.

The home test kits don't suck.. (follow instructions)

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