I posted a thread to this site a few weeks ago "New Turf Lawn Dying? - Help please" and sadly no reply yet.
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/lawns/...lp-please.html

I am in the UK, but good lawn advice must surely apply the world over. Can any of you good experts please, please share some of your lawn recovery experience with me ?!

Can someone please help with my new 6 week old turf lawn which is not recovering despite laying, watering and mowing exactly as recommended by the UK renowned turf supplier Rowlawn. Except, .....I made one big mistake.......... I went on holiday! In those 2 weeks it rained a lot and grew too long (6"). When it was cut back all the lush green grass disappeared and I am now left with a thin, sparse and dead looking lawn. In the last 2 weeks since that it has showed little signs of recovering. Am I being too impatient and it will recover as Rowlawn say?

This is all explained in depth in the URL link above to my original thread. The pictures below give a good indication of the issue. Your help is much needed and appreciated. Many thanks. Puppilup

puppilup said:



I posted a thread to this site a few weeks ago "New Turf Lawn Dying? -
Help please" and sadly no reply yet.
http://tinyurl.com/3ttk6xm

I am in the UK, but good lawn advice must surely apply the world over.
Can any of you good experts please, please share some of your lawn
recovery experience with me ?!

Can someone please help with my new 6 week old turf lawn which is not
recovering despite laying, watering and mowing exactly as recommended by
the UK renowned turf supplier Rowlawn.

Did they tell you to mow it to 1 1/2 inches (as mentioned in your 3rd photo)?
In summer, for cool-weather grasses, 3 or even 3 1/2 inches is better for the grass.

Except, .....I made one big
mistake.......... I went on holiday! In those 2 weeks it rained a lot
and grew too long (6"). When it was cut back all the lush green grass
disappeared and I am now left with a thin, sparse and dead looking lawn.

You cut back too much at once. Sometimes your are forced to cut back more
than you would like, but you should have set your mower at its very highest
setting so as to leave as much of the grass blades as you could. Ideally, you don't
want to cut away more than 1/3 of the grass blade at any cutting.

Next time you go on holiday, try to arrange for someone to cut the lawn at
least once while you are gone!

In the last 2 weeks since that it has showed little signs of recovering.
Am I being too impatient and it will recover as Rowlawn say?

Cross your fingers, and wait, and raise your mowing height. You can
drop it again as you move into fall. Maybe give it a *very* light fertilization.

This is all explained in depth in the URL link above to my original
thread. The pictures below give a good indication of the issue. Your
help is much needed and appreciated. Many thanks. Puppilup


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--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored

On Aug 11, 8:13*am, Pat Kiewicz wrote:
puppilup said:



I posted a thread to this site a few weeks ago "New Turf Lawn Dying? -
Help please" and sadly no reply yet.
http://tinyurl.com/3ttk6xm

I am in the UK, but good lawn advice must surely apply the world over.
Can any of you good experts please, please share some of your lawn
recovery experience with me ?!

Can someone please help with my new 6 week old turf lawn which is not
recovering despite laying, watering and mowing exactly as recommended by
the UK renowned turf supplier Rowlawn.

Did they tell you to mow it to 1 1/2 inches (as mentioned in your 3rd photo)? *
In summer, for cool-weather grasses, 3 or even 3 1/2 inches is better for the grass. *

Except, .....I made one big
mistake.......... I went on holiday! In those 2 weeks it rained a lot
and grew too long (6"). When it was cut back all the lush green grass
disappeared and I am now left with a thin, sparse and dead looking lawn.

You cut back too much at once. *Sometimes your are forced to cut back more
than you would like, but you should have set your mower at its very highest
setting so as to leave as much of the grass blades as you could. Ideally, you don't
want to cut away more than 1/3 of the grass blade at any cutting.

Next time you go on holiday, try to arrange for someone to cut the lawn at
least once while you are gone!

In the last 2 weeks since that it has showed little signs of recovering.
Am I being too impatient and it will recover as Rowlawn say?

Cross your fingers, and wait, and raise your mowing height. *You can
drop it again as you move into fall. Maybe give it a *very* light fertilization.

This is all explained in depth in the URL link above to my original
thread. The pictures below give a good indication of the issue. Your
help is much needed and appreciated. Many thanks. Puppilup

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|Download:http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14381|
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--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored

First, good job of documenting and explaining the problem. Here are
my thoughts. I agree with the above advice that you should not have
cut it so short. The general advice is to remove 1/3 of the grass at
a
time. That doesn't mean you can cut 1/3 today, then another 1/3
in two days. I'd do that over a period of at least a couple weeks.
You don't say what specific kind of grass it is, but for cool season
grasses, leaving it at 3" is fine and preferable to cutting it too
short.
I would not go below 2 1/2" What you did probably shocked the
grass.

However from the photos of the damage I suspect the bigger
problem now may be fungus. That one picture that appears to
show a cob web like substance on the grass that is dying. That
is a classic sign of some of the fungus diseases that can attack
and kill turf quickly. They generally thrive in conditions of high
moisture, heat, and nitrogen. I'd immediately go out and buy
a bag of fungicide and apply it. If it is fungus, it could make
the difference between saving and losing the new lawn. IF
not, it's not that expensive in the grand scheme.

Also, I'd say that at 6 weeks you should be watering about
once every two days. You should be doing it either early AM, like
4am so that it gets done before the sun gets hot enough to
evaporate the water. That will allow you to save water.
Watering during the early part of the day is fine too, but more
water is lost. The one thing you don NOT want to do is
water it at 8PM and leave it wet all night long. That provides
the environment for fungus and disease. Watering in the
AM lets it dry out quickly and minimzes the time it is wet.
If you're overwatering, which is what most people do when
they see turf that isn't doing well, that will just make fungus
problems worse. And cutting the grass so short so quickly
shocked it, which leaves it more susceptible as well.

I'd hold off on any additional fertilizer as excess nitrogen
just makes these problems worse. If you have a place
that can test your soil, I'd do that. Often new topsoil has
a PH that is way off and needs to be adjusted. There
are kits available that you can use to test your own but
if there is some agricultural service, like the govt, available,
they are a better choice and likely to be more accurate.

Good luck.

Hi puppilup, I too agree with everything thats been said by other people but I would like to add a comment. looking at your pictures, you mentioned the very green edge adjacent to the brick edging and these are my thoughts. Often, water running off the bricks from either rain or irrigation waters the first 6" of grass very well and this could be the reason you have this nice green strip ? You mentioned going away on holiday and said it rained but in my experience, very rarely does rain actually water sufficiently !! I think, the turf dried out whilst you were away and this die-back could be the result ! You added to the problem by cutting the grass much too short to soon, allowing the sun to cook the weaker grass that was covered by the green bit !
Ok, I think as others have said, leave it much longer until its established and just make sure you are actually wetting the soil underneath and not just damping the surface ? You will soon know if its going to recover, give it a week and see how it looks then !
best of luck, Lannerman.

puppilup wrote:
I posted a thread to this site a few weeks ago "New Turf Lawn Dying? -
Help please" and sadly no reply yet.
http://tinyurl.com/3ttk6xm

I am in the UK, but good lawn advice must surely apply the world over.
Can any of you good experts please, please share some of your lawn
recovery experience with me ?!

Can someone please help with my new 6 week old turf lawn which is not
recovering despite laying, watering and mowing exactly as recommended
by the UK renowned turf supplier Rowlawn. Except, .....I made one big
mistake.......... I went on holiday! In those 2 weeks it rained a lot
and grew too long (6"). When it was cut back all the lush green grass
disappeared and I am now left with a thin, sparse and dead looking
lawn. In the last 2 weeks since that it has showed little signs of
recovering. Am I being too impatient and it will recover as Rowlawn
say?

This is all explained in depth in the URL link above to my original
thread. The pictures below give a good indication of the issue. Your
help is much needed and appreciated. Many thanks. Puppilup

When you cut it from 6" to 2", you basically removed all of the grass leaf,
leaving only stem. Then you cut it even shorter, doing more damage. From now on,
cut it no shorter than 3-3 1/2" for the rest of the summer. The longer grass
will shade the ground, reducing water loss. The edges growing greener suggest
that the rest might need more water for the recovery, but you want to water
with more water less often to train the roots to grow deeper for a more grought
resistant lawn.

Pat, Trader4, Lannerman & BobF - Thank you all for such helpful and mostly very consistent advice. Apologies for a delayed response, I have been waiting to report progress as either 'no improvement' or 'the lawn is recovering', which it is - recovering!!
A week ago it looked doubtful, it would recover properly. I had visions of having to virtually start again as I watched it die! In just the last few days though it is showing a great improvement. I cut it on the highest mower setting, about 2.5" - see photos attached..

You all confirmed my own thoughts and regrets. The lawn was left to fend for itself too early and too long; at a very tender stage and age. Despite the rain while I was away, it didn't receive enough water, it was then cut back too harshly. Silly of me having prepared the site so carefully and bought quality turf (sod). After a drawn out landscaping project my timing was wrong. I wanted to lay a lawn before the UK summer was too far gone, will be autumn (Fall) in 3-4wks time. It was a risk and it didn't really pay off as now I have to give it extra care & treatment, But I feel it is now off the critical list! When I left for holiday it looked so lush, strong and healthy, but I did have a nagging thought the whole time that I was risking it and should have waited and laid it immediately after holiday when I could have watched and tended it daily all the way through. Enough said, water under the bridge (not on the lawn!) and all that, ........what's done is done, I have learnt for next time.

Your advice is good and welcomed but please also consider that most of you guys are in the US, presumably with much warmer summers than in the UK? This summer is bad, mostly 18C/65F to 21C/70F, many days as low as 16c/60f, very cloudy but equally not a lot of rain. We also mostly have a very fine blade grass, whereas in my limited travels of the US, California and Arizona; I saw mostly a very coarse bladed grass. Much hardier I would think?

Back to my lawn. I thought it was dead or dying fast on me. The worst photo, No#3, the one you Trader said looked like it had some fungus may be true. But I think it was also misleading because the closeup photo was blurred/out of focus, giving the appearance of a web/mist. I hadn't helped by perhaps over-watering it in my panic to rescue the lawn, also at the wrong time of day. I think it had become a bit waterlogged and may have suffered some of the rot that you spoke of. But, a few weeks of holding back on the watering and a high cut mowing twice a week with water every 2nd day at 6am as soon as I get up - this has given a great improvement.

Photos - I have included new photos as follows:-
#3 late July - from previous photos, the worst it got to.
#4 10-Aug - a week ago, days before giving it a light cut.
#5 16-Aug - just after a light cut at 2.5"
#6 16-Aug - detail photos of worst areas, greatly improved but still thin at ground level.

I am cautiously optimistic and would say that it is definitely not getting any worse.
With some dead grass at ground level, and a general loss of density - it was very thick and green, it is now back to mostly green but still a little sparse If I were to cut it really short, I'm sure it would look very thin.

Your advice on the following please:-
The lawn looks good and green at about 2" to 2.5" high, but when cut any lower it looks sparse/thin. My fear is that with a sparser covering the weeds will get a hold.

1) Treatment - do I use a fungicide, which one?
I want to avoid any fungus and weed taking over. I also want to get it back to a thicker denser, multi-bladed, healthy grass.
I want to put a fungicide on as you suggest Trader4, but I have trawled the UK sites for one and it may be just terminology differences, but I can't find a UK site that has fungicide specifically. There are lots of lawn feed-and-weed or weed and moss killer treatments, but most treatments are fertilizer and 'steroids' for lawns. Can you please try "lawn fungicide UK" in Google and see if there is a link to the product I should buy here, I can't see anything that fits that description even though there are a lot of links, they just lead to moss & weed killer or is that what I should use?

2) Will the grass thicken up or is the dead bit dead?
Is the dead part of the lawn at ground level actually completely dead in the roots, or will new grass push through to thicken it up again.

3) How do I keep weeds at bay? - where the grass is thin, do I need to top dress (seed/soilo/compost/sand) and when?

4) Approaching autumn/Fall - do I have to remove the dead grass? Should I put a treatment on it to feed it through the winter? Rowlawn recommend an Autumn Lawn Food to put the lawn to bed for winter, see link.....
Autumn Lawn Food from Rolawn

5) What height should I mow at? - I have raised the mower to a 2.5" cut. It won't go higher. What height should I be working towards as 'normal' and by when? Remember this is supposed to be a fine blade 'show' lawn - if I can recover it!

I won't defend what I have done, except to say that the UK 'experts' on supply and care of quality turf (sod) are Rowlawn and they have given me some conflicting advice. You all give similar advice and so does the Rowlawn website - see links. However, when I called their Customer Advice line, despite pushing for contact with a more mature green-fingered old fox, I got the sales girlies. They may know their product, but they won't have the experience of doing and fixing it when things go wrong. Their advice when I said I had cut the lawn from 6" to 3" was that the light needed to get in and I should cut it right down to maxm 1.5". That clearly made it worse and is shown in photo #3 from my earlier posting where it looked scalped, bald and dead.

Hopefully on the way to recovering this lawn instead of a remake next spring as I had feared! Thanks again for all your help.

Puppilup 17Aug2011

On Aug 17, 5:01*pm, puppilup
wrote:
Pat, Trader4, Lannerman & BobF - *Thank you all for such helpful and
mostly very consistent advice. Apologies for a delayed response, I have
been waiting to report progress as either 'no improvement' or 'the lawn
is recovering', which it is - recovering!!
A week ago it looked doubtful, it would recover properly. I had visions
of having to virtually start again as I watched it die! In just the last
few days though it is showing a great improvement. I cut it on the
highest mower setting, about 2.5" - see photos attached..

Quite a remarkable improvement indeed! Glad it worked out for you.





You all confirmed my own thoughts and regrets. The lawn was left to fend
for itself too early and too long; at a very tender stage and age.
Despite the rain while I was away, it didn't receive enough water, it
was then cut back too harshly. Silly of me having prepared the site so
carefully and bought quality turf (sod). After a drawn out landscaping
project my timing was wrong. I wanted to lay a lawn before the UK summer
was too far gone, will be autumn (Fall) in 3-4wks time. It was a risk
and it didn't really pay off as now I have to give it extra care &
treatment, But I feel it is now off the critical list! When I left for
holiday it looked so lush, strong and healthy, but I did have a nagging
thought the whole time that I was risking it and should have waited and
laid it immediately after holiday when I could have watched and tended
it daily all the way through. Enough said, water under the bridge (not
on the lawn!) and all that, ........what's done is done, I have learnt
for next time.

Your advice is good and welcomed but please also consider that most of
you guys are in the US, presumably with much warmer summers than in the
UK? This summer is bad, mostly 18C/65F to 21C/70F, many days as low as
16c/60f, very cloudy but equally not a lot of rain. We also mostly have
a very fine blade grass, whereas in my limited travels of the US,
California and Arizona; I saw mostly a very coarse bladed grass. Much
hardier I would think?

You have a cool season grass. Don't know what they use there, but
whoever supplied it should have told you. I would think it's probably
bluegrass or fescue, or a mix of those, possibly rye too. Should be
similar to what we use here in the mid-atlantic to northeast USA.
In any case, that weather was perfect. Cool season grasses thrive
in fall and spring and don't like hot weather, expecially when it's
just been put down.



Back to my lawn. I thought it was dead or dying fast on me. The worst
photo, No#3, the one you Trader said looked like it had some fungus may
be true. But I think it was also misleading because the closeup photo
was blurred/out of focus, giving the appearance of a web/mist. I hadn't
helped by perhaps over-watering it in my panic to rescue the lawn, also
at the wrong time of day. I think it had become a bit waterlogged and
may have suffered some of the rot that you spoke of. But, a few weeks of
holding back on the watering and a high cut mowing twice a week with
water every 2nd day at 6am as soon as I get up - this has given a great
improvement.

In another month I'd feed it with a Fall fertilizer. And thanks for
letting
us know how it worked out.




Photos - I have included new photos as follows:-
#3 late July - from previous photos, the worst it got to.
#4 10-Aug - a week ago, days before giving it a light cut.
#5 16-Aug - just after a light cut at 2.5"
#6 16-Aug - detail photos of worst areas, greatly improved but still
thin at ground level.

I am cautiously optimistic and would say that it is definitely not
getting any worse.
With some dead grass at ground level, and a general loss of density - it
was very thick and green, it is now back to mostly green but still a
little sparse If I were to cut it really short, I'm sure it would look
very thin.

Your advice on the following please:-
The lawn looks good and green at about 2" to 2.5" high, but when cut any
lower it looks sparse/thin. My fear is that with a sparser covering the
weeds will get a hold.

1) Treatment - do I use a fungicide, which one?
I want to avoid any fungus and weed taking over. I also want to get it
back to a thicker denser, multi-bladed, healthy grass.
I want to put a fungicide on as you suggest Trader4, but I have trawled
the UK sites for one and it may be just terminology differences, but I
can't find a UK site that has fungicide specifically. There are lots of
lawn feed-and-weed or weed and moss killer treatments, but most
treatments are fertilizer and 'steroids' for lawns. *Can you please try
"lawn fungicide UK" in Google and see if there is a link to the product
I should buy here, I can't see anything that fits that description even
though there are a lot of links, they just lead to moss & weed killer
or is that what I should use?

2) Will the grass thicken up or is the dead bit dead?
Is the dead part of the lawn at ground level actually completely dead in
the roots, or will new grass push through to thicken it up again.

3) How do I keep weeds at bay? *- *where the grass is thin, do I need to
top dress (seed/soilo/compost/sand) and when?

4) Approaching autumn/Fall - do I have to remove the dead grass? Should
I put a treatment on it to feed it through the winter? Rowlawn recommend
an Autumn Lawn Food to put the lawn to bed for winter, see link.....
'Autumn Lawn Food from Rolawn' (http://tinyurl.com/3kosa44)

5) What height should I mow at? *- I have raised the mower to a 2.5"
cut. It won't go higher. What height should I be working towards as
'normal' and by when? Remember this is supposed to be a fine blade
'show' lawn - if I can recover it!

I won't defend what I have done, *except to say that the UK 'experts' on
supply and care of quality turf (sod) are Rowlawn and they have given me
some conflicting advice. You all give similar advice and so does the
Rowlawn website - see links. However, when I called their Customer
Advice line, despite pushing for contact with a more mature
green-fingered old fox, I got the sales girlies. They may know their
product, but they won't have the experience of doing and fixing it when
things go wrong. Their advice when I said I had cut the lawn from 6" to
3" was that the light needed to get in and I should cut it right down to
maxm 1.5". *That clearly made it worse and is shown in photo #3 from my
earlier posting where it looked scalped, bald and dead.

Hopefully on the way to recovering this lawn instead of a remake next
spring as I had feared! *Thanks again for all your help.

Puppilup *17Aug2011

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puppilup

puppilup wrote:
Pat, Trader4, Lannerman & BobF - Thank you all for such helpful and
mostly very consistent advice. Apologies for a delayed response, I
have been waiting to report progress as either 'no improvement' or
'the lawn is recovering', which it is - recovering!!
A week ago it looked doubtful, it would recover properly. I had
visions of having to virtually start again as I watched it die! In
just the last few days though it is showing a great improvement. I
cut it on the highest mower setting, about 2.5" - see photos
attached..
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
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Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14393|
Filename: BadGrass_4.JPG |
Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14394|
Filename: BadGrass_5.JPG |
Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14395|
Filename: BadGrass_6.JPG |
Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14396|
Filename: BadGrass_7.JPG |
Download:
http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14398|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

You have done good. You will want to lessen the frequency of watering at some
time - More water less ofter will help the roots grow deeper. Don't rush it
though. A fall fertilizer is the most important one, so do that. The spring
growth will then restore it the rest of the way. During the spring growth, you
will need to mow more often, maybe every 4-5 days. Ferrous sulphate will kill
moss. Garden lime will reduce the acidity that encourages it.

Trader4 - Thanks for your reply. I will use the Autumn/Fall fertilizer as you say, mid/late September.

Yes, the grass is a mix specifically for the UK climate, see below it includes "Slender Creeping Red Fescue".
The Rowlawn site says ..............
---------------------------------------------
"Specifically selected seed type sowing mix Produces a turf that provides the most suitable performance for the diverse UK climate. It is highly adaptable to variations in rainfall,
sunlight, soil type, pH level and nutrients
"High content of Slender Creeping Red Fescue Extremely drought tolerant. High performance cultivar in times of low rainfall "
---------------------------------------------

Answer to questions please ..........
On my questions 1 to 5, I would appreciate a short answer to each if you could please/

1) Should I still look for a fungicide, do you think it still needs one?

2) Will the grass thicken up or is the dead bit dead? I want to get it back to a thicker denser, multi-bladed, healthy grass.
Is the dead part of the lawn at ground level actually completely dead in the roots, or will new grass push through to thicken it up again.
Can I risk scarifying it in the Fall or Spring to remove the dead stuff?

3) How do I keep weeds at bay? - where the grass is thin, do I need to top dress (seed/soilo/compost/sand) and when?

4) Approaching autumn/Fall - do I have to remove the dead grass? Should I put a treatment on it to feed it through the winter? { You Trader4 said "Yes, put a Fall fertilizer down in a month". I will use the Rowlawn Autumn Lawn Food.Autumn Lawn Food from Rolawn

5) What height should I mow at? - I have raised the mower to a 2.5" cut. It won't go higher. What height should I be working towards as 'normal' and by when?
Do I go for 1.5" during next spring/summer? Remember this is supposed to be a fine blade 'show' lawn.

Many thanks again for such a prompt reply.

Puppilup

On Aug 18, 1:41*am, puppilup
wrote:
Trader4 - Thanks for your reply. I will use the Autumn/Fall fertilizer
as you say, mid/late September.

Yes, the grass is a mix specifically for the UK climate, see below it
includes "Slender Creeping Red Fescue".
The Rowlawn site says ..............
---------------------------------------------
"Specifically selected seed type sowing mix Produces a turf that
provides the most suitable performance for the diverse UK climate. It is
highly adaptable to variations in rainfall,
sunlight, soil type, pH level and nutrients
"High content of Slender Creeping Red Fescue Extremely drought tolerant.
High performance cultivar in times of low rainfall "
---------------------------------------------

Answer to questions please ..........
On my questions 1 to 5, I would appreciate a short answer to each if you
could please/

1) *Should I still look for a fungicide, do you think it still needs
one?

No. Based on how well it's recovered, if it had any fungus/disease
its
gone. It could have just been from not being properly watered,
cutting it too short quickly, etc.





2) Will the grass thicken up or is the dead bit dead? I want to get it
back to a thicker denser, multi-bladed, healthy grass.
Is the dead part of the lawn at ground level actually completely dead in
the roots, or will new grass push through to thicken it up again.

There are a variety of grass types. Some which are called
clump type cannot spread and create new individual plants.
But even with a clump type grass, the individual plants can
grow larger to fill in bare spots. And from your pictures
your bare spots are small enough that they would fill in
that way.

But you have creeping red fescue which is a cultivar
that has some ability to send out stolens and establish
new plants. So, you should not have to do anything.
I think it will be fine. If there are any larger spots you
could either get a piece of sod or buy creeping red
fescue seed. I'd only do the latter if necessary as
there are differences with varieties and you might
see a difference in texture, color, etc.


Can I risk scarifying it in the Fall or Spring to remove the dead
stuff?

I think scarifying is referred to here in the states as
dethatching. First, you need to understand that thatch
is normal. There is always going to be a layer of
decaying cut grass, dead crowns, etc. That
decomposes on it's own. It's only
when it gets excessively thick to the point that
water and air can't penetrate that it becomes a
problem. That is when you need to consider
scarifying. Before doing that on any lawn,
I'd lift a section of turn and look at the edges.
If excessive thatch is present it will be a thick
layer of stuff almost like what would be on a
thatch roof hut. A layer of about a 1/2" is
normal.

When you scarify, while getting rid
of the thatch, you are also damaging and
killing some of the grass. That's the
tradeoff. In short, I'd leave your new lawn be.
I'd personally prefer to address most thatch
issues by aerification, rather than scarification.
Punching holes in the turf opens it up to water,
air, etc and then bacteria can better break down
the thatch. But again, your lawn does not need
that.



3) How do I keep weeds at bay?

Get a 2 gallon tank sprayer and a herbicide for
broadleaf weed control on lawns. With a tank
sprayer you can minimize the amount of herbicide
used while at the same time delivering it exactly
where it's needed.


- where the grass is thin, do I need to
top dress (seed/soilo/compost/sand) and when?

As I said above, I think it will fill in by itself. I'd wait
until mid-Sept and see what it looks like then. If
you need to address any spots, that would be the
time. You could also give it a light fertilizer application
now, which will help it grow and fill in more, then use the
Fall fertilizer late sept.





4) Approaching autumn/Fall - do I have to remove the dead grass? Should
I put a treatment on it to feed it through the winter? { You Trader4
said "Yes, put a Fall fertilizer down in a month". I will use the
Rowlawn Autumn Lawn Food.Autumn Lawn Food from Rolawn

I would not worry about the dead grass. Wait and see
how it fills in. Above fertilizer sounds right.




5) What height should I mow at? - I have raised the mower to a 2.5" cut.

Sounds good.



It won't go higher. What height should I be working towards as 'normal'
and by when?
Do I go for 1.5" during next spring/summer? Remember this is supposed to
be a fine blade 'show' lawn.

I'd keep it at 2.5. You could go lower next Spring if you like the
look better. I would not go lower than 2. Also, don't know if you
are actually measuring the cut height or going by settings on the
mower. There can be a difference. If you want to go lower, you
can try it, just don't do it in sudden steps.

puppilup said:


1) Should I still look for a fungicide, do you think it still needs
one?

No.

2) Will the grass thicken up or is the dead bit dead? I want to get it
back to a thicker denser, multi-bladed, healthy grass.
Is the dead part of the lawn at ground level actually completely dead in
the roots, or will new grass push through to thicken it up again.
Can I risk scarifying it in the Fall or Spring to remove the dead
stuff?

I would hold off on anything like that, and prefer core aeration to raking
out thatch. (I am guessing that you may have mainly fine fescues,
notorious thatch producers, but decent shade tolerence.)

Treated decently, the turf should thicken up, albeit, with fescues, it
will only thicken up slowly. It might be wise to overseed, but if you
don't you could consider applying a pre-emergent herbicide this fall.
(There are 'winter' weeds which sprout in the fall, like speedwell and
chickweed.)

Your lawn is small enough to spot weed, by hand or with a tool,
should it come to that.

3) How do I keep weeds at bay? - where the grass is thin, do I need to
top dress (seed/soilo/compost/sand) and when?

If it doesn't seem to be filling in well, yes overseed and topdress.

4) Approaching autumn/Fall - do I have to remove the dead grass? Should
I put a treatment on it to feed it through the winter? { You Trader4
said "Yes, put a Fall fertilizer down in a month". I will use the
Rowlawn Autumn Lawn Food.Autumn Lawn Food from Rolawn

I would go with a light feeding at the beginning of September and a
Fall/Winter fertilizer blend in mid to late October. But my soil is quite
sandy so YMMV.

5) What height should I mow at? - I have raised the mower to a 2.5" cut.
It won't go higher. What height should I be working towards as 'normal'
and by when?

I would suggest no less than that in midsummer. Mow every 3 days if
neccessary to keep it looking tidy. You can drop it back a bit in fall
(after the growth has slowed) and for the first cuts in spring, then raise
the height again.

Do I go for 1.5" during next spring/summer? Remember this is supposed
to be a fine blade 'show' lawn.

I suggest you leave it taller and mow more often; it will give you less grief
that way and still look tidy. And keep the mowing blades sharp. Very sharp.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

email valid but not regularly monitored

On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:23:06 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

5) What height should I mow at? - I have raised the mower to a 2.5" cut.

Sounds good.


Just to add to all the worthy comments, ensure you have a sharp blade
on the mower. A dull blade will tear the grass blades instead of a
clean smooth cut.

Nice job OP.

(back to lurking :-/ )