Micronutrients ?

[Think Green]

Ted,
I am curious............! Is this an established awn or is this a newer lawn? The new home sites being done here are a major joke. The properties are being filled with junk and skraped flat. Bermuda will grow on it and so will Zoysia, but for how long is the question.
I have to honor your response on the state of Arkansas' test results. It seems to me that 4 of my tests from a couple years past.......on 4 different lawns virtually showed the same results and were given the same correction methods. The STATE OF ARKANSAS is adimant about using Urea--13/13/13--Dolomitic Lime on everything! LOL!!

[RigglePLC]

Ted, I would suggest a "tissue test" (from A&L Laboratories). They will give you the ppm of something like 18 minerals within the plant itself and tell you what the ppm is supposed to be. And check for toxic minerals also. Make sure customer pays for it and gets copy.

However, I suspect the problem is with the cultivar of the grass itself. Some of the better types green up more slowly in spring--BUT--they look better later in the summer. Difficult situation--good luck trying to convince customer of this little idiosyncrasy. Watch it carefully to see if it greens up quicker in the warm areas and slower in the shade or north side of the house.

[ted putnam]

The subdivision is about 15 yrs old. The soil is sandy loam, not the red clay Think green spoke of. Although he is correct about that being what is done these days and it is causing problems for me in other lawns. This particular lawn is not compacted. However, in my opinion it is overwatered. Chronic problems with Sedges and Buttonweed are suggesting that to me. I can't believe overwatering would cause the problem but maybe it is. The lawn doesn't look bad, it just doesn't look great and for what I've done, it should. Add the fact that she makes a comment about how it doesn't look as good as she thinks it should every time I'm there, and I'm getting pretty disgusted with the whole thing to say the least.
Riggle, great advice. I don't know that she'd pay for a tissue test though. She's gone through 3 services prior to me and at this point she's about tired of the whole thing too.

[lep]

You might step up some of the organic features of the lawn. If you been putting down a lot of synthetics assuming textbook-like outcomes, then you might look into the soil food web (bacterial & fungal counts). Take a look at soilfoodweb.com

[Smallaxe]

The first thing to do with questionable areas of a lawn is add compost and see how it responds. Synthetics on sand is always going to be leaching. Pull some plugs and check the root zone.