Lawn Problems

[dean1130]

Hi,
I have been doing landscaping for the past 12 years and never had a customer complaint about grass seeding. Last summer I seed a lawn. The grass grew well and then now I get a call and the lady said the grass is dead and is all brown. One section is caused from salt and sanding the roads, but the other 2 spots are in the back yard. One spot was a pool, that we took down and seeded that to lawn and the other section was steps that is seed now, it had a pretty good slope. What I don't understand is why was there grass last fall and now there is none. I don't think its something I did, cause I have never had a seeded lawn fail. Could a winter with heavy snow cause this? I also thought maybe the seed had weeds in it and the weeds took over. I am going out to the customers yard to take a look tomorrow and will take pics...

[dean1130]

One more thing, the client said she put more seed down in the fall. Some that she bought to help with bare spots. Does anyone think, she got annual rye and that took over. I have read many times before that it will do that. So therefore in spring its all dead?

[Smallaxe]

When did the snow come/ground freeze in relation to your grass growing? It may not have been well enough established to survive winter, but most likely AR was all that germinated last fall...

Avoid mixes with AR in them for fall seeding unless you really need a cover crop in August planting time...

[RigglePLC]

Agree with Smallaxe. And also there is a good chance of snowmold--if it shows up in the spring. Some perennial ryegrasses are very sensitive to snowmold. How much rye was in the mixture?

However, there is a good chance the problem occured in the fall and she is just noticing it now. I am suspicious that the pool area dried out at some time in the fall.
And why did she put her own seed down in the fall--unless--it was thin to start with? The problem (dryness etc) occurred earlier--and she probably added annual rye. Clearly the rest of the seed you sowed was just fine.

[mdlwn1]

Obviously need pics. Snowmold....was big here this year....anyone who went into winter on the heavy side got hit pretty good. We had snowpack all winter long..never melted beyond knee deep at our house. Furthermore, this year specificaly we have had INTENSE germination of ABG, Poa Triv, and several of the Barnyard/dalis/similar varieties....as in a tripleing of square footage in some cases.

[White Gardens]

Any shade in the area?

[Hineline]

How mature was the grass going into winter? Was it healthy? Did you relieve compaction where the pool was?

[dean1130]

It was a new seeding last aug. 2010. I went there last week and either she put down annual rye or it was caused from snow mold. Theres grass growing but thin. But she also never raked the leaves either. She put more seed down last fall cause it was slow growing. The client wants stuff to grow right away, she doesn't want to wait.

[FYS777]

Originally Posted by dean1130

It was a new seeding last aug. 2010. I went there last week and either she put down annual rye or it was caused from snow mold. Theres grass growing but thin. But she also never raked the leaves either. She put more seed down last fall cause it was slow growing. The client wants stuff to grow right away, she doesn't want to wait.

cut out and put sod in. for instant gratification.