I have a green lawn that appears to be healthy and looks great at an angle but when looking down on it you can see dead grass blades mixed in with green healthy blades. It always looks like this from the start of the season until the end. When I use my pull behind thatcher it pulls a lot of the dead grass out but it's always still there. Why is this?
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Dead grass blades in green lawn
Greg Bartolini
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I have a green lawn that appears to be healthy and looks great at an angle but when looking down on it you can see dead grass blades mixed in with green healthy blades. It always looks like this from the start of the season until the end. When I use my pull behind thatcher it pulls a lot of the dead grass out but it's always still there. Why is this?
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The photo is deceiving. Its not a fungus to my knowledge . I don't see any red on the blades. It almost seems like it's a type of grass that dies out. Like an annual grass mixed in with the perennial grass. It's always mixed in with healthy grass. The average person wouldn't notice it and most always say my lawn is very green.
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Where do you live? What time and how often do you irrigate? Have you gone out to inspect it early in the morning then it's humid?
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I live in Massachusetts. The lawn is about 5 years old. I believe contractors grass was planted. I've since overseeded with a higher quality seed but I'm wondering if it's some species that does out or goes dormant. It just seems to always be dormant.
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$ spot
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Just wondering what height you are cutting at?
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The highest setting which is 4". I also try to mow twice per week because it grows pretty fast.
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$spot? What does that mean
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Hi Greg, You may be mowing a little too high. If you mow that high the turf tends to be leggy and not as dense. High grass makes it tougher for light and air to get to the lower bits. The lower you mow will make the grass kind of spread laterally. Not too low though! For mowing in the spring 3in is good and then raise it to 3.5in in the summer.
Over fertilization might be causing some of problems too. Same thing happened to me this year.
$ spot. Grassmankzoo is referring to a lawn disease called 'dollar spot'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_spot
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PS: very sharp mower blades will help reduce the chance for disease.
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If your lawn was seeded with cheep contractor’s seed, your lawn may be composed of mostly old common varieties of Kentucky bluegrass, like Kenblue.
I have a very old lawn (36 yrs old) that was originally sodded with the old common varieties of Kentucky bluegrass and except for in the early spring and late fall, it always looks just like your lawn, lots of brown dead grass blades mixed in with the green.
I have re-seeded several parts of my lawn with newer varieties and those areas do not have all those brown dead grass blades.
I have a very old lawn (36 yrs old) that was originally sodded with the old common varieties of Kentucky bluegrass and except for in the early spring and late fall, it always looks just like your lawn, lots of brown dead grass blades mixed in with the green.
I have re-seeded several parts of my lawn with newer varieties and those areas do not have all those brown dead grass blades.
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I should point out that all the other things mentioned by my esteemed colleagues may be contributing to your problem.
Here is some information regarding the differences between old common varieties of bluegrass and the newer improved varieties.
https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/landscaping/maint/coolseas.htm
The old varieties were developed to survive on minimum input so they go dormant quickly when needed. The newer varieties will still go dormant when needed, but will require more water to keep them out of dormancy and they will not live as long in dormancy as the common types.
Here is some information regarding the differences between old common varieties of bluegrass and the newer improved varieties.
https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/landscaping/maint/coolseas.htm
The old varieties were developed to survive on minimum input so they go dormant quickly when needed. The newer varieties will still go dormant when needed, but will require more water to keep them out of dormancy and they will not live as long in dormancy as the common types.
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Interesting. I appreciate the input. I just finished mowing my lawn and now I am second guessing whether it is a fungus. How do I determine that? Nothing is blotched. It's pretty uniform throughout the yard which makes me lean towards it not being a disease and just being the cheaper type of grass. Also, I'm not an expert on this stuff but I believe it is a fescue not bluegrass.
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Well, in the photos you gave us I can see a prominent fold and mid-vein on those grass blades. That means that it's either bluegrass or fine fescue. The width of the blades suggests that it’s bluegrass. Fine fescue blades are so thin that I need to have a magnifying glass to see the fold and mid-vein.
Just in case that is fine fescue, high temperatures or heat can make that go brown, but when that happens it has a tendency to happen in patches and you will think you have fungus.
Just in case that is fine fescue, high temperatures or heat can make that go brown, but when that happens it has a tendency to happen in patches and you will think you have fungus.
In your first picture I see blades that are yellow and green!
It could be a combo of both some grass is more affected by disease and we have a bad year for fungus it's not that bad in your case imo
You could consult a pro or your local extension office
There's some indication of rust-the orange spots, but most of what you're seeing (the straw color dispersed evenly) is just the death of earlier blades, and seed stems A grass blade has a limited life, and as new ones grow in, the oldest ones fade. It begins at around 6-8 weeks after the spring green-up and continues through the season.
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Very interesting. Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that. I took a look again and I think I have a blend of bluegrass and fine fescue.
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Thanks for the info. I think you might be right although why would my lawn show more dead blades than other people's lawns? I notice that when I dethatch it tears up a lot if that dead grass. I can claw at the grass with my hand and I'll get clumps of it. Seems excessive.
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