Lawn Care Forum banner

My lawn - not sure?? Browning

8K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  Smallaxe 
#1 ·
Hey there. Being in this business I keep our lawn looking great. I water with irrigation, 5 steps per year. I hauled in a ton of black soil so it would be good to go. The last two weeks I notice that it is browning, just not sure why? Everyone elses yards are smoked due to heat this year but there slowly turning back to green while my lawn is turning brown. I am still irrigating 3 times a week, 15 minutes per zone.

Got me doing this business I just don;t have an anwser or I am overlooking something. Any info or guesses to what it is.

I can't get picture as I lost our digital camera - not happy about that one.
 
#2 ·
Stop the water and see how it does. Grass does not want to have top growth right now so dont make it grow. Work on the roots getting deeper.
With the watering that you are doing mow i bet the roots are not even 3 inches deep.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#3 ·
If you've done shallow watering all summer long then the cooker weather probably isn't helping your lawn as much as the ones greening up... here in WI the drought continued into the sever mode up until last week... there are lots of possibilities, but I'd say R&R is on to something and therefore would look into the root zone and see what's happening...
 
#6 ·
Soil in your area is excellent. You can't miss...HOWEVER...I suspect you may have rust disease. It is common in fall. It is particularly serious on perennial ryegrass. It gives your grass a bright yellow appearance. Red dust forms on your shoes.

http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/turffungaldis.html
Some of my yards got hit pretty good with rust. My mower became orange along with my boots
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#7 ·
Check for Leaf Spot or Brown Patch Diseases. Look for close up pictures of them on the internet and compare those to what you have. A lot of lawns in my area got wracked with it during the second week of August and while they've recovered somewhat, some seeding needed to be done for sure in order to repair them.
 
#8 ·
I think the roots look fine. I dug into them tonight but maybe your right. What are your suggestions for deeper root growth this time of year?
The simplest thing in the world... let the surface of the soil dry out between irrigation events, but when you do water be sure that it gets deep enough to provide moisture below the root zone(generally 6" is adequate)...

You actually looked at the roots and the soil... wow!!!
Most people rely on their preconcieved notions, assumptions and imagination to understand what's going on below the surface... :)
 
#11 ·
Why would someone in Iowa, use Logan Labs in Ohio??? Are you hawking for Logan Labs??? :)
Why does it matter where the lab is? Logan Labs happens to use the same soil testing methods (extractions, calculations, etc) that the Iowa State lab uses. So, the results would be the same, whether they were tested in Iowa or at Logan Labs.

Why is soil testing such a hard thing for people to understand?
 
#12 ·
What was my question? and how does the response address my question?? And what about my question , indicates that I don't understand how soil testing works???

I really hope there is not someone else, that is just here to cause trouble... :)
 
#13 ·
Why would someone in Iowa, use Logan Labs in Ohio??? Are you hawking for Logan Labs??? :)
Just a great lab that I use
I make my own recommendations from their results

Find a QUALITY LAB, and only use that lab.
Don't compare test results sent to more than 1 lab
 
#14 ·
I got to agree with everybody that says its in the roots! You have to build up your roots, hard soils do not allow the roots to get into the ground water. There are a lot of products out there that will help you out. I must ask do you mulch you yard when you mow, or do you bag and remove the clippings?
 
#15 ·
I got to agree with everybody that says its in the roots! You have to build up your roots, hard soils do not allow the roots to get into the ground water. There are a lot of products out there that will help you out. I must ask do you mulch you yard when you mow, or do you bag and remove the clippings?
One of the surest ways to help the roots is to have OM sitting on the surface allowing the sub-terrainian creatures move it into the root zone...
Bagging, dethatching and even raking is counter-productive to soil structure and its ability to maintain CE sites and the adequate water/air ratio...
I read one article recently that stated the pores in the soil should be 40-60% of the area of the soil... OM definately helps create porosity in the soil... too much water destroys porosity... :)
 
#16 ·
SmallAxe could not agree with you more, you can use gypsum to help loosen up the dirt and help the root mass go even deeper, giving it more access to the ground water that is present about all year around. There are many factors that go into keeping your lawn green, but if you can reduce your dependency on a fertilizer or a chemical or even extra water, and start trying to build up your OM and you will def see good results. If your going to use a gypsum or a power lime, your not going to be able to broad cast spread this, you will need a drop spreader
 
#17 ·
We have no real need for gypsum or even lime in the lawns I care for... My comment was to reinforce the idea that OM is going to be more useful than fertilizer... OM can actually build a more plant friendly soil structure, overcoming the drawbacks of whatever texture the lawn is... at least to some degree, OM helps overcome less than perfect textures... especially in the addition of usable CE sites... :)
 
#18 ·
To clarify what I meant about OM being more useful than fertilizer,,, the point here is that w/out correct access to the ferts, becuz of structureless soils w/out OM, we see that 'more fert', does NOT address the real issue... that is what is meant by OM being more useful...
I was NOT saying that OM replaces fertilizer... :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top