# New Grass changing color



## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

Hey Experts,

New member here. Some context. This is my brother's lawn so I do not visit it everyday.

*Location*, East Massachusetts
*Lawn size* 9000.
*Soil quality* Must be really bad as lawn was not properly maintained for 1.5 years and I do not know if the previous owner was using any fertilizer. 
*June/July*
Installed DIY irrigation system. Spot treated crab grass with tenacity.​*Last week of August* 
Removed existing grass+weed from 60% of area.
Dethached existing grass.
Sprayed tenacity over soil.
40% of the area still had struggling grass but roots were still strong enough.
Added new seed. Used same seed to overseed the area where there was still some grass.
Used starter fertilizer from the same company.​
*Water Schedule*
Twice a day for 15 minutes each zone.​
*Results*
Seed germinated very well. Only very few bald spots.​
*Last week Changes*

Switched manual water control to Rachio automatic daily control. (It estimates no water required till October 10th) 
Added 4 lbs per 1000FT CarbonX.​
Thiis is when I noticed that lawn grass is changing color. I am a color blind so please bear with me. (Yellow and light green might look similar to me.)

I can tell that one spot has grass turned to yellow. But I also feel that other grass is no longer dark green. Can someone tell me if this is usual for new grass to change color like this?

Is it due to over water? In that case things will get better as its no longer twice a day?
Is it malnutrition? Would CarbonX be able to handle this?

Here are some photos.

Grass color after 3 weeks of seeding.


First mowing after 4 weeks


Grass color after 4-5 weeks 2nd mow


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## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

Correction: This is the seed blend I used. 
50% Perennial Rye
20% Kentucky Bluegrass
10% Chewings Fescue
20% Creeping Red Fescue


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## jtuber (Sep 15, 2020)

I think before anyone asks why my grass is turning yellow bright green, they should get their soil tested. I am somewaht in the same boat. My grass is not dark green and I could see a tint of yellow green in sone areas even tho I fertilize and ironize. I am going to wait until spring to have my soil tested and then plan to take corrective actions afterward.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I think this is underwater and under fertilized. Use a fast source of nitrogen.

The rachio automatic works pretty good when it is setup correctly. This means an irrigation audit, root depth, soil type. In a reno, I suggest you keep it manual. At this stage, go with once a day in the am to get around 0.1in of water (yes do an audit).


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## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

Thank you so much for response really appreciate it.

@jtuber I have my forms and check ready for UMass soil test. Since I added the CarbonX fertilizer only 4 days ago, I will have to wait another 4-8 weeks before sending the samples. I know big mistake not doing this early .

@g-man I looked at my water schedule again. It was actually 30-40 (depending on the Nozzle) minutes each zone in the morning and then another 15 minutes at 13:00. Using the Nozzle GPM it should give at least 0.15 in of water to each zone.

Before setting the rachio-daily schedule, I checked my root sizes which were 5 inches and set the depth to 6 inches (default) to make sure it water deep enough for the roots to grow. I set all other parameters as carefully as I could.

Visually, I was scared that we are watering too much as it was wet and I never let it go dry for 4 weeks. I wanted to make sure KBG has enough time to germinate (4 weeks). To mow the lawn second time, we had to turn off the water and wait 2 days because our tractor wheels were leaving marks. Even after two days of water "OFF" my brother said it was really difficult for him to turn around without damaging the soil so he tried to turn around after going off the lawn. (Please see photos),That led me to believe this might be over watering. What are your thoughts?

Is CarbonX a good/fast source of Nitrogen? Since I already added 1 pound above the recommended limit 4 days ago, can I add another source of Nitrogen now? Do you think adding Humic acid now on top of CarbonX would help get it to the grass faster?

Here is my plan,
I am going to keep the water off for one week (as Rachio planned) and visually check the grass every day at same time. We also had ~0.1 inches of rain during this week,
Perform a catch-cups test to make sure my calculations are correct.
Update here with photos to get your opinion.
After 6 weeks send my soil for testing.

Thank you once again for replies. You guys Rock.... Let me know what you think about adding more fertilizer.

Photos of Skid marks by tractor where rapid steering was required.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You cannot go by the nozzle GPM. The heads overlap an area. You need to do an audit using a straight wall container (eg. empty tuna can). Rachio instructions are to do the audit and there is no other good way. It is the way.

If you just germinated seeds, they are not 5inches deep.

CarbonX is not a fast source of nitrogen.

The grass doesnt use humic to grow. It uses nitrogen.


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## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

Thanks a million @g-man for helping me out. Last question 


g-man said:


> CarbonX is not a fast source of nitrogen.


I bought the Urea from a local feed store and My plan was the feed the lawn with Urea 1/4 the recommended limit to give it a boost. Rest, I will rely on CarbonX to start releasing some more Nitrogen by time.

Then I read your comment and went through a long thread of Nitrogen in CarbonX is it Slow or Fast release and now I am totally confused. If it is slow release then I am good with spoon feeding 45-0-0 every week (very low amount).

However If CarbonX's Nitrogen is a fast release as I read through the threads (about 60%) then probably I will end up burning the grass. :?



g-man said:


> You cannot go by the nozzle GPM. The heads overlap an area. You need to do an audit using a straight wall container (eg. empty tuna can). Rachio instructions are to do the audit and there is no other good way. It is the way.


Sure thing, going to do this over the weekend.



g-man said:


> If you just germinated seeds, they are not 5inches deep.


My brother did the test, I will look into this again this weekend.



g-man said:


> The grass doesnt use humic to grow. It uses nitrogen.


Correct, my intention was that since I have already added CarbonX above the recommended limit., should I just add humic to increase the uptake.

Thanks once again.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

There is a response curve of carbonx on their website. You will not burn the lawn if you use both, just don't keeping doing it. I don't know what you mean about the humic. I'm not well versed in the humic stuff since I don't use it.


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## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

Perfect, thanks a lot @g-man .


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Someone posted this today in another thread.


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## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

Thanks to @g-man 's timely advise, lawn is back to life.

I can not believe Urea works that quickly. Within a week lawn was recovering very well and now it is dense (as much as a new lawn could be) and color os dark green again.





I also figured out (May be) what was wrong with the yellow spot. That area is not level and I believe either only water or starter fertilizer gathered there and burnt/fungus that grass. But it is recovering.

I am going to add one more Urea application next week and then winterize the sprinkler system and send soil for testing to UMass to start strong next year. I have some areas where due to trees/shade the grass is not that strong. I guess I will have to overseed that area with some other grass type but I would rather ask that next year.

g-man thank you for the help and patience, really appreciate it.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You could probably do two more weekly apps of fast nitrogen this year.


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

jtuber said:


> I think before anyone asks why my grass is turning yellow bright green, they should get their soil tested. I am somewaht in the same boat. My grass is not dark green and I could see a tint of yellow green in sone areas even tho I fertilize and ironize. I am going to wait until spring to have my soil tested and then plan to take corrective actions afterward.


Why not get your soil tested right now? As long as you haven't applied any fertilizers in the past 6 weeks, taking a sample now is fine. Finding out your soil pH and OM is crucial. How do you "ironize"? Unless it is foliar, iron in the soil is unavailable t plants if your pH is too high.


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## Jconnelly6b (Mar 4, 2018)

@jmmtjoy this is a good one to read


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## best4gotten (Sep 28, 2020)

g-man said:


> You could probably do two more weekly apps of fast nitrogen this year.


Yes, after posting this reply and searching through the forum to see what other people do at the end of the season. I have also decided to buy more Urea and do a couple of more applications.



Deadlawn said:


> jtuber said:
> 
> 
> > I think before anyone asks why my grass is turning yellow bright green, they should get their soil tested. I am somewaht in the same boat. My grass is not dark green and I could see a tint of yellow green in sone areas even tho I fertilize and ironize. I am going to wait until spring to have my soil tested and then plan to take corrective actions afterward.
> ...


I did apply CarbonX 3 weeks ago and that is the only thing holding me from getting the samples. I know Urea should be OK as its mainly Nitrogen and that probably is not going to matter a lot in the results but I am not sure about the CarbonX.

*Just to clarify to future readers, * as @g-man pointed out in the early post, I might had issues with water deficiency as well.(Where I was thinking opposite and stopped twice daily watering).

Was it over/under water issue? I do not know. I still have to do my catch-cup test. I did stop the twice daily water schedule but my lawn was still getting water during last 3 weeks. We had thunderstorm and additional slow constant raining of 5-6 hours a couple of days and my Rachio schedule also ran once for deep watering.

If you are facing similar issues, please check your water coverage before making any changes. I am just worried someone will stop watering their lawn after reading this.


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