# What's wrong with my cool season lawn?



## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

Hi Guys - My lawn went from dark green to light green and white and browed in some parts. What gives?

Is this a nitrogen deficiency or a lawn decease?

Needless to say, I am clearly being dominated by my neighbor to the right :evil:

Please help!

I have a mix of Perennial Ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and Creeping Red Fescue. I went from a mowing height of 3" to 2.5" a week ago.


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## dkggpeters (May 31, 2019)

It is probably due to you lowering the cut height.


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## Mattsbay_18 (Aug 3, 2018)

Without a close up of the grass blades, it looks like the same thing happened to me last year. I wanted to drop my HOC and I noticed a couple things.

1) dropping HOC .5 inches will shock the grass. You are more than likely cutting into the sheath of the grass versus the blades. It will take time to train the grass to grow lower.

2)sharpen those mower blades

3) depending on the timing of your last feeding, it might be a good time for a light summer feeding (that is if you have irrigation to combat the summer heat)

That was my experience. I'm sure others with more knowledge can be of more assistance. GL

*You have some stiff competition. Your neighbor has a strong lawn game


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Ask your neighbor what he is doing, it looks good.

When you dropped the hoc, was the mower struggling? It looks like beat up grass blades.

How much nitrogen have you done?


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

+1 Your neighbour's lawn looks really good! Ask him if he knows about this forum.

I agree with the above. Some of the issue is likely due to dropping your HOC. Keep cutting at this height and it will bounce back.

Depending on how much Nitrogen you have put down, you could give it a light dose of Urea (0.25lb N) and water it in.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

dkggpeters said:


> It is probably due to you lowering the cut height.


I think so as well. Hopefully, it gets used to the lower HOC and recovers. Thanks.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

g-man said:


> When you dropped the hoc, was the mower struggling? It looks like beat up grass blades.


Yes it did.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

Harts said:


> Depending on how much Nitrogen you have put down, you could give it a light dose of Urea (0.25lb N) and water it in.


Just 0.25lb/1000 sq feet of N?


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

Harts said:


> Depending on how much Nitrogen you have put down, you could give it a light dose of Urea (0.25lb N) and water it in.


What type of lawn fertilizer do you use? Also, did I read correctly that you recommend only 0.25lb of N per 1000 sq.ft?


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

I use a milorganite alternative from Brett Young out west. It's a Biosolid fert. I used that in the early spring.

Because we have hotter days and July is coming up next week you don't want to push too much nitrogen. 0.25lb N is a small amount but might help your grass look a little better. I recommend urea for that. It's cheap and readily available at TSC. Not sure where abouts in the GTA you are but they seek them in 50lb bags (I think).

You would also use this in the fall if you plan to follow the nitrogen blitz - see the link in g-mans signature if you haven't checked it out.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

Hi All - I am happy to report that I have nursed back my lawn to a pretty decent shape since the July 6 low.

Below is what I did:

0.3 lbs of quick release (Scotts) Nitrogen
1 lbs of slow-release nitrogen (nutri-pel) - only half of which is available now.
10 oz of Nature's Aerify Plus liquid aeration
Mechanical aeration

Rainfall: 67mm (2.6") on July 17th
Irrigation: 0.5" every 3 days.

The biggest change is raising the HOC to 4" from 2.5".

The results are below:





Below is a side-by-side comparison:


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

Good work! It looks great. Awesome results for just 20 days!


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## CPA Nerd (May 8, 2018)

Dominating the neighbor now! What a stunning turn of events!


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## bourne (Jun 2, 2018)

@DT1986 Looks good! Where did you get the liquid aeration from?


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## Mrotatori (Aug 13, 2018)

You changed that around quick. You are dominating the neighbor. Great job


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

jrubb42 said:


> Good work! It looks great. Awesome results for just 20 days!


Thank you.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

bourne said:


> @DT1986 Looks good! Where did you get the liquid aeration from?


https://www.natureslawn.com/ They don't ship to Canada so you have to drive down to Buffalo to pick it up. This product definitely improved the soil and helped with water penetrating deep into the roots.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

jrubb42 said:


> Good work! It looks great. Awesome results for just 20 days!


The lawn really did respond quite well. I think it's all in the soil. We don't have Milorganite in Canada but I use an alternative called nutripel. It's recycled bio-solid from the water treatment plant in Toronto.


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## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

DT1986 said:


> Hi Guys - My lawn went from dark green to light green and white and browed in some parts. What gives?
> ...
> Please help!
> 
> I have a mix of Perennial Ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and Creeping Red Fescue. I went from a mowing height of 3" to 2.5" a week ago.


First off, great recovery!

Secondly, this is late advice, but I hadn't seen the thread the first time around. Your first set of pictures is typical of the brown that I see in the perennial ryegrass and fine fescue in my northern mix in July and August due to what I call "summer dormancy" for these grasses. In particular, fine fescue doesn't deal well with heat stress or drought stress, particularly when cut short. The combination of higher cut, increased watering, and some fertilization has enabled it to recover.

I have learned that I can't lower the height of cut on my areas with significant fine fescue in the summer without getting the browning that you saw. My solution is to raise HOC for the fine fescue for July and August and ensure the grass gets water every three days. Seems like that same approach is working for you. Congrats!


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

@ken-n-nancy that is great advice. Sometimes I am tempted to lower the HOC as it gives the lawn a neater appearance. Clearly, that doesn't work in the hot summer months, I have now learned to keep the HOC at a higher rate. I currently mow at the max height allowed by my mower.


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## DT1986 (May 3, 2018)

@Mattsbay_18 thanks for your initial reply. I took your advice on the mower blades and went as far as purchasing a brand new one as I didn't want to continue using the old one.


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## rtdad (Jul 13, 2019)

DT1986 said:


> Hi All - I am happy to report that I have nursed back my lawn to a pretty decent shape since the July 6 low.
> 
> Below is what I did:
> 
> ...


What a huge recovery! Wow! 
So you aerated in the summer? What made you decide to do that? 
And since you did a few things, which one do you think worked best? Or impossible to say?


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## Mattsbay_18 (Aug 3, 2018)

DT1986 said:


> @Mattsbay_18 thanks for your initial reply. I took your advice on the mower blades and went as far as purchasing a brand new one as I didn't want to continue using the old one.


How is the lawn looking these days? Did the new mower blade help things?


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

@DT1986, @bourne I ordered the Aerify from Nature's Lawn last year and they shipped to me. This was the email from Madeline:

_Good morning,

Thanks for writing to us. We do not usually ship to Canada because the cost of shipping is so prohibitive. If you'd like a quote, however, just let us know the products and quantities you would like to order, and your shipping address, and I'd be happy to find out what it will cost to ship.
Best,

Madeline Claire
Director of Online Marketing & Communications
NaturesLawn.com_

They will ship. They just want to make sure you know how much it's going to cost.

I have used it a few times and don't know that I can determine the benefits. The fact @DT1986 also did a mechanical aeration could be the reason for the increased root health. It could be both the liquid and mechanical played a factor, who knows.

That said, your lawn has gone through a remarkable transformation. It goes to show what a little knowledge, commitment and hard work will do in a short amount of time.

Nice work :thumbup:


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## gmorf33 (Jul 30, 2019)

DT1986 said:


> @Mattsbay_18 thanks for your initial reply. I took your advice on the mower blades and went as far as purchasing a brand new one as I didn't want to continue using the old one.


If you have an angle grinder you can get a 60ish grit flap disc and sharpen your blades pretty easily. Just make sure to balance the blade (you can use a nail and hang it, or you can get a balancer off amazon)


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## Allan-00 (Aug 6, 2019)

Looks like a completely different lawn in the later pictures!


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