# Grass turning white



## Miltdoba

I am starting to have patches of my grass turn white. It was all healthy and green last week. Is this from a fungus or the fertilizer I applied? Will it turn back green on it's own?


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## Miltdoba

I haven't watered in 3 days, and there is no powdery white mold or mildew on the blades.


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## JohnP

What fertilizer did you apply?


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## pennstater2005

You didn't put down anything with mesotrione in it did you?


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## Miltdoba

pennstater2005 said:


> You didn't put down anything with mesotrione in it did you?


I reseeded some patches in my yard and applied Scott's starter fert with weed control. Is it possible some of this got on the established yard and causing the bleaching? Will it come back green over time?

I applied Milo and a generic 16-16-16 fert 2 weeks to my established grass.


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## pennstater2005

That has mesotrione which can cause bleaching but it will recover. I wouldn't worry too much. Water and gently nudge it with some nitrogen.

Edited to add: I screwed something up while responding to your post. Accidentally attached my name in your editing section. Sorry


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## Miggity

Miltdoba said:


> Scott's starter fert with weed control.


There's your cause. It contains mesotrione, the AI in Tenacity and turning white is the expected result on weeds. Depending on the type of grass that turned white, it will either fully recover, fully die, or somewhere in between. In general, desirable grasses will recover and grassy weeds and bentgrass will die.

edit - oops, Pennstarter2005 beat me to it.


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## Miltdoba

Thank you for the responses! Sounds like I avoided a fungus, and will let it run its course.


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## Delmarva Keith

I've done similar with Tenacity on stressed fescue. It usually recovers. My guess is PRG will do the same.

If you want to hedge your bets, work some seed into the areas that went white. If it doesn't recover, no harm done. PRG can be up and growing very fast.


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## Harts

Your grass should recover. I sprayed tenacity at seed down. Check out all the white:



There is green growth pushing up under the bleached tips. After the first or second mow the white will be gone.

Same thing happened in my established grass in the back on my over seed. I've already mowed once and most of the bleaching is gone. Here is a close up of the green coming up behind the white.


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## probasestealer

@Harts it took me a minute to see the blade on the mower, haha.

Kbg and fescue recover quickly from mesotrione. No experience with prg


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## Harts

@probasestealer need these? :lol:


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## probasestealer

Harts said:


> @probasestealer need these? :lol:


My wife might think so..


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## TrueNorthNH

Great info, everyone. Thanks. I just noticed I am getting white grass blades in only one type of grass in my lawn. It's a creeping variety...not sure if it's fescue or not. I only have 3 patches of this grass in my lawn and it's the only place where it's happening. The rest of the lawn is dark green. I recently applied Scotts fertilizer which includes starter, weed control, and crabgrass preventer. From earlier comments that sounds like the culprit. We've also had LOTS of rain since I applied. Not sure if that's a factor.

Hey, PennStater...WE ARE...


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## dfw_pilot

@TrueNorthNH, welcome to TLF!


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## pennstater2005

@TrueNorthNH

PENN STATE!

I'm excited to see what Sean Clifford can do.


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## TrueNorthNH

I'm relieved to report that as of June 8th, after 4-5 mowings, the white blades of grass are gone. It must have been, as everyone diagnosed, the new Scotts fertilizer product with crabgrass preventer, weed killer, and starter fertilizer in it. Lesson learned-that was the first and last time I'll use that product.


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## g-man

The product is good, but you can't over apply it.


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