# How to green this yard up



## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

Here is what my yard looks like mowed at 2.25 inches. I just dropped 1 pound of N a couple weeks ago, and it gets watered three times a week by my irrigation system. The yard was pretty yellow after this brutal summer we had, where we got almost no rain and it was near 100 for weeks on end. How do I get the yellower spots to green up, think dropping some macro nutrients and some foliar Iron would help?

On the backyard shots, the front part of the yard is greener than the back part because the front part is a lot of KBG, the back is whatever the contractors dropped when they built my house and finished the backyard.

I also had a massive clover problem in the back that I finally dealt with :mrgreen:


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

I should add that I can let the grass grow longer, 3" or so and you don't see nearly as much brown, but that's not dealing with the issue, just hiding it. I suspect the mix that they used on my front is a tttf/kbg mix, so the yellow is probably the KBG.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Can you post close up pictures of the brown areas. Could be summer stress, brown tips from dull mower blades, or other benign issues, but I would look for lesions on the blades which might suggest a fungal disease.


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## 7824 (Oct 23, 2019)

Do you use a Scotts spreader?


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

How much water are you putting down each week? Looks thirsty.

I might see Brown Patch in the second photo but it's hard to tell. Bottom middle there appears to be a brown circle with a patch of green in the middle.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

The yard gets three watering's a week from a in ground irrigation system, each zone gets 35 mins per watering, and it starts at 4:45am to keep evap to a minimum.

@learningeveryday I do use a Scott's spreader for now. The DLX.

Let me get some close up pics for you guys.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

behemyth said:


> The yard gets three watering's a week from a in ground irrigation system, each zone gets 35 mins per watering, and it starts at 4:45am to keep evap to a minimum.
> 
> @learningeveryday I do use a Scott's spreader for now. The DLX.
> 
> Let me get some close up pics for you guys.


Do you know how much water 35 mins puts out? Time is less important than actual water on the ground. 35 mins could put of 0.25" or 0.75". My guess is 35 minutes isn't nearly enough.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@bernstem







Maybe de-thatch it? Try to get some of that out of there?


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@Harts I don't actually know - I've been meaning to put some cans out to get water, I just haven't. Its very possible this is the issue. We had a historically bad summer this year here, it was 100 out for over a month and we got almost no water...

I also should get some core samples to find out, but I dont have a sample stick yet.. Might dig up a couple small areas to see. I can say that I had a brown patch in my yard where a broken head wasnt watering, and the pattern of the other sprinkler heads was leaving it un watered.. Ever since i changed the head pattern and fixed the broken head its greening up - this leads me to believe im getting enough water down, but its also possible I'm not.

You might be on-to something though - I have a side of my house that gets almost no sun, and is watered, and its almost completely green. I'm just worried that putting down a lot of water with the clay soil I have here is just going to cause run off, and not actually soak the water up.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Well then you know what I'm going to recommend! Measure the water output and you'll know for sure.

Your description of your summer is very telling - 100F with little to no rain. This usually leads to drought stress, even if you are watering enough. We can mitigate the negative effects of mother nature, but it's very difficult to out compete her!

I also see a lot of randomness to your brown areas. This usually indicates lack of water. In some, but not all cases, turf disease will prevent itself in some sort of pattern.

If you are worried about run off, you can cycle your irrigation. Run zone 1 for a set time (to put down say 0.25") then run zone 2 in the same manner etc. Then run zone 1 again. This give the soil a chance to soak in the water before the next cycle.

I also don't know how many zones you have and how long it takes to run a complete cycle. Just a thought.

Regardless, you'll need to know how much water you're putting out.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

I can't really tell if there are lesions on the grass with the low resolution, but it just looks like a lot of dead blades. Once grass is dead, it all looks the same regardless of what killed it. Could be fungus that has run its course, heat stress, dormancy, etc. If you lowered the HOC recently that will also expose a lot of brown stuff. Dethatching/scarifying will help clean out the dead stuff, but will stress the grass and can worsen and spread active disease. If it isn't going to get hot again, that is a reasonable course assuming no disease.

I would also look closely at irrigation as drought stress is a possible cause for the lawn appearance, though lack of water usually will cause large patches to be worse than the rest of the lawn where watering is less or soil dries out faster. Shaded areas also tend to be less affected by drought stress.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

If i turn up the watering - should a lot of the patches come back as long as they are not completely dead, or at this point is it game over. Like I said before I had a brown patch where the sprinkler pattern was missing the area, that is coming back now that water is hitting the area again. I'm worried that the brown spots are pure dead grass, and I need to use a de-thatcher on it before I overseed.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

In my opinion I don't see a need to over seed. As long as your irrigation is on point and the temps start to come back down, I think you'll be fine. Your lawn looks thick and mostly healthy.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

OK, I'll do that then. Save me some money. Maybe I'll take the seed money and get some macros and look at a foliar iron liquid.. I'm starting to do liquids more than granular apps because i can control it a lot better.

This grass is barely a year old. I'm sure it needs a lot of that stuff (maybe not the iron, but the other nutrients).


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## 7824 (Oct 23, 2019)

Your biggest problem is the scotts spreader. That models specifically has issues and puts down fertilizer in stripes. You can clearly see the dark green stripes, especially in the 3rd and 4th photo. That spreader will not disperse product properly and you will only be feeding the lawn in 1ft wide strips a few feet apart. That's your only real problem. You don't have any fungus.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

Hmm Ok. I'll look at getting a different spreader. The problem with using anything not Scott's is its almost impossible to find spreader settings.


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## FuzzeWuzze (Aug 25, 2017)

Looks like a bunch of dead seed stalks to me.
If you go out and pull some of those are they rigid sticks, with some leaf material connected?

Do those spots feel crunchy/spikey to walk on in your bare feet?

You could dethatch to get it out this fall, but i wouldnt do it now...wait until late August at the earliest.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

Yeah its definitely tougher than the normal grass, and kind of crunchy.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

behemyth said:


> Hmm Ok. I'll look at getting a different spreader. The problem with using anything not Scott's is its almost impossible to find spreader settings.


Forget the spreader settings. So much depends on walking speed. Regardless of spreader model, you are always best to open the hopper until an even amount comes out then go over your lawn multiple times in different directions.

I use the small cheap Scott's spreader. I don't have any issues with coverage.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@bernstem @FuzzeWuzze 
Now that my neighbors think I'm insane haha, here is a picture of some of the grass from different "brown" areas, and some green spots.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@Harts So your saying ignore the spreader settings, just set them high enough so that it looks like a good amount is coming out and walk? I've always thought it wasn't coming out thick enough when I use the Scott's settings, but I'm sure that is a general setting right, so the normal guy wont burn his lawn up if he walks slow as dirt. I'm pretty tall (6'3) and I have long legs, so I naturally walk a bit faster than most people.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

I start on a low setting and make a pass. I keep increasing the setting until an even amount comes out. And different products have different pill sizes. So the setting is going to be different.

If it takes 4 passes to empty the hopper, then that's what I do.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

For our area, you need around 0.5in of irrigation. In the peak of summer, that's every 3 days. Right now it is every 4 days.

There is damage, but it will recover with some nitrogen. We have high pH soils, so iron is an issue. FAS helps. We can get XGRN 50lb really inexpensive locally. It has chelated iron.


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## BadDogPSD (Jul 9, 2020)

behemyth said:


> @Harts So your saying ignore the spreader settings, just set them high enough so that it looks like a good amount is coming out and walk? I've always thought it wasn't coming out thick enough when I use the Scott's settings, but I'm sure that is a general setting right, so the normal guy wont burn his lawn up if he walks slow as dirt. I'm pretty tall (6'3) and I have long legs, so I naturally walk a bit faster than most people.


You can also calibrate your spreader. There are several YouTube videos on how to do it. LCN (Lawn Care Nut) has a pretty good one. The only downside is you'll need to do it for each product you put down.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@g-man Yeah, I dropped a pound of quick release nitrogen a few weeks ago, I think I'm going to get a new spreader and drop another pound. I'm behind for the year because i didn't drop anything in June/July due to the heat.

The spreader I have is apparently known to cause stripes, and you can definitely see it in my lawn. It's really obvious in my front. I'm also going to get some tuna cans, make some tuna salad, and then use them to audit my irrigation.

Whats FAS?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I would not worry about the spreader. I dont see anything in the images to worry about. Make sure you weight the amounts and use the smallest setting that will flow something. Go in multiple directions.

I did 9lb/ksqft of XGRN a week or so ago. Great growing weather right now.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@g-man Where are you buying it? I just checked all the local places i know and nobody carries that line.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I sent you the link in the Indy howntown folder.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

Thanks. I'll call him and get a few bags. The yard is thickening up pretty good now, I'm just on the struggle bus greening it up.


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## Kevbell (Sep 16, 2019)

g-man said:


> I sent you the link in the Indy howntown folder.


Indy Hometown folder? I'm a Hoosiaire! Is this a special, super top-secret folder?


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## 7824 (Oct 23, 2019)

g-man said:


> I would not worry about the spreader.


I truly believe he needs a different spreader. He has dark green lines caused by the spreader. The rest of the lawn is not getting fed and has not been getting fed since he's been using that spreader. Go look at the photo reviews on the DLX at Home Depot. It's shocking. Scott's probably has a long list of angry customers due to that design. I've personally been through this. Simple issue with a simple solution.


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## SumBeach35 (Jul 11, 2019)

Kevbell said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> > I sent you the link in the Indy howntown folder.
> ...


Im sure @g-man is talking about the Indy thread in the hometown discussion sub-forum


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@learningeveryday @g-man I took this picture just for you. This is using a Scott's DLX Spreader, and nothing more. My neighbor is using a tiny hand spreader and has been getting better results than me. You can see his super green yard next to mine in the top right lol...

On the plus side, looks like my spacing is good....


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

behemyth said:


> @learningeveryday @g-man I took this picture just for you. This is using a Scott's DLX Spreader, and nothing more. My neighbor is using a tiny hand spreader and has been getting better results than me. You can see his super green yard next to mine in the top right lol...
> 
> On the plus side, looks like my spacing is good....


Same thing happened to my neighbors lawn. I could see exactly the path he took to drop his fertilizer. Horrible design of that spreader but they keep building it for years.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@behemyth I see the lines, but will you get lines if you use the smallest opening on the spreader to spread the same amount of product?

By the way, you need fertilizer asap.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

@g-man Yeah, its just how it throws the product. All the product gets spread directly in front of the unit, not to the sides very well. It looks like some is going to the sides, but its actually very little.

I have a bunch of the XGRN coming this week. I didn't want to put another 1 lb of N down, then put that down too.


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## behemyth (Jun 8, 2019)

Here's an update to this. I put down a couple applications of fert, and hit this with some Scotts Greener Yard. I also put down some XGRN on this, but its just starting to kick in in these pictures, this is 95% Scott's products. This is also all contractor seed in the back, and the front is a fescue mix sod. This is not using any special online seed.. Yet...





I will say its pretty unbelievable how pushing some fert really filled the yard in and perked it up.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Great to hear. Hopefully we get out of this drought and you can really push it.


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