# Help! Stringy, flat grass, no soil absorption after NExt usage



## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

I've moved into my first home and inherited a desert filled with weeds ;-). I've been hitting he soil hard but this one area keeps going dry, dry, dry and I've noticed the grass that was shooting up at full strength is picking up a weak/limp quality. I'm guessing that the roots are being "choked" in the soil and that may be because the tree is hogging it all; nutrients and water.

That tree will be coming down eventually but if it's the cause as to why this area isn't working out, I'll get it pulled out asap and plan to sod that section in the spring (unless the wiser group on here says to throw down seed).

Here is the video, I'm a bit bummed out as you can tell by my voice. Everything was going so great! [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEkEw-36Q8M[/media]

UPDATE: I got home from work and things are much, much, much worse.

What the heck is going on?
I've got some white (fungus) from one area:



Then flat, dead, stringy, weak stuff that looks like grass spaghetti when I water it down. Awesomely, my soil is already unable to absorb any water...all over again. It's only been 3 days since I last gave it a good watering and on that day, I sprayed RGS, Humic and Air8 after throwing down some fertilizer (0.5lbs/N) and watered that all in. On Monday I sprayed Chelated Iron at a very low rate, like 1-2% max.







I've been wanting to start a lawn journal but it looks like I'm dire need of help instead :-(


----------



## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

Pity bump


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

1) there are a lot of weeds in there. What's the plan?
2) the white could be powdery mildew.
3) how much water? What's your weather?

The camera moved a lot and made me dizzy. I see what looks like fine fescues in a lot of weeds.


----------



## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

1) My plan when I moved in on July 29 was to rehab the soil and do my best to ignore what was on top. As I learned more, I saw fall as the perfect opportunity to get some grass roots down so I overseeded on August 24. Since then, all new grass has been growing up extremely well, even surviving a scalping from a contractor who is now prohibited from my lawn. That was disappointing but 10 days from that and I've actually mowed three times.

2) white is definitely powder mildew I don't really care about it because the grass is very healthy there.

3) I have been watering every 2-3 days and wanted to slowly work toward the 1x/week figure that I keep hearing about to promote healthy roots.

I have bought some killex concentrate for the weeds because the grass looked healthy enough to be resilient to herbicide use. However, I notice dark spots of the new grass (fine fescue i guess, I bought all three promix packs and mixed them up). Upon inspection those dark spots were limp fine fescue that laid over. After some time I opened up the taps, put out a half inch tonight and we'll see how the grass responds. I also noticed that my soil in these areas was compacted again, despite being moist and easily probing the temps to 6" 2-3 days ago.

Soil temps on Monday were 66-69F, air temps are 22-26C because this week is a last hurrah for summer. Am I seeing heat and drought stress of fine fescue?

I've learned something new, I hate FF. I'm a KBG guy for sure. Also, the fine fescue in my backyard where I rarely water because it's almost always shaded is doing extremely well.

Thank you very much for your help! I really need it, I've been spoiled with good lawns all my life that's for sure.


----------



## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

Looks like the grass is starting to stand up on its own again after just one session of watering. I gave the lawn a good watering again and will check the soil when I get back from work tomorrow.

Am I on the right track?

TIA


----------



## nocsious (May 14, 2018)

Check the Canadian thread, but I'd start working on the weeds with whatever is available up there. I think you have enough grass growing that it should look decent if you push the fertilizer this Fall.


----------



## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

Will do, lawnproducts has hooked me up with 2,4-D, Mecoprop and Dicamba in it ;-). Fingers crossed that the grass is doing even better today.

Someone on Facebook suggested that my soil may have been airated sufficiently and using the full 9oz/1k ft^2 on areas that weren't a problem may have caused the soil to weep too quickly. I've been monitoring soil conditions much closer but I'm looking forward to the day that my grass will be heat/drought resilient.


----------



## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

What is your height of cut? My grass will fall over and thin out if I cut it too high. I have to keep it below 3" to prevent this.


----------

