New Lawn has grown patchy?

[Jessicamoon17]

We seeded a new last summer of 2017. Over the winter we noticed it started to grow in thinner and more yellow/green. We planted the scotts PNW mix.(mostly a perennial rye grass). The dark green patches are the original grass color. The majority I’m not sure what is wrong. We live in the Willamette valley of Oregon. Some have suggested crane fly but it is out of their season and it seems to be getting worse. This is our backyard and it does stay wet for majority of the morning hours. any thoughts on what this might be?

[andy10917]

Do you have a dog that is using that area as the bathroom?

[Jessicamoon17]

Hi, yes we have a dog. But they are blocked from that area majority of the time.

[andy10917]

I dunno -- I'll tell you what I see. I see the telltale signs of dead/damaged spots, surrounded by lush dark-green growth. This is indicative of a urine spot that is too much Nitrogen at the center and lush growth a little farther away from the urine spot. This tends to happen in a lawn that has generally poor Nitrogen levels (the faded-out areas). Are you supplying the lawn with regular fertilization?

That's an educated guess - for any more founded advice I'd need to see a soil test (we only analyze those from Logan Labs). Post one if you decide to dig deeper...

[Jessicamoon17]

I have fertilized about 4 times since it was planted. I will look into the soil test.

Thank you so much for you input!

[rydaddy]

At my house that is from dogs. I know it too well.

[CPascal]

I have a 100% PR lawn that was planted last summer. It looked like this picture early this Spring even after applying nitrogen last September. I have found that monthly nitrogen applications starting in April have made the lawn look much better and more uniform. In my experience, first year lawns benefit greatly from frequent applications of N.

[Jessicamoon17]

Great, that is reassuring!! Thank you