Burn or Drought Stress

[Adam_M]

Is this drought stress or fertilizer burn - it has a little of that burned orange color - but not super intense? I've put the same amount of fertilizer on the entire yard, but the parts that get hammered with sun are declining (note the brownest spots are local high spots - and of course the edge near the driveway) whereas the spots with some shade (ignore the dying bent in those - tenacity) look better than they ever have.

The strange part is I haven't watered the shady spots in the photos - in fact they've had 2 rounds of certainty and 1 round of tenacity plus a second spot-sprayed round - and it looks far better than the spots that HAVE been watered (twice, just over 1" each time). I don't get it.

For a quick math check, I'm now at about 16K SF, and putting down 1 bag of 19-19-19 on the lawn - trying to protect from burning with the understanding that I'm not remediating my soil as fast as Andy's plan - which should be .59lb of N per K - I don't think that should burn it?

I just don't understand how the spots that I've hammered with herbicide are OK and the parts that have been treated well aren't? I didn't have any problems in the first 2 years after renovation like this, and then years 3 and 4 (this year) have been disasters.

This is partially venting out of frustration that the yard isn't doing what I want it to do, and partly a real question. I'd love some advice.

Overall picture showing successful and failing grass:



Shaded area that is thriving despite lots of herbicide (not the location of the dying bent - I just turned 90 degrees - and I've got acclaim to deal with the Japanese stiltgrass - I hate that stuff)



Wide shot of the declining area:

[Adam_M]

Hmm - it wouldn't let me post 4 pictures for some reason. Anyway, here's a detail shot of a declining area in an otherwise healthy patch. This was a low spot which I filled in about 6 weeks ago. I peeled the grass off the top, backfilled, put the grass back down, and kept it watered until I felt it re-root. This is a representative photo of what the declining areas look like.

[MorpheusPA]

If that was the treatment in all the areas (removal, backfill, put grass back), then the diagnosis is easy--the grass is shocked and the roots didn't re-establish well enough before summer hit. Assuming there's bluegrass in there (it seems so), water well and feed gently now (organically) or wait until early September (synthetics, organics) and it'll fill back in.

[Adam_M]

That was the only area where it was cut, filled, and sod. The others were seeded a few seasons ago, but look the same as far as the sick grass goes. It does bounce back by the time growth stops, but I wouldn't mind getting ahead of it so I don't have to look at dead spots all summer - or have a plan for next year to break the cycle. It's all bluegrass.

[MorpheusPA]

We'd need photos, but if they look absolutely identical (with no lesions or webbing or whatnot), then it would still be dry grass. In those areas, I'd look for shallow soil, different grass than other areas (if you seeded but used something different) or another characteristic that differs from other areas--like a soil in that area that wants to repel water (yep, it does happen).

[Adam_M]

2 photos attached - a wide one of the worst area and a detail shot of the grass. The plant that I pulled out was still rooted quite strongly and thankfully the roots didn't look black.

The soil is bad. It's decomposed shale - spoils from the basement excevation. No topsoil. 38% clay per Logan. Ph 8.1 and a tec of 20.5. it's a calcium mine.

This area is a local high spot and could shed water a bit better, but I'm not sure what to do. I'm open to all advice.

I've been trying to source om- my yard had tons of trees around it, and I topdressed with peat moss in the spring and if the microherd can get it into the soil in planning another 35 or so bales for the fall.

[MorpheusPA]

It looks like dry grass to me--I don't see lesions or evidence of other problems in the closer-up images. It doesn't have any patterns characteristic of anything but dry grass, and the coloration (grayish tones and that golden-white note even on the grass that's still green) also says it's very, very dry.

It doesn't rule out soil that's a bit thin there (which would cause the dryness) or a soil that refuses water in that location (ditto), it just says the grass there is dry for one reason or another. In fact, the whole lawn there looks dry.

Of course, that's not at all different from my whole lawn at the moment, so...

[Adam_M]

Thanks - I'll take it! There's no doubt the whole lawn is dry. I'm not planning to hold it out of dormancy this summer, so I'm not putting down 1"/week, but I am making sure that between rain and sprinklers that I get about 1/4" a week down.

Is there anything other than OM (and I'm well aware that's a marathon, not a sprint) to help the extra dry areas in the long term?

[MorpheusPA]

Maybe soil conditioner and next year, if dry weather is expected, kelp in May before it hits. Other than that, not really, no. I don't irrigate (as previously mentioned), so this is a look I'm used to in June and July in many areas of the lawn if the weather is dry. With our grass types (I have Midnight, Moonlight, Bedazzled, and Prosperity), it'll pop right back in September and we rarely get dry spells that do much permanent damage.

I can't speak for you, but out here we got 0.2" last night with more expected this weekend.