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Why new grass different colors?

Posted: November 11th, 2020, 6:15 pm
by victorw8856
Hello,
I seeded a new turf type tall fescue lawn about 2 months ago. 4th gen millennium. I don't understand why it's growing faster and is a darker color where I dug the irrigation ditches. I did a thorough site prep including roundup of old weed yard, rototill, soil pulverizer/cultipacker, then carefully did another pass with the pulverizer after backfilling to level everything out and provide good seed bed. Got an excellent seed catch. Applied Scotts new lawn starter with seed. Soil test shows everything ok. Any ideas why things are different along the ditch lines?


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Re: Why new grass different colors?

Posted: November 11th, 2020, 10:13 pm
by MorpheusPA
You brought up some resources from deep in the soil. It's the same things dandelions do over time (which is exactly why they can grow in incredibly poor soils, despite being rather calcium-demanding plants) by having very, very long tap roots.

In this case, you played "tap root" by disturbing the soil deep, deep down and bringing it up, carrying resources along with it.

Over the course of a few years, those resources would tap out and the grass will turn back to its regular color. Or get a soil test (Logan Labs) next spring and round out the resources through the lawn, there's clearly a shortage or three there. :-)

This happened to me as well at first when I had some stone cut for a patio. The rock dust disposal area turned brilliant green for a while. Once I corrected the soil shortages, the whole lawn did that and stayed that way.

Re: Why new grass different colors?

Posted: November 13th, 2020, 9:26 am
by ken-n-nancy
victorw8856 wrote:
November 11th, 2020, 6:15 pm
I seeded a new turf type tall fescue lawn about 2 months ago. 4th gen millennium. I don't understand why it's growing faster and is a darker color where I dug the irrigation ditches. I did a thorough site prep including roundup of old weed yard, rototill, soil pulverizer/cultipacker, then carefully did another pass with the pulverizer after backfilling to level everything out and provide good seed bed. Got an excellent seed catch. Applied Scotts new lawn starter with seed. Soil test shows everything ok. Any ideas why things are different along the ditch lines?

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Was the irrigation installation before or after the thorough site prep of the entire lawn?

That looks like a classic example of there being something needed for growth that is more abundant at the ditch lines than in the rest of the lawn. It looks like it is likely a nutrient deficiency in the remainder of the lawn. Actually, I would speculate that there is a nutrient deficiency everywhere, that is just worse in the remainder of the lawn.

When you say that your "soil test shows everything ok" what was tested? Some simple soil tests basically just look at pH which doesn't provide enough corrective information.

Your grass really just looks nitrogen-deficient to me. I'd suggest applying a conventional turf fertilizer. How long ago was the seed (and starter fertilizer) sown, and has there been any fertilization since then?