New Lawn Spots That Won't Grow

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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John53590
Posts: 2
Joined: October 18th, 2021, 12:44 pm
Location: Madison, WI
Grass Type: Tall Fescue & Rye grass
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

New Lawn Spots That Won't Grow

Post by John53590 » October 18th, 2021, 5:42 pm

First, I'm an idiot at this and freely admit that so I am very open to critiques and advice.

I bought a new house in mid-August. In my prior house, there was KBG sod which was fine until I got a dog who caused an unbelievable number of chronic yellow spots no matter the inputs or irrigation to the lawn. I read that KBG was more prone to this than fescue and rye so I decided I wanted a fescue lawn. Unfortunately, the landscaper put down a low-grade contractor's mix that was mostly KBG with an annual rye and chewing's fescue mixed in. It was a dry spell so I decided to not water and let it all dry out; none of this really took at all.

After I was certain this was gone, I put down Barenbrug Water Saver RTF at new lawn rates with a Scott's Starter Fertilizer that also had a weed preventer (mesotrione). This seed was about 60% TTF and 40% of this RTF rhizome fescue. Despite good irrigation (2x per day), I only got about 30% coverage with this after 3 weeks. I ripped up the landscaper's netting & straw and was surprised to see really barren and low grade top soil. I ordered 10 cubic yards of 80% shredded top soil / 20% Purple Cow Organic Compost. Before I put it out, I spread Scott's Soil Conditioner and then watered it in.
After a few days, I then top dressed the entire yard with the soil/compost by hand with a wheelbarrow, shovel and rake. I have over 0.5 acre, this was back breaking.

Anyway, after putting the top dressing on, I re-seeded, again at new lawn rates, with Champion GQ Perennial Ryegrass seed. What a difference this all made. Within 3 more weeks, I had 90% coverage and needed to even mow. I'm sure a lot of it was my top dressing and the time of the year, so but the grass seed lived up to it's part as well.

The problem is I have these dead spots. I think the issue is the poor job of grading by the landscaper. The top soil is rocky and when I dressed it, the grading caused the top dressing to run off when the water pooled up in it. So last week I went a step further and combined top soil with peat moss and paper mulch pellets with seed to prevent the run-off.

I may have over-done it with the paper mulch. Should I rip it out and start over? I have just a few more days of seeding time before I can reasonably expect grass to germinate within 2 weeks this year. I'm a bit nervous. I see some "bubbles" in the mulched spots and when I "pop" those bubbles, I do see seedings. I'm just worried I put the mulch on too heavy.

Any thoughts on how to get these bare spots filled is appreciated. I have a fence going in next week and want the dogs to have run of it, but one of them is a digger and I can't have bare spots. I didn't want to cut in sod because we can only buy KBG sod here and the closest fescue sod is literally 200 miles away, and it's RTF fescue.

So my questions are:

1. How should I fill these bare spots? Is there a short and a long-term solution (like an annual rye now and re-grading next year?)
2. Would it help to put another round of starter fertilizer in or is it too late in the season?
3. What should I overseed with next spring? I would guess my current mix is 60% rye, 20% tall turf fescue and 20% RTF fescue. I think that's too much rye. I was all hyped to do Titan Ultra but then I saw some low turf scores. But I do like the idea of even limited self-repair, although honestly patching in coated rye is almost easier than waiting for KBG to "heal" in my experience with yellow spots.
4. Any other recommendations for a durable lawn? I don't care about looks beyond a 100 foot view looking good. I need a lawn durable for my dogs.

John53590
Posts: 2
Joined: October 18th, 2021, 12:44 pm
Location: Madison, WI
Grass Type: Tall Fescue & Rye grass
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: New Lawn Spots That Won't Grow

Post by John53590 » October 19th, 2021, 1:55 pm

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