Two-toned Lawn

[andy10917]

I did a scalp/no-till/no-RU renovation from a mixed PR/KBG lawn last August 15th. The scalping was more than a scalping - I set a power rake on the deep side and pummeled the top 1/4" of soil. The lawn was renovated to Moonlight KBG/America KBG/Oxford HF. It came up on schedule with only one problem - some patches of the PR managed to survive the scalping/pummeling.

The lawn has come back very well this Spring. During the recent very rainy period (3.5" in 9 days), it went through a period of dramatic growth - 2.25" in six days. I was running outside during breaks in the rain to mow the lawn with a manual reel mower. I am trying to keep it at 1.75" because I did an overseed of the "Emblem" cultivar 16 days ago (just beginning to emerge in the occasional gap).

My problem is that there are broad swaths of a brighter green grass. We're not talking about little Poa pockets here - we're talking about areas of 15-20 feet in diameter. It is not the color of the PR that survived (it was very dark) and not the HF texture. It is not specific to shady areas, sloped areas or anything cultural that I can figure. It looks like KBG on close inspection. It is good grass and very healthy. Soil tests were all very good (pH 6.5, great Ca/Mg ratio, good P and K). Lawn has received Cracked Corn (33 lbs/100) in late March and SBM (15 lbs/1000) around April 21. It has also received two Milorganite treatments (50% rate) and Ironite liquid to boost the Iron a bit - that's the one thing that the soil test had on the lower side. It has had a molasses treatment too.

So, any ideas as to what might be up?

[MorpheusPA]

Cloud-induced chlorosis coupled with cutting it from long to short? I had a few large patches that looked like that after the recent storms and those are finally starting to spring back to the normal green. It was worse in the faster-growing areas that were fully back as the longer grass was shadowing the under-part even worse than the cloud-cover was.

Or maybe the ironite didn't go down one hundred percent evenly in those locations. I broke was I was going to use this spring into three parts, the third of which goes this weekend, to assure a more even coverage.

[andy10917]

I looked up close really carefully, and could see no signs of Chlorosis - it's just brighter green.

I took a couple of pictures, but it doesn't show it particularly well - it's most noticeable well the "flatter" light before dusk is here --- but that doesn't make for good pictures. Also, cut at 1.75", it's not showing its best color right now.



There are the remains of Poa spots in the lower left - that's not what I'm talking about. It's the area just before the weeping Japanese Maple.



Same area from the other side. The camera is making it look yellow, but it's not - it's brighter green.

[Bestlawn]

Andy, those pictures are as good as mine......err just as soon as I am back on my own computer.

I don't see the lighter grass you're talking about, but can you be sure the seeds were well mixed?

[andy10917]

I had it mixed by SSS. I've never seen anything saying Drew doesn't mix properly. It was thrown by hand, by me. The patterns of blotches don't match the seeding pattern that I did - I remember it. Good thought, though.

[MorpheusPA]

Yep, I see it...it does look the same as mine until it re-darkened. Also, you're a little behind me and it's only in the last two weeks I've really noticed the lawn is saying "spring."

Those areas look a tiny bit denser, yes? If so, they're probably a little ahead of the rest of the lawn at this moment. It'll catch up, and they look just like mine did last week at this time.

[Bestlawn]

I agree that it will catch up. I see it a lot but usually not in such large spots you describe. Normally looks like filtered light responses. Just make sure none of it's trivialis you're looking at.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Yeah, waa, waa, waa. Shut up kid or I'll give you something to cry about. You could have this lawn...

[andy10917]

You're right, David - I see two tones there also - Light Brown and Dark Brown. And I think the lawn has Poa by the pile of sticks. Get out the RU.

BTW - you and BPGreen should be pleased. All of your "blah, blah - go organic" to me all of last Summer and Fall finally got to me. If you remember, I kept resisting saying that "it's impossible on an acre". Over the Winter, I did the math and came to the conclusion that I might try Organics on the front and side lawn (half an acre). So far, here's the "rules of my organic project" --- it's pretty tight:

- no synthetic fertilizers (SBM, Cracked Corn, Milorganite, AACT, Molasses, etc)
- no gasoline-powered lawnmower (use manual reel mower)
- no gasoline-power string trimmers (use the old hand lawn scissors)

I want a sign on my lawn that says "No Oil was injured in the making of this Lawn"

It's hard, but it's fun. Think I can make it to November?

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

If you continue to do what you're doing, the annual cost for either chemical or organic should be about the same. The only way to cut the cost further is to do nothing. That was my approach before I figured out the inexpensive way to do it organically.

And speaking as one who makes a living off the oil and gas industry, I think you need a natural gas powered tractor to mow your lawn. Oil prices are fine but NatGas is the pits. I've been out of 'formal' work to do for almost a month now. I have an odd job or two, but nothing that pays as well as the real industry does.

[MorpheusPA]

I have no particular objection to oil usage, and unfortunately it's not zero anyway. All that stuff that ends up on the lawn has to be trucked around, as well as the food you're eating to gather energy to mow the lawn.

It's an oil-reduced lawn, though, and that's a good thing.

[andy10917]

Like I mentioned - it's a project/experiment. I want to see if I can run a 1/2 acre and be "totally green". I'm not an eco-nut, I just want to see if it can be done.

And what - you don't grow your own corn to crack, soybeans to ground?

Here's the Backyard...soybeans picked at the peak of perfection


Yeah, right

[bpgreen]

"And what - you don't grow your own corn to crack, soybeans to ground? "

No, but I only stop at the Starbucks when it's on the way. And this year, I'm not even doing that since I'm trying to get the native grass to take over. My real goal with that is to reduce my water use, but I can also cut back on fertilizer.

[andy10917]

Thanks to all that offered advice. I think the Jury is in on this.

The wet period that is mentioned in the topic has continued, and it turns out that the "brighter green" area is spreading quickly. It is now almost the entire lawn. After research, I found several articles about how too much water can completely shut down Iron-Uptake for a period. Between the constant rain (another inch last night!) and the sprinklings that I have to do to keep the "Emblem" overseeding moist, I guess I'm seeing a form of Chlorosis that doesn't show yellowing, but rather a "bright green" instead of a "dark green".

The grass continues to thrive and be healthy, just as a bright green lawn at the moment. It grew another 2.5" this week, requiring three manual reel mower mowings to keep it near 1.75" to help the young seedlings get some light. I'm worn out from manually mowing half an acre every other day.

As David said, I guess I could have much worse problems.

[MorpheusPA]

Yeah, fast growing, spreading green grass is a real issue.

I'm seeing a lot of reduced green and that's slowly increasing (even though I'm dumping iron sucrate at a pretty high rate right now). Lately the weather is three days of rain or clouds to one of sun, and not all that warm.

Well, at least I got to see the new Star Trek movie during yesterday's torrential rain.

[andy10917]

Yeah - and the "thickening" part of it makes manual reel mowing like trying to push it though steel wool. I am getting one hell of a workout, but the scissor-cut look of a reel mower is just out of this world. I hear that KOG is in some kind of lawn "beauty contest". He should really reely consider a few reel mower cuttings before he takes pictures.