Last year (spring 2015), I fertilized my front yard. Since then, my grass there has refused to grow. It is this sickly pale green color and last year, I probably mowed it maybe six times and that was more to just knock down the weeks that were taking over. and there was no shortage of rain that summer either. Now this year, I am seeing the same thing. My lawn grass refuses to grow. I’ve mowed my backyard already and it needs it again. But my front yard just won’t grow.
I am not sure what the issue is, but I obviously did something to it last spring. My question now is…what do I do to get it back?
You might have used the wrong mix of fertilizer.
The mix may have added too much of one or more ingredients, that were already there in good supply. It comes in various mixtures of three base ingredients. It can be hard to know what you need, as you may not know what your soil is.
You may just have to wait till the excess is consumed.
If you have been there for a few years and seen reasonably good grass, up until the addition of the fertilizer, I suspect this is the case. But if you have used the same fertilizer in previous years and things were okay, then maybe you now have more than enough of everything in there. Wait it out.
Those are my very amateur guesses. My grass gets mowed and that it is it. So far it survives to be mowed another day.
Hmm…crabgrass is pale green. There’s a lot of steps to get rid of it, IIRC.
I think grass and fertilizer can be a fairly specific thing. I don’t know if anyone can give you any help over the internet, even if we know what your lawn used to look like, what you put on it, what the local weather conditions have been and where you live.
IMHO you will get the best results by hiring a professional that can properly assess and then treat the situation. You can get several quotes and see what each says they will do and how much it will cost. My lawn treatment company tells me very specifically what they do to treat each time they come so if you wanted to you could take notes on what they are doing and get rid of them after your lawn has come back.
What fertiliser did you apply, with how much watering ?
It sounds like your fertiliser didn’t do anything , or worse, promoted the rapid growth of the leaf at the expense of roots and runner… and thats why the grass is still sick ?
Maybe dig into the front to show a cross section, and dig up the back to show a cross section … compare… how about post photos ?
You will see the back lawn has a layer of black soil, humus , while the front is what ? sand ? clay ? well i guess the black humus layer is nonexistent or nearly…
Grass clippings (eg from your back yard, eg mow it in with mulch mode on your mower … ) are a good fertilizer for the front… when you noticed the law getting sick you could have started mowing the clippings back into (from the back lawn or the neighours, if there isn’t enough growth at the front) … This leaves a slow fertilizer behind to encourage the symbiotic flora (they live on the grass roots… )in a healthy humus…
I had something similar happen to my miniature corn field, 40’X50". Once I fertilized I couldn’t grow anything for about 4 years. I was using natural compost with a lot of duck manure in it.
Another possibility is that there’s something missing the grass needs. Around here (north Texas) we need to supplement iron, but common fertilizer doesn’t have any. My lawn was yellow-ish and didn’t grow no matter how much I fertilized it or watered. Then I figured out the need for iron, spread a bag and the lawn just exploded. Had to mow it twice a week for the next few months until it calmed down.
You should check to see if you have a local garden or lawn information service such as a column in a newspaper or a radio show.
My grass refused to grow and as I began to follow the local advice, I saw a huge improvement. A big problem I had was soil compaction. Some areas were so trampled by kids that the ground was almost cement-like and needed to be broken up. What self respecting St Augustine could break through that poor quality and extremely hardened soil? I thought about renting an aerator, but it was kind of expensive and just didn’t seem to be the right thing to do. So instead, I bought a hay fork and spent the winter and early spring improving the soil throught a free soil sampling, aeration, and remediation, etc.
This spring, I’m seeing a very large improvement, but local conditions make a big difference.
I live in western Pa. and here Penn State used to have a service where they will analyze your soil, presumably for a fee, and tell you what it needs and what might be wrong. Perhaps there is a similar service in your area. Check with your local university.
My lawn is doing the same thing but I’m pretty sure it’s my own fault. In my zeal to get rid of some clover I think I over did it on the Weed & Feed. Good thing it’s been a fairly wet spring so far.
Yep. First rule of applying lawn care products: Read and follow the instructions.
At best, applying too much wastes your money and causes problems in downstream waterways as it washes off. It may also harm or kill your lawn.
There is no upside to using more than the recommended amount. This isn’t “Let’s all be Earth-friendly” woo; there are real live scientists who figure this stuff out.
Collect the moss off your roof.
Put it in a blender with some water, buttermilk and maybe a bit of corn syrup.
Spray the stuff evenly over the yard.
Enjoy a nice green lawn that does not require mowing (might be a tad lumpy, though).
What a great opportunity to kill all the grass and plant something much better that doesn’t require so much watering, fertilizing and mowing, such as beds and groundcover.
Many fertilizers have slow releasing N. One thing that cheapo, fast acting “instant green” N does is kill a lot of the biota in the soil. This can cause the soil to compact since there aren’t the usual critters to soften it up. This is especially noticeable in lawns where the roots aren’t penetrating the soil well (and you have a lot of thatch as a result). It can take a long time for the soil to recover on its own.
Aeration helps some. Digging in compost helps more.
Fresh-ish manure is usually high in immediate release N. (Depends on the source.)
I don’t know where the OP lives but most states, probably all, have an Agriculture Extension Service where you can send a soil sample for analysis. You can send a soil sample from your yard and they will send you an analysis and a recommendation on what amendments needed for lawn growth. The fee is small, at least in Texas. It takes the guesswork out of the equation.
I don’t know where the OP lives but most states, probably all, have an Agriculture Extension Service where you can send a soil sample for analysis. You can send a soil sample from your yard and they will send you an analysis and a recommendation on what amendments needed for lawn growth. The fee is small, at least in Texas. It takes the guesswork out of the equation.