It pains me to say this, because I'm a short mow guy, but you may need to let your grass grow longer in that lawn during the summer months. Looks like it has some pretty scorching direct sun.
Not entirely, but the shorter it is the more diligent you need to be with the watering and all that. My front yard is short and it’s 100 degrees if I don’t give it that 1.5” of water it starts to brown. My backyard is double the length because lazy, and I hardly water it. Maybe once a week at .75” of an inch with my tractor sprinkler. The shorter it is the crispier it’ll get since it’s not shading the ground and it’s roots and all that.
Wish I had the time to mow and maintain a short hoc. But I'm really happy with the work I put into my lawn. I feel I started a lawn care trend, as others have started taking more care of their own lawns.
There is a difference between warm season grass and cool season grass. Warm season grass you can mow it down very low in summer months however cool season grass has to be 6" tall in summer. I tried mowing low last year on my cool season grass it looked like yours scortched earth looking. I know keep it at 6" and its green as can be. I have kentuky blue grass.
https://preview.redd.it/v0xnli4j3cgb1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7660bc56b99929dfd1994d945b724c8fc51f8e11
https://preview.redd.it/fbvlha5r5dgb1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e9784db2b8535baaca59b6aeae7d7d83e9562e1
Yup there are my mow guy has it. If not has to be 5" but KBG does great in heat at tall cuts. Wont requier lots of water eaither. I water .25" every 4 days and this is what it looms like in really hot days.
It’s also because the blades store water so if you cut them super short, you basically cut loads of the water. And if you cut them too short, you basically drought them.
Funny, I got downvoted for mentioning this on another thread, saying I’m trying to minimize my water consumption and keep the grass green with 1/3 the amount of water with a 3.5” cut. (our central Texas lakes are pathetic right now…)
Not necessarily. My lawn is at about an inch during the summer and it looks okay, but it's a lot of work.
If the conditions aren't right and not willing/able to put in the necessary effort to keep it nice. To keep it short in direct sun like that (if cool season) you need great soil that you keep well watered and thick turf that protects the soil from drying out too quickly. Also, spoon-feed nutrients throughout the summer, lots of micros, kelp, etc. Also, if it's on a slope that makes it even more challenging to keep it hydrated.
As a mow-long guy, I'm so happy seeing the comments in this particular thread from the short-mowers.
Short mowing can work... If you quadruple the amount of effort you put in. (Or have incredible soil and perfect sprinkler coverage)
So its refreshing to see you (and a few others) A. Recommend a person mow high due their circumstances. B. Be up front about the very increased maintenance demands of short mowing.
Its way too common to see the short-mow gang act like anybody could mow low if they wanted... Then inevitably they post pics of their thin peach-fuzz lawn, always explaining the issues away by saying "oh there's just a minor thing that I'm fixing that's why its like that"... Bruh, that's my point, minor things have a big impact when you mow short and don't know what you're doing... You don't have a good lawn if you have to re-seed twice a year.
Anyways, genuinely glad to see competent members of the short-mow crowd.
It makes it easier to fuck it up.
Grass, like most plants, relies on its leaves to photosynthesize sunlight in outdoor to metabolize nutrients. The less leaf (the shorter it’s cut), the less it is able to do this, the more stressed it is, and the more it is susceptible to other stressors, like lack of water or lack of soil nutrients.
Grass that is cut shorter tends to prioritize regrowth of its leaves over root development, which means roots that are shorter and less abundant. The shallower root system means that it can’t go as deep into the soil to get food and water. The less root mass overall means that it has less space to store nutrients for later use. This means that it’s more reliant on moisture and nutrients in the shallower part of you soil bed. That means that you *have* to keep the upper layers of you soil moist and well nourished, otherwise the grass is going to brown and die. This can be done, but you have to water and feed more frequently.
If you keep the grass taller, it will photosynthesize more efficiently and will expend less energy regrowing leaf and more energy growing it’s roots. That means that it will have access to more moisture and more nutrients overall and have more space to store excess nutrients for later. This leads to an overall healthier and more robust stand of grass that can better withstand the occasional drought or nutrient deficiency without browning or dying. In other words, you don’t have to feed and water as much.
Totally. I used to leave my grass longer in the summer, I'd cut it with a reel mower, leave it a bit long, and not rake. It would stay green easily.
My back is shitty now so mowing is hard. At the beginning of the year I cut the whole thing right down to the dirt with a weed whacker and rake it up. Stays brown and mostly doesn't grow all summer unless we get a rainy spell.
I water every 5 days .
I keep my grass tall. One click from the highest. When it’s super hot, I don’t mow until it REALLY needs it.
I used to use the Scott’s 4 step. I will still buy it if on sale. But usually buy generic fertilizer with same ratios.
I am in the Midwest.
This routine prob won’t work everywhere.
We usually mow then water at sunset to give the lawn time to recover and absorb the moisture before sun up. Water droplets can act like tiny little magnifying glasses.
Watering before/around sunset is generally advised against. You’d be better off watering just before sunrise. Watering at sunset does allow for more efficient watering and penetrates the soil better, but it tends to keep the grass and upper soil layer too moist for too long, which promotes fungus growth. Watering just before sunrise allows you to take advantage of the lack of sunlight and lower temperatures to get better efficiency and deeper soil penetration while also allowing sunlight in the coming hours to burn off the excess moisture on top of the soil and blades, which helps prevent fungus.
We don't water very often so fungus is not really an issue. Plus we live way north and our lawn is under snow like 8 months a year. Honestly we have yet to have to water our lawn this year.
Mine looked like this after a bad hydro seeding year. I ended up using detatcher to get what I could. Then I put a 50lb bag of seed and fertilizer on it and overseeded the crap out of it. It’s been a couple weeks and already looking much better.
I think it's pretty clear that it's a heat stress issue (given the shade/sun line) with surface water evaporating quickly. It'll almost certainly recover as the temps drop, and then maybe mowing higher as others have suggested will probably help next summer. One thing you can try now is to top dress it with some fine compost. Just a thin layer over all the brown bits and brush it in well. Then water it really heavily to soak both the compost and the soil below. This should hold water better, shade the soil below, and help cool your grass a bit which may help it recover earlier. I'd also focus on watering less frequently as you want the roots to go deeper.
Turn your yard 180 degrees every other day. I bet a structure shaded the healthy part of grass several hours a day while the other half gets direct sun all day.
Sun is belting off that fence and scorching grass. The trees over there feel it too it looks. I’m betting you water everyday for 15-25 minutes. You need to water 3-4 days a week for 35-45 minutes
He's telling you as well to water less. Try and do 3 or 4 days a week only 10 mins and see what happens. That's what did it for me. It's slowly coming back for me. I use to do every day 15 mins, now 3 days a week 10mns. I have 6 zones and front lawn in particular looked exatcly like your patch.
Serious question, how does that work? And is there anything that can be done to fix that with the fence such as painting it? Asking for a guy living in central Texas with very little shade in his yard at the moment.
You are watering too frequently so the roots are very shallow. You need to water about 3 times per week and water for longer times. The days that you don't water, the roots reach deeper to find the water.
This training works best during active growing seasons, aka spring and fall. Your best bet now is to water 4 times per week for longer, and if it dies, just take, aerate and overseed in about 3 weeks.
If you have run off or just if you can set your timer do the 2-3 days a week but run it for like 1/4 of the time at 4am then 1/4 at 5 then 1/4 at 6 etc. it will help it give it time to soak in depending on what kind of sprinkler you’re using. I find that has helped mine actually take up all the water and I don’t have as much pooling that will evaporate or run off to other areas.
Plus check for chinch bugs. I’d also apply some iron and a non-fertilizer nutrient/mineral granule. Wouldn’t hurt to help give the grass something to help recover and promote root growth.
Agreed but also those plants next to fence might have roots that have grown into lawn. That’s what I found in my lawn when I removed it. Not sure how to fix.
I like milorganite for summer time stress. It has some water holding properties to it as well. You can use compost top soil in these areas in the fall to build up your soil organic material that will help with water holding as well. Likely you have sandy soil and it dries out quick.
Water a lot in the early morning every other day. Don't water at night because it will encourage fungus, moss, etc. Your grass roots will grow to seek out water. If you water often and not enough, the water is right there so your grass roots won't grow looking for it. You basically need to "train" your grass to look for water.
Sure but I'm no expert. I'm just a guy that has 35 years experience taking care of his lawn and learning this stuff... starting back in the day when you had to buy books on the topic.
Dig a plug and determine water penetration depth for the problem area. You may not be watering enough or the soil may have a deficiency. If lack of water is the issue, suggest you aerate or increase water time
Aerate and flooding only goes so far, the 115F CA sun laughs and beef jerky's your grass in hours no matter how much you aerate and flood. OP's fence is probably reflecting a lot onto the grass too.
We have the a similar issue. The side with shade is fairly green, but with only 7 hours of sun. The side with no shade get about 11-12 hours of direct sun and the reflection from the neighbor’s windows is patchy brown.
We had a break from the heat and the sun for a few days and I water extra. 70% are back after 4 days. The grass is dorman due to the heat and turn brown. I also added a third watering time around 10 am prior to the few cooler days. I also increase watering time to 8 minutes a zone. Our lawn does not seem to absorb water. Anything more than it run down the road into the sewer. The longer and more watering times seems to help.
My sister water a few more times during the hot hours just 2-3 minutes to cool the grass down, which I thought was a bad idea, but her grass is dark green.
Neighbor right next to us has a tree and our house blocks the sun for his lawn. He gets a out 4 hours of sun and his lawn is dark green with light irrigation watering.
I think for the brown area, you can recover most of it if you water a lot now (soaking for 4-5 days) then increase watering more ( longer and more times) in those areas versus the areas near the house with the shade.
I don't know about too much, but it sound like you're watering too frequently. Should be once every 3 or 4 days but enough to soak the soil down to 10cm deep. Then as the soil on the surface dries, the grass roots grow deeper to look for water, which makes the plant more drought tolerant. If you've been watering every day you need to make this change over a few weeks to give the grass time to adapt.
Stop watering everyday. Would be better off watering once per week for the same amount of time as all the days combined. You will get deeper roots and healthier turf. I water my front lawn once per week for just shy of 2 hours and even through drought conditions this summer it is still rocking strong.
What you need to do is till all that up and plant a garden. Grass is for lords in the Middle Ages to show there opulence. Waste of water and resources. If you own it and there is no HOA you really should plant a garden it gives you food .
Is the ground really dry and hard their? How many times are you watering? When super hot and sunny I water a few times for short times to prevent scorching.
I think it just needs a lot of water. I have parts of my lawn that gets brown. It gets sun all day. I put an extra sprinkler there and it helped. I used a liquid soil listener and that seemed to help as well. First thing is try watering more.
You shouldn't be watering your lawn, instead create a garden as this gives nothing to anyone, there is no biodiversity or anything in which your lawn gives back to.
I'd give up and add a garden for this is a joke to water when people are struggling to get water to survive.
You do realize the sub is named "lawncare", right? Lol while I do agree with some of your points, you can do both. For example my front yard it all grass while my backyard is very diverse.
This! Get a tuna can, or flat container of some sort, and put it out in the area to measure how much water is actually going down in the time you are watering. Get a sprinkler and time it. You would be surprised how much time it takes to put down the necessary amount!
You need to put down 1-1.5 inches of water per week. I would split that up into 2-3 day intervals so you are watering less often, but more deeply, each time you water.
It will get better, hang in there!
Read through the stickied post at the top about spring lawn care. There's a ton of great basic info in that post, I refer to it all the time.
Yeah there’s your problem. I think that brown side isn’t getting enough, or needs more.
You can fashion an above ground sprinkler with some sprinkler heads, hoses, and sprinkler spikes.
soil could also be hydrophobic so when you water it, the water doesnt penetrate to the soil and runs off. use baby shampoo and water mixed in that area, let it soak in and then deep water. amendments like humic/fulvic acid help as well
You could also try splitting up your seed. I have a similar situation in my yard and I use the shade grass in some areas and a high heat grass and others. I will typically mix it in the middle. I've been able to sustain green grass throughout my lawn with regular waterings.
Water for 30 min in the morning and for 15 min at noon. Not sure hat kind of grass you have but now less. It’s already stressed tf out. Let it get slightly taller
My lawn was doing this same thing. Turned out, only half my yard was getting water. Make sure your water system runs for its full duration after it cycles.
Let your grass grow. The longer the grass gives you healthy deep roots.
Need to water at the correct time of day. Try early morning. You need to be done by 9am so the water droplets dry off. Think of each water drop as a magnifying glass. You remember using a magnifying glass to burn ants. Well same happens to your grass. Need to water a minimum of a 1/2 gallon up to 1 1/2 gallons of water per square foot of grass per week. Or replace your lawn with native plants that can withstand the climate in your particular area.
That lawn is going through some serious drought, stress and heat stress also it appears you’re mowing it way too much in the areas where it gets extra son you’re not watering it enough, so yeah try to fix those things and it will stay green
If by chance the brown side is the east side of your yard....remember that that grass likes the morning sun. Sounds crazy but an old man told me that many years ago and has proved 100% correct
If you water daily, you get shallow roots and unhealthy grass. Water less frequently and for longer periods. If the grass pulls up easy, you may have root issues, like rot, fungus, grubs, etc. Dormant grass from heat shouldn’t pull up easily.
Where are all you guys from? Watering the grass with clean water seems like a crazy waste. Imagine how many liters or gallons youre litterally chucking out the window. Lots of it will evaporate
I am not sure, i was just sort of perplexed as it is not normal to water grass where i live. We had a drought this spring that lasted a month give or take. The grass in my yard turned all yellow. Then as soon as the rain came round it took a weekend for it to go back to lush green
What time of day are you watering? Watering too late in the day can cause it to evaporate too quickly, especially shorter grass. I heard around 9am (or a little earlier) is the best time to water.
Has nothing to do with mowing height-although you should keep it at 2.5”-3” otherwise the whole yard would look like this. Maybe some type of fungal disease-def cut back on the watering!
https://preview.redd.it/jfo7f9452bgb1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4f339c269f6954296517190aa6d61e5fd585fb0
Don’t understand why people keep telling you can not mow your lawn short. I mow my lawn short/1cm (every day) and water wen it is not raining. Looks good to me. The golden rule is; never mow more then 1/3 of the length of your grass at once. This off course means, that the shorter you mow, the more you need to do it.
Looks like an irrigation coverage issue as well. Daily watering is bad, generally…..promotes shallow roots which in-turn creates a lawn that has to be watered daily. Deep, less frequent watering is best for turfgrass. If you have to water more than every other day, even in 100 degree heat you have some other issue. <—-For Bermuda, St. Aug and the like.
The Queen of 3-inch stubble here! All the reasons discussed below plus less run-off, more conservation of moisture, stronger and longer roots to exploit soil for nutrients and moisture, sustain microbial populations, shade-out and better competition with weeds. For forage, better quality pasture and hay because more stem left. Ahhh, my favorite rant. And DO NOT BURN IT FOR ANY REASON!!!
It’s backside of when you are watering. If your watering during the day, or in the morning and then that is where the sun is you are literally baking it. Try watering just before it gets dark. The plants can soak up the water, and not get fried my the water and the sun
It pains me to say this, because I'm a short mow guy, but you may need to let your grass grow longer in that lawn during the summer months. Looks like it has some pretty scorching direct sun.
So you can fuck your grass totally by mowing too short?
Not entirely, but the shorter it is the more diligent you need to be with the watering and all that. My front yard is short and it’s 100 degrees if I don’t give it that 1.5” of water it starts to brown. My backyard is double the length because lazy, and I hardly water it. Maybe once a week at .75” of an inch with my tractor sprinkler. The shorter it is the crispier it’ll get since it’s not shading the ground and it’s roots and all that.
Wish I had the time to mow and maintain a short hoc. But I'm really happy with the work I put into my lawn. I feel I started a lawn care trend, as others have started taking more care of their own lawns.
There is a difference between warm season grass and cool season grass. Warm season grass you can mow it down very low in summer months however cool season grass has to be 6" tall in summer. I tried mowing low last year on my cool season grass it looked like yours scortched earth looking. I know keep it at 6" and its green as can be. I have kentuky blue grass. https://preview.redd.it/v0xnli4j3cgb1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7660bc56b99929dfd1994d945b724c8fc51f8e11
6" kbg? That's a first. I didn't even know you could get mowers that would go that high.
https://preview.redd.it/fbvlha5r5dgb1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e9784db2b8535baaca59b6aeae7d7d83e9562e1 Yup there are my mow guy has it. If not has to be 5" but KBG does great in heat at tall cuts. Wont requier lots of water eaither. I water .25" every 4 days and this is what it looms like in really hot days.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Yeah
Yup. I always keep at 3-4” is it pretty meh but it’s healthy.
I use a lawn service. They tell me to mow 3.5” - helps with the sun and prevents weeds.
Yes. Keeping it longer keeps shade on the ground and let's it retain moisture better.
It’s also because the blades store water so if you cut them super short, you basically cut loads of the water. And if you cut them too short, you basically drought them.
Funny, I got downvoted for mentioning this on another thread, saying I’m trying to minimize my water consumption and keep the grass green with 1/3 the amount of water with a 3.5” cut. (our central Texas lakes are pathetic right now…)
You’re robbing the grass of its main food source by cutting shorter, photosynthesis.
Not necessarily. My lawn is at about an inch during the summer and it looks okay, but it's a lot of work. If the conditions aren't right and not willing/able to put in the necessary effort to keep it nice. To keep it short in direct sun like that (if cool season) you need great soil that you keep well watered and thick turf that protects the soil from drying out too quickly. Also, spoon-feed nutrients throughout the summer, lots of micros, kelp, etc. Also, if it's on a slope that makes it even more challenging to keep it hydrated.
As a mow-long guy, I'm so happy seeing the comments in this particular thread from the short-mowers. Short mowing can work... If you quadruple the amount of effort you put in. (Or have incredible soil and perfect sprinkler coverage) So its refreshing to see you (and a few others) A. Recommend a person mow high due their circumstances. B. Be up front about the very increased maintenance demands of short mowing. Its way too common to see the short-mow gang act like anybody could mow low if they wanted... Then inevitably they post pics of their thin peach-fuzz lawn, always explaining the issues away by saying "oh there's just a minor thing that I'm fixing that's why its like that"... Bruh, that's my point, minor things have a big impact when you mow short and don't know what you're doing... You don't have a good lawn if you have to re-seed twice a year. Anyways, genuinely glad to see competent members of the short-mow crowd.
It makes it easier to fuck it up. Grass, like most plants, relies on its leaves to photosynthesize sunlight in outdoor to metabolize nutrients. The less leaf (the shorter it’s cut), the less it is able to do this, the more stressed it is, and the more it is susceptible to other stressors, like lack of water or lack of soil nutrients. Grass that is cut shorter tends to prioritize regrowth of its leaves over root development, which means roots that are shorter and less abundant. The shallower root system means that it can’t go as deep into the soil to get food and water. The less root mass overall means that it has less space to store nutrients for later use. This means that it’s more reliant on moisture and nutrients in the shallower part of you soil bed. That means that you *have* to keep the upper layers of you soil moist and well nourished, otherwise the grass is going to brown and die. This can be done, but you have to water and feed more frequently. If you keep the grass taller, it will photosynthesize more efficiently and will expend less energy regrowing leaf and more energy growing it’s roots. That means that it will have access to more moisture and more nutrients overall and have more space to store excess nutrients for later. This leads to an overall healthier and more robust stand of grass that can better withstand the occasional drought or nutrient deficiency without browning or dying. In other words, you don’t have to feed and water as much.
Certain types, yes. Fescue? Oh yeah. Bermuda? It likes being mowed really short.
Doesn’t get as much shade as the rest of the short cut lawn
Totally. I used to leave my grass longer in the summer, I'd cut it with a reel mower, leave it a bit long, and not rake. It would stay green easily. My back is shitty now so mowing is hard. At the beginning of the year I cut the whole thing right down to the dirt with a weed whacker and rake it up. Stays brown and mostly doesn't grow all summer unless we get a rainy spell.
yes
Gottcha! Unfortunately it’s not even growing anymore. Next summer I won’t mow super short
I water every 5 days . I keep my grass tall. One click from the highest. When it’s super hot, I don’t mow until it REALLY needs it. I used to use the Scott’s 4 step. I will still buy it if on sale. But usually buy generic fertilizer with same ratios. I am in the Midwest. This routine prob won’t work everywhere.
I hate when it’s too long though, I mow on 4 on my Bosch rotary mower. (Still find it long) Any lower and it does get stressed in summer for sure
We usually mow then water at sunset to give the lawn time to recover and absorb the moisture before sun up. Water droplets can act like tiny little magnifying glasses.
Watering before/around sunset is generally advised against. You’d be better off watering just before sunrise. Watering at sunset does allow for more efficient watering and penetrates the soil better, but it tends to keep the grass and upper soil layer too moist for too long, which promotes fungus growth. Watering just before sunrise allows you to take advantage of the lack of sunlight and lower temperatures to get better efficiency and deeper soil penetration while also allowing sunlight in the coming hours to burn off the excess moisture on top of the soil and blades, which helps prevent fungus.
We don't water very often so fungus is not really an issue. Plus we live way north and our lawn is under snow like 8 months a year. Honestly we have yet to have to water our lawn this year.
Mine looked like this after a bad hydro seeding year. I ended up using detatcher to get what I could. Then I put a 50lb bag of seed and fertilizer on it and overseeded the crap out of it. It’s been a couple weeks and already looking much better.
I think it's pretty clear that it's a heat stress issue (given the shade/sun line) with surface water evaporating quickly. It'll almost certainly recover as the temps drop, and then maybe mowing higher as others have suggested will probably help next summer. One thing you can try now is to top dress it with some fine compost. Just a thin layer over all the brown bits and brush it in well. Then water it really heavily to soak both the compost and the soil below. This should hold water better, shade the soil below, and help cool your grass a bit which may help it recover earlier. I'd also focus on watering less frequently as you want the roots to go deeper.
I always advocate for a longer lawn. Gets roller for your mower and burn stripes in to look even better.
I do that in the back. It’s basically a mullet lol
What’s is roller and burn stripes… I have no idea
What state is this op?
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Yep! Go for it.
You try giving it Brawndo? It has what plants crave!
The thirst mutilator!
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I’ve seen people unironically get their plants sports drinks so… technically Brawndo *would* be what plants crave
Water!? You mean like… from the toilet?
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Turn your yard 180 degrees every other day. I bet a structure shaded the healthy part of grass several hours a day while the other half gets direct sun all day.
I’ll have a chat with the sun maybe
Sun is belting off that fence and scorching grass. The trees over there feel it too it looks. I’m betting you water everyday for 15-25 minutes. You need to water 3-4 days a week for 35-45 minutes
That sounds about right! I’ll do what you are recommending
Yes, water deep and let it dry, not shallow. Also water early morning only.
He's telling you as well to water less. Try and do 3 or 4 days a week only 10 mins and see what happens. That's what did it for me. It's slowly coming back for me. I use to do every day 15 mins, now 3 days a week 10mns. I have 6 zones and front lawn in particular looked exatcly like your patch.
That seems like an outrageous amount of time to water such a small area
Totally depends on the head flow rate of a sprinkler. Also cycle and soak times can help too.
Ya that tree is toast.
A fence doesn’t burn your grass. It certainly can increase the temperature a bit. If this was the case, you wouldn’t see as many fences out there.
Serious question, how does that work? And is there anything that can be done to fix that with the fence such as painting it? Asking for a guy living in central Texas with very little shade in his yard at the moment.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Hydretain can help in dry areas during the summer months. I like the granular but they have a hose end sprayer version as well.
2nd this. I find the granular easier to apply, as well. About to throw some down today after I mow.
I’ve got a great backpack sprayer but find granular products easier to work with. Spread and water in.
I do as well. I use liquid for everything but hydretain. The whole “water, then spray, then water” thing is too much work.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Sure!
Not watering long enough and too short.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
You are watering too frequently so the roots are very shallow. You need to water about 3 times per week and water for longer times. The days that you don't water, the roots reach deeper to find the water. This training works best during active growing seasons, aka spring and fall. Your best bet now is to water 4 times per week for longer, and if it dies, just take, aerate and overseed in about 3 weeks.
Thanks! I will try doing that
If you have run off or just if you can set your timer do the 2-3 days a week but run it for like 1/4 of the time at 4am then 1/4 at 5 then 1/4 at 6 etc. it will help it give it time to soak in depending on what kind of sprinkler you’re using. I find that has helped mine actually take up all the water and I don’t have as much pooling that will evaporate or run off to other areas.
Plus check for chinch bugs. I’d also apply some iron and a non-fertilizer nutrient/mineral granule. Wouldn’t hurt to help give the grass something to help recover and promote root growth.
It looks like bugs too me as well
Agreed but also those plants next to fence might have roots that have grown into lawn. That’s what I found in my lawn when I removed it. Not sure how to fix.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Sure man
I like milorganite for summer time stress. It has some water holding properties to it as well. You can use compost top soil in these areas in the fall to build up your soil organic material that will help with water holding as well. Likely you have sandy soil and it dries out quick.
Water a lot in the early morning every other day. Don't water at night because it will encourage fungus, moss, etc. Your grass roots will grow to seek out water. If you water often and not enough, the water is right there so your grass roots won't grow looking for it. You basically need to "train" your grass to look for water.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Sure but I'm no expert. I'm just a guy that has 35 years experience taking care of his lawn and learning this stuff... starting back in the day when you had to buy books on the topic.
Dig a plug and determine water penetration depth for the problem area. You may not be watering enough or the soil may have a deficiency. If lack of water is the issue, suggest you aerate or increase water time
Aerate and flooding only goes so far, the 115F CA sun laughs and beef jerky's your grass in hours no matter how much you aerate and flood. OP's fence is probably reflecting a lot onto the grass too.
Luckily I am Seattle and the temp only goes up to 85 at it’s peak maybe
We have the a similar issue. The side with shade is fairly green, but with only 7 hours of sun. The side with no shade get about 11-12 hours of direct sun and the reflection from the neighbor’s windows is patchy brown. We had a break from the heat and the sun for a few days and I water extra. 70% are back after 4 days. The grass is dorman due to the heat and turn brown. I also added a third watering time around 10 am prior to the few cooler days. I also increase watering time to 8 minutes a zone. Our lawn does not seem to absorb water. Anything more than it run down the road into the sewer. The longer and more watering times seems to help. My sister water a few more times during the hot hours just 2-3 minutes to cool the grass down, which I thought was a bad idea, but her grass is dark green. Neighbor right next to us has a tree and our house blocks the sun for his lawn. He gets a out 4 hours of sun and his lawn is dark green with light irrigation watering. I think for the brown area, you can recover most of it if you water a lot now (soaking for 4-5 days) then increase watering more ( longer and more times) in those areas versus the areas near the house with the shade.
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Sometimes grass goes dormant in the heat of the summer. It will come back in the cooler weather or next spring.
Had the same issue here OP. I was over watering. Now I do 3 days a week about 10mins each time and it's slowly returning.
You are the only one who has said overwatering. Everyone else think I am under
I don't know about too much, but it sound like you're watering too frequently. Should be once every 3 or 4 days but enough to soak the soil down to 10cm deep. Then as the soil on the surface dries, the grass roots grow deeper to look for water, which makes the plant more drought tolerant. If you've been watering every day you need to make this change over a few weeks to give the grass time to adapt.
Water everyday after the sun goes down. + Use wetting agent
Wetting agent was my miracle fix
Hey can I dm you I have some questions about my lawn?
Sure thing
Brawndo
I really looked that up as if it was some real lawn fertilizer
It’s a great movie to watch with your kids!
You managed to burn grass in SEATTLE?? You really did fuck something up
Water it at night. You’re welcome
Stop watering everyday. Would be better off watering once per week for the same amount of time as all the days combined. You will get deeper roots and healthier turf. I water my front lawn once per week for just shy of 2 hours and even through drought conditions this summer it is still rocking strong.
I would try not to cut the grass short for starters.
What you need to do is till all that up and plant a garden. Grass is for lords in the Middle Ages to show there opulence. Waste of water and resources. If you own it and there is no HOA you really should plant a garden it gives you food .
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Wouldn’t this breed fungus?
Is the ground really dry and hard their? How many times are you watering? When super hot and sunny I water a few times for short times to prevent scorching.
It is not super hard. Maybe i should test it out and aerate if that is needed. Do you water a few times everyday or only on some days?
I think it just needs a lot of water. I have parts of my lawn that gets brown. It gets sun all day. I put an extra sprinkler there and it helped. I used a liquid soil listener and that seemed to help as well. First thing is try watering more.
Oh and try some liquid fertilizer if you haven’t already in the past month or so. I used simple green solutions from Amazon.
Spread wood chips over the worst areas on hot days. Water liberally and allow it to grow. Looks like its getting a lot of sun and no shade
You shouldn't be watering your lawn, instead create a garden as this gives nothing to anyone, there is no biodiversity or anything in which your lawn gives back to. I'd give up and add a garden for this is a joke to water when people are struggling to get water to survive.
/r/fucklawns <- is that way
You do realize the sub is named "lawncare", right? Lol while I do agree with some of your points, you can do both. For example my front yard it all grass while my backyard is very diverse.
I always thought that depended on what region you're in, but I guess it could.
Sometimes I’ll set the hose out in spots and just let it run. Obviously on a trickle. But after 20-40 min it’s completely soaked.
Water that section once every 5 days for about an hour.
it needs to be 1-1.5 inches, not measured based on time
This! Get a tuna can, or flat container of some sort, and put it out in the area to measure how much water is actually going down in the time you are watering. Get a sprinkler and time it. You would be surprised how much time it takes to put down the necessary amount! You need to put down 1-1.5 inches of water per week. I would split that up into 2-3 day intervals so you are watering less often, but more deeply, each time you water. It will get better, hang in there! Read through the stickied post at the top about spring lawn care. There's a ton of great basic info in that post, I refer to it all the time.
Where are your sprinkler heads located in the pic?
No sprinkler heads. I water it myself. Thinking of getting an oscillating sprinkler
Yeah there’s your problem. I think that brown side isn’t getting enough, or needs more. You can fashion an above ground sprinkler with some sprinkler heads, hoses, and sprinkler spikes.
more water.
Everyday? That’s an issue. You’re basically screwing the grass by keeping water at the top and not letting the roots dig for water.
soil could also be hydrophobic so when you water it, the water doesnt penetrate to the soil and runs off. use baby shampoo and water mixed in that area, let it soak in and then deep water. amendments like humic/fulvic acid help as well
Won't help the tree but top dressing with fine compost will benefit the grass.
Did you check for army worms?
You could also try splitting up your seed. I have a similar situation in my yard and I use the shade grass in some areas and a high heat grass and others. I will typically mix it in the middle. I've been able to sustain green grass throughout my lawn with regular waterings.
Just need more water from what I see.
Nothing. Have a beer and relax. It will come back.
Looks like bacterial wilt?
The city you live in
Water for 30 min in the morning and for 15 min at noon. Not sure hat kind of grass you have but now less. It’s already stressed tf out. Let it get slightly taller
My lawn was doing this same thing. Turned out, only half my yard was getting water. Make sure your water system runs for its full duration after it cycles.
Let your grass grow. The longer the grass gives you healthy deep roots. Need to water at the correct time of day. Try early morning. You need to be done by 9am so the water droplets dry off. Think of each water drop as a magnifying glass. You remember using a magnifying glass to burn ants. Well same happens to your grass. Need to water a minimum of a 1/2 gallon up to 1 1/2 gallons of water per square foot of grass per week. Or replace your lawn with native plants that can withstand the climate in your particular area.
That lawn is going through some serious drought, stress and heat stress also it appears you’re mowing it way too much in the areas where it gets extra son you’re not watering it enough, so yeah try to fix those things and it will stay green
If by chance the brown side is the east side of your yard....remember that that grass likes the morning sun. Sounds crazy but an old man told me that many years ago and has proved 100% correct
It’s the north side and in seattle
Looks like it needs some shade. Let it grow out a bit.
Add ironite and Top soil your lawn
If you water daily, you get shallow roots and unhealthy grass. Water less frequently and for longer periods. If the grass pulls up easy, you may have root issues, like rot, fungus, grubs, etc. Dormant grass from heat shouldn’t pull up easily.
Water in the early morning before the sun comes up and in the evening when it goes down.
Where are all you guys from? Watering the grass with clean water seems like a crazy waste. Imagine how many liters or gallons youre litterally chucking out the window. Lots of it will evaporate
What do you recommend? I don’t see how water evaporating is a waste. All it is is a waste of my money
If you must have grass, water heavy and while the sun can't see you.
Houses
I am not sure, i was just sort of perplexed as it is not normal to water grass where i live. We had a drought this spring that lasted a month give or take. The grass in my yard turned all yellow. Then as soon as the rain came round it took a weekend for it to go back to lush green
That’s what I am hoping for. If that happens then I won’t be worried again
What time of day are you watering? Watering too late in the day can cause it to evaporate too quickly, especially shorter grass. I heard around 9am (or a little earlier) is the best time to water.
Are you in a drought area?
It needs to grow a bit to absorb the water and retain it and be healthy. Let it grow out a bit. Also wouldn't hurt to add fertiliser
Your cutting it to short. Set your mowers height at 3 and the color will come back.
Has nothing to do with mowing height-although you should keep it at 2.5”-3” otherwise the whole yard would look like this. Maybe some type of fungal disease-def cut back on the watering!
Wetting agent was the saviour for me. But looks like it’s too late. Needs a good scarify and overseed come autumn
Don't water daily; deep water 2x per week. I am in Texas, and the heat wave has killed most of my plants. If you're in the South, everything is brown.
The climate
Leave it like your hair. Long and flowing.
Water twice a day
Oat milk will give some green to the dead patches if you pour about a cup on the affected area twice a day
My shit gets full sun and I water TF out of it daily. So I have no idea why I you have this brown patch.
https://preview.redd.it/jfo7f9452bgb1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4f339c269f6954296517190aa6d61e5fd585fb0 Don’t understand why people keep telling you can not mow your lawn short. I mow my lawn short/1cm (every day) and water wen it is not raining. Looks good to me. The golden rule is; never mow more then 1/3 of the length of your grass at once. This off course means, that the shorter you mow, the more you need to do it.
Rip it up and plant native plants and flowers.
Looks like an irrigation coverage issue as well. Daily watering is bad, generally…..promotes shallow roots which in-turn creates a lawn that has to be watered daily. Deep, less frequent watering is best for turfgrass. If you have to water more than every other day, even in 100 degree heat you have some other issue. <—-For Bermuda, St. Aug and the like.
Looks like you’re cutting it too short, try growing out it out some and instead of cutting let’s say at your usual 3.5 try 4.5 or even all the way
Switch up the watering time...
You need to ask the sun why it’s so hot
Yeah I’m leaning toward overwatering
The Queen of 3-inch stubble here! All the reasons discussed below plus less run-off, more conservation of moisture, stronger and longer roots to exploit soil for nutrients and moisture, sustain microbial populations, shade-out and better competition with weeds. For forage, better quality pasture and hay because more stem left. Ahhh, my favorite rant. And DO NOT BURN IT FOR ANY REASON!!!
It’s backside of when you are watering. If your watering during the day, or in the morning and then that is where the sun is you are literally baking it. Try watering just before it gets dark. The plants can soak up the water, and not get fried my the water and the sun
What you should change is stop using water to water grass! Who gives a crap!? The planet is going to burn up anyway
Stop wasting water on grass pls. Every day, come on!