Why is my “grass” patchy? or is it weeds?
Alexandria Juarez
2 months ago
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Alexandria Juarez
2 months agoRelated Discussions
Patchy Dead grass
Comments (1)Rake the area to be reseeded in a manner that loosens the top soil of around 2 inches . Aerate that area. Top-dress it with fertilizer. Seed the area and water it regularly....See MoreWhy does my grass grow these long stalks so quickly?
Comments (15)What you are looking for is a fertilizer with a Big 1st number and Small 2nd and 3rd numbers.... 39-0-0, 29-0-5, etc.... Remember... High 1st number, Low other numbers.... Flip over the bag and look at the analysis... You are looking for the words "Poly coated Urea" This means "Slow Release" There is plenty of this stuff available at HD and Lowe's... though it isn't the Lesco product that TW recommends in the Bermuda Bible.... Use up your Starter Fertilizer at Bermuda Bible Rate -- then start buying something like 29-0-5 or 39-0-0 for the rest of the season.... Thanks John...See MorePatchy Grass - Need a New Grass Seed Suggestion
Comments (3)Hey Ryan. One thing we have learned by looking at thousands of lawn pictures is...don't take the pictures on a sunny day. The contrast is too strong to see the detail we need. Having said that, yours are fine for this question. Where exactly do you live in SoCal? Oildale or Heber? Likely you live somewhere in between, but you get my drift. SoCal covers a lot of mileage where the zones move around as does the microclimate and the soil. I lived in Riverside for 15 years and elsewhere around the area for 16 more. In addition to the living I traveled from Santa Barbara to San Diego quite often and should be able to help if you can be fairly specific. I don't need your nearest cross street, but at least name the town. If you live west of the 5 and south of the Tehachipis, then Marathon II should be fine. If you are east of the 5 and/or inland of the coastal hills, then Marathon II is a water hog and you should consider either St Augustine or bermuda. Since bermuda will not grow in the shade, that leaves St Augustine. St Aug is a coarse bladed grass which will look like crabgrass to you if you are used to the Marathon II. But St Aug behaves much better than crabgrass. I just got this picture from a friend in Phoenix this weekend. It really shows what St Aug looks like in action. He was getting ready to mow... He just sodded that lawn this year. You can see how dense it is in the shade. Like a growing number of us, he's all organic. Here it is after mowing and before edging... Anyway I suspect watering is more your problem than shade. Do you water for 10 minutes every day? That is the general advice you get from the so-called professionals in SoCal. That advice is wrong. Deep and infrequent is the universal mantra for watering a lawn. Generally deep means 1 full inch all at one time. Infrequent means ONCE a MONTH this time of year for most of SoCal west of Mt San Jacinto. You cannot go cold turkey on this watering if you have been watering it every day all winter. What you can do is start to increase the time from 10 minutes to 20 and then back off on the daily part. Watch the grass for signs of stress and then water. The grass will eventually develop deeper and deeper roots which can stand much longer periods without surface water. I have a house on the edge of the Texas desert with parts of the lawn in shade that have not had irrigation water since October of 2011 and the grass looks fine. There are other circumstances in my situation, but the point is if you can develop the deep roots, the grass will not need anything close to daily watering. If you live where the temps get into the 90s in the summer, then you'll be watering once a week, but always 1 inch. If you or your soil has a problem with that, tell us what the issue is and we can likely help with that. Is this yard on the north side of the house? Does water seem to pool up in the area where the grass is not working? Worst case is you modify the shape of your flower beds and add more geraniums....See MoreSeeded new grass on my lawn, lots of weed
Comments (5)I see. Temperatures won't be as high this week nor next week. The highest it's gotten is 80F and the lowest is in the mid 50's. I read the instructions and it said germination is better when seeding between 60F-80F. Today it hit 76F and we'll have showers tonight at 52F. Tomorrow rain all day and the max will be in the low 70's and min in the low 60's. Hopefully it'll grow. It took me a lot of sweat and blisters to remove all that dirt, bring in new one, rake, make it flat, rake, add new topsoil, add starter fertilizer, spread the seeds and add a thin layer of compost. Birds were having a field day but hey, it's okay. They need to feed. Believe it or not, just today, more seed germinated. I did not know they could grow that fast in a single day. More is filling up. I'm doing what I can to water. I can't water on odd days. I'm allowed to water on even days but from 6pm-6am. Even then, I bought a 2gallon spray pump to soak it once i saw dryness or when I'm not allowed to water my lawn by the town....See MoreSigrid
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