Yellow Grass

Lukie – posted 24 July 2004 20:03

OK, I have TruGreen/Chem Lawn take care of my grass fertilizing. They come 5 times a year, but no matter what they do, or what I do, the grass in the back yard is yellow and dry. I give it an inch of water every other day. I don’t mow too short. I figure it’s getting the right fertilzing because TruGreen/Chem Lawn takes care of it. The last time they came they stated that it had Drought stress. How could it. When I water exactly as they say to. It’s not in a shady area. It’s almost like the more I water it, the more yellow it becomes. It’s very frustrating.

cohiba – posted 03 August 2004 12:41

lukie,Have you soil tested your lawn? Could be a lack of organic matter, that holds water. Also could be a problem with the irrigation. I don’t know how many times people thaought the water was coming on only to find a valve was off somewhere in the system. Also remember that drought stress is encountered anytime when the avaiable water in the soil is not sufficent to keep the plants from wilting. In other words, if the wind is blowing and its dry you may need to water for 2-3″ to keep that turf alive if the soil will not hold the water. Sand drains at 22″ per hour, it would be very hard to keep that moist enough to keep the turf from wilting when the air is hot and dry.

Just some thoughts…………………..

cohiba – posted 03 August 2004 12:46

Also, Just out of curiosity do you have well water or city water?

Is the soil dry normally, even a day or two after irrigation?

Too many questions???

ted – posted 03 August 2004 15:42

i’m guessing iron deficiency? where do you live?

jr – posted 05 August 2004 11:57

What about the fact that this person is watering an inch every other day? I have never heard of a case where that is necessary on a home lawn.On that note, the symptoms for drought stress and over-watering are the same. If the roots are living in a saturated environment, they aren’t functioning because they aren’t able to respire. Thus, the plant receives no water from the soil, causing discoloration and wilt. In much the same fashion, under drought conditions, the roots aren’t providing water to the plant because none is available, causing the same result.

cohiba – posted 09 August 2004 14:18

jr.,

Some soil types can take that much water. We have a sandy-loam that is slightly sloped and we cannot put too much water on this type soil. Compacted soils are major water users in that much is lost to run off. This is all independent from weather conditions. Today we are at 85 degrees with 29% humidity. I’ll be putting down 1/2″ tonight and more if we don’t get rain on Wednesday. The 1″ rule is not set in stone.Give the turf what the soil will hold and forget about automatic watering. I say water deep and infrequently, watching the humidity and the weather forecast of course.

Just my two cents. Take Care…………

jr – posted 10 August 2004 08:03

That does not address the person’s concern at all. He said he had drought symptoms, despite his excessive watering, and I explained why. Overwatering a compacted soil would make anaerobic conditions even worse. Furthermore, my post said that kind of water is hardly ever necessary for home turf, not your golf course.

cohiba – posted 10 August 2004 13:48

jr.

My point is: HE said he was watering an inch every other day. YOU said he’s watering too much. “Overwatering” was the term you used. How can YOU tell if he is overwatering?My point was that an inch of water every other day on a specific soil is not out of the realm of possibility. Chem lawn said the turf was under “drought stress”. If The turf was over watered don’t you think they would have said he is overwatering the turf? Yellow turf can be any number of problems. Could be lacking Iron, Nitrogen, ect. and yes,could be overwatered and lacking internal drainage. But I would hope that someone would know the difference between too much water and not enough. I know I can on my Golf Course and in my back yard………

jr – posted 11 August 2004 07:19

I did not say that he was “overwatering” at all. I simply explained how drought stress could be confused for overwatering, and I think I explained it very clearly. That was the person’s original question in the first place. As for his Chemlawn applicator’s “diagnosis”, I think you and I both know that their qualifications are suspect at best, and don’t come close to ours by far.

jr – posted 11 August 2004 07:20

I did not say that he was “overwatering” at all. I simply explained how drought stress could be confused for overwatering, and I think I explained it very clearly. That was the person’s original question in the first place. As for his Chemlawn applicator’s “diagnosis”, I think you and I both know that their qualifications are suspect at best, and don’t come close to ours by far.

wow – posted 11 August 2004 23:04

Quite a heated little battle going on here at turfland!!