Yellowish Grass

BorderGap

Hoping you can help......

I planted a new lawn (about 1/4 Acre) last August. I used grade 2 grass seed from a local nursery; however the grass has come up quite yellowish in colour.
I've preformed a pH reading on the soil and it's come back at 6.5.
Is the grass to young to place a fertiliser on it?
Do you have any ideas as to what could be causing this issue and how i could correct it?

Regards,
BG

secman

A good reputable feed should restore its colour, mine went yellowish this time last year and a feed restored the colour. Like you mine was down from the previous september.


Secman

Kashkai

Most fertillisers state that you shouldn't use them on lawns that are less than 12 months old. Mine is about 18 months now and like yours was very yellow after the wet winter but an application of lawn feed/weed killer/moss killer worked wonders and its now a lovely dark green colour.

wewantchilly

BorderGap wrote: »

Hoping you can help......

I planted a new lawn (about 1/4 Acre) last August. I used grade 2 grass seed from a local nursery; however the grass has come up quite yellowish in colour.
I've preformed a pH reading on the soil and it's come back at 6.5.
Is the grass to young to place a fertiliser on it?
Do you have any ideas as to what could be causing this issue and how i could correct it?

Regards,
BG

the lawn could have very poor drainage, which in wet weather will inhibit root growth and now that we are into warmer weather, the poor root systems can't cope with the water demands on the plant so they go yellow.
when you were establishing the lawn and doing the ground works, did you just spread the seed or did you prep the ground first?
high quality grass seed like 80-20 Chewings Fescue/Brown Top Bent Grass can require a good growing depth off more then 4-5" of good topsoil.

Quartet

If its a new lawn do you know if the old grass / weeds were burned off with weedkiller?

It is reconmended to leave sowing grass seed if an area was heavily spayed until the worst of the herbicide is broken down etc. A residual herbicide could potentialy cause problems

Ref Fertliser - it is reconmended to put down a suitable grass fertliser pre sowing but not during the early stages of grass growth

It is possible that the soil may be deficient in one or more of the major plant nutrients - you can get a soil test kit in your local garden centre to check this

BorderGap

Folks,

thanks for the feedback so far.

The lawn was laid in front of a new house build so the original topsoil was piled up for almost 1 year before being spread at least 6in's deep once the house was finished. The soil was spread, raked (stones were removed), seeds were planted and rolled in.

I have been thinking drainage might be a problem as i also have a number of rushes coming through, although the topsoil is not soggy following heavy rain??

I'm considering hiring an aerator before filling the holes with course sand as a way of improving the drainage - thoughts on this welcome....

However would you consider doing this after giving a fertiliser ago?

BorderGap

Folks,

does anyone have thoughts on the course of action i've outlined below?