Dead lawn...what to do?

We bought our house in May. From May-now we've had our lawn watered every other day and have had weekly lawn maintenance and fertilization. But our lawn has gotten progressively worse over the season. So much so that it's more dead than alive.

What would you do? What's the most cost effective way to fox this for next year? Should we kill all of the lawn, rip it up and start over? This is a nearly 20 year old lawn...

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

Have you asked your landscaper? It's hard to give advice, but it sounds like the way you're watering the lawn isn't enough water. How long is the sprinkler on? What time of day do you water? Have you tried watering every day?

Dead lawn...what to do?

My 2 cents...you should water less frequently for a longer period of time. When you water for short periods/very frequently, your lawn doesnt bother making long roots...because it doesnt have to since its getting watered so often. I've read you should water until its enough to reach down 4 inches (put a bucket out with a ruler and time how long it takes to reach 4 inches). But water only every 4-5 days or when your grass starts looking limp.

And I would definitely check with your landscaper to get their opinion....the above is just my 2 cents.

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

DH rented some kind of machine that he used on the lawn and it really helped. I think it turned some of the grass. A landscaper should know what it's called....his friend who has his own landscape design company recommended it.

Dead lawn...what to do?

You might want to try aerating the lawn, then re-seeding next season.

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

You said you watered every other day, but for how long? Also, what time of day did you water? How short is the landscaper cutting it? Are they fertilizing weekly?

You definitely don't need to rip it out and start over. DH revived our lawn. It took a couple years to look perfect but it was definitely an improvement over the crabgrass ridden, dry crud that we had. He did aerating/overseeding in the fall and followed the Scotts fertilization system. He also changed up the watering times quite frequently based on temperature. There's more to it, but I didn't do all the research and work.

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

Are you watering at night or during the day?

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

Hi all - thanks for the feedback.

We're watering about 30-45 min (depending on the zone) at 2 am.

Certain areas have clay underneath, so I can't water too long in those zones as it floods.

I'm planning on talking to landscaper tomorrow...but just wanted to see what other people did so that I can open up the conversation with the possible pitfalls.

Message edited 9/2/2014 5:31:55 PM.

Dead lawn...what to do?

I thought my lawn was dead and had Scott's come. They told me that we had a fungus and watering everyday was feeding it and making it worse. We stopped watering everyday and now water every other day for 45 minutes. We have seen a big improvement. There are still some brown spots, but nothing like it was.

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

our lawn sits directly in the sun but it got better this season when we turned on our sprinklers from every other day to every day. We used to end up with a lot of bare/dead spots.

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

Could it be bugs? Our grass turned completely brown last year. This year we put down something for the bugs early on and it stayed green. Also, I was told to water around 4 or 5AM an not in the middle of the night. Good luck!

Dead lawn...what to do?

It might be grubs they totally destroyed our lawn last year. They eat the roots of your grass and the blades just die. We had to totally dig it up and add new soil and seed. Now I have a lawn of weeds.

Re: Dead lawn...what to do?

Message edited 9/7/2014 2:48:49 PM.