Lawn Problems

Hi,

I laid my first lawn back in March using quality turf. Things went well initially and the lawn looked very green and was quite dense.

Recently the lawn has looked less green and I think it has thinned out a bit. At a close up inspection the blades of the grass are green but the sheath is white / light brown. The sheath was quite long and I thought if i cut the lenght of the sheath down then I would be left with more blade than sheath. I trimmed the lawn to 1 inch. The blades have grown back but the sheaths are still white. Should i trim the lawn even lower or is it likely to be a problem with lack of nutrients in the ground or lack of watering.

Any help would be greatfully recieved.

I can take pics if necessary.

James

 

Hi James,

How low you trim your lawn really depends on what sort of grass species you have in the turf, as some will tolerate closer mowing than others.

Grass plant sheaths are normally white or light brown, so there's probably nothing to worry about there - I suspect the reason that they are very obvious to you is that the turf has thinned out a bit, so they are simply more visible. In that case, a feed would certainly help.

Close mowing causes it's own problems, especially if we have a prolonged dry spell. I think you can make a lawn look very good at 1 - 1.5 inches, as long as it is cut regularly - uniformity is the key.

 

When we moved house recently the grass was awful - loads of moss and weeds etc. I used that stuff that kills moss and raked it out and was left with loads of bare patches. Now (2 months on) the grass has been fed (at intervals shorter than recommended on the pack) and I do water it every couple of days when it's hot. The grass is coming back really nicely now and very thick too in the less sunny patches!
The feed bottle recommends feeding every 6 weeks but I have fed once a week then left it for 2 weeks, seems to work!