Assessment and help!

I am a complete novice. I built my garden over the past couple of years including the installation of a fescue lawn. Last year I think I over fertilized, this year I was determined to get a better feed routine. I fed the lawn on 1st April with Scott's lawn builder. Now I have this horrible pattern across the lawn.


A few questions.

1) is this likely to be poor feed application by me?
2) is it an underlying problem ( last year I had a dose of red thread)
3) should I re-feed the poorly growing areas or wait another month and feed the whole lawn??
4) I've topped the grass twice this month, a high cut and lightly scarified it prior to feeding it.
5) I'm up in the east of Scotland so a few weeks behind those in the south.

All advice very welcome!!

 

Hello, it does look as though the feed didn't get distributed very evenly It's tricky to do! I'd don rubber gloves and scatter some feed (thinly) on the less-than-green bits. They'll soon catch up.

 

It looks like you've tried writing a message in the lawn but yes it poor application , what spreader are you using or did you do it by hand ?

Fescue grass is vulnerable to red thread, a feed usually help the grass to pull through and green up again , red thread doesn't kill the grass. Warm / wet summer weather are perfect conditions for RT and it seem nearly every summer is warm and wet except 2017

Getting a good lawn is a lot harder and time consuming than people think as you probably gathered.

 

I agree with @noisette47 to provide a little extra in the areas that were missed

Dunno if any help, but when I spread something on the lawn (fertiliser, overseed, etc.) I make as many passes as I can, and at least 4 - rather than trying to do it all in one pass - and do half the passes front-to-back and the other half left-to-right. When using a spreader I overlap each pass; if the wheel tracks of the spreader are not obvious (as an indicator for the next pass) I have a bucket at each end as my "aiming point" and when I get there I move it along the correct distance for the next pass (so that is 2x the width of a single pass)

Liquid feed might be easier to apply evenly than granular.

 

When you prepared the lawn did you by any chance use a sand mix for preparation or used a sand layer?

any chance of a closer picture of the grass without any signs of the feed ie untreated area.

The photo seems to suggest an issue with the untreated grass but I don’t know if it’s simply the colour of the photo but is the grass yellowish in colour?

liquid would be easier but I’m thinking a slow release fertiliser might be better as it will supply nutrients over a period and interim treatments can be added.

do not use any lime based feed, fescue sits on the lower end of the Ph levels For grasses and lime would be opposite. Iron helps to lower Ph but is short term only but there are other ways but soil tests need to be done before any type of heavy handed technique is applied.
My guess is without seeing it is that the Ph level is a tad high and so the fescue is not fully liking its position and weak or stressed grass picks up diseases easier in this state.
There are simple Ph devices that give a rough idea but I’m going in the direction that the lawn is on the high end of the Ph scale hence why the grass if it’s fescue is suffering.

 

Great suggestions folks thanks. I'll upload a close-up later today. I mixed a lot of sand with the top soil to improve drainage but didn't lay the turf on a sand bed. The earth beneath was heavily compacted (classic dumping ground from the house build 30yrs prior). Before I built the garden it was covered for years by balmullo chips. So I dug down a couple of feet across the entire area turned over and rotavated the soil, even installed some French drainage channels filled with gravel and drainage pipes. The lines look like it's been terribly fertilized...which may have happened as I spread by hand however even with a blindfold on I thought I'd done better than the picture suggests!!

Before


After

 

That’s great thanks for letting us know. Sand is great for drainage but poor for holding on to nutrients. It’s getting the mixture right but that’s where a slow release fertiliser comes into play as it gives of a slow amount of NPK over a given time and it’s possible to do some treatments on top when required. Slow release would be a granular feed and best applied with a spreader calibrated to the amount required.
there’s nothing stopping you from giving it a liquid seaweed treatment which does contain a small amount of iron. Products differ and you need to be careful round slabs as some seaweed products contain additional iron that can stain.
I would see what the Ph levels are roughly then go from there. It will be only a rough guide using the basic probes though unless you want to spend out on soil tests.

 

It's certainly been a delicate battle. Between the weeds, the red thread, floods, drought, frost, heat, fertiliser, scarifying, mowing.....lol

I've got some liquid seaweed and a very basic soil pH kit. I'll have a look At the results. I guess Im more concerned incase there is something more sinister...like some kind of fungal infection or disease that no one would want!!!

 

Red thread will pop up again sadly as it stays put for a long time, it’s a common disease but can be tackled. See how it goes and let us know how you find the Ph levels. Test it on untreated areas to see what results you get.

 

a close up of the sparse lawn next to the healthy bit.....

 

It's indicating an alkaline soil. It's a basic pH kit but it's a definitive colour check.
Would I be better pouring liquid seaweed on the untreated grass or spreading the Scotts lawn builder? I have now purchased a proper lawn feed spreader!!

 

Is that grass white in colour?

 

No, it's the dry brown dead grass colour. I think it's just cause it's been really dry recently.

 

That’s great, the grass if it’s dry is a tad stressed so if you can or have been watering Thats best.
I would start with the seaweed feed then a week later apply the feed you have which I think is a slow release but can’t remember of my the top of my head.

 

Perfect, I'll give it a go. Yes it's a slow release over about 8 weeks. Appreciate your help.