Yellow Grass

[CptnRn]

City of Austin - Grow Green - Drought Stress

City of Austin - Grow Green - Shade Stress

City of Austin :: Grow Green :: Landscape Problems

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by chad.roper

wait until the fall and you can really fix your grass. I ordered 3 pallets of grass last fall all you do is set it down and fertlize it and water it every other day.

Remove the old thatch beneath where you are placing new sod first.

[austin-steve]

I think most lawns in Austin look like these photos below at present. I'm not sure what all is affecting this well watered yard, but I suspect chinch bugs and grubs, maybe sunburn in some spots. These were taken July 1 after 12 days of 100+ degree heat in June, and little rain.

What steps, if any, could prevent a yard from suffering like this in 100 degree drought, even with regular watering?

{woops, I guess the links don't work for some reason.}

Here is a link instead.

[tourbound129]

Are you sure that your sprinkler system is working perfectly?

It doesn't look like insects to me. It looks like those areas might be getting slightly less water either due to run-off or a little lack of coverage by the sprinkler.

Manville water sucks with water pressure in my neighborhood so I am usually testing my sprinkler system once a week or so to make sure all my heads are functioning properly. The other day I had a spot starting to brown and I figured out that something was blocking some of the water flow out of the sprinkler head. Removed the obstruction and the spot is starting to recover.

But since I only water 2 times per week that little section had probably gone without water for a week or so.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I think most lawns in Austin look like these photos below at present. I'm not sure what all is affecting this well watered yard, but I suspect chinch bugs and grubs, maybe sunburn in some spots. These were taken July 1 after 12 days of 100+ degree heat in June, and little rain.

What steps, if any, could prevent a yard from suffering like this in 100 degree drought, even with regular watering?

{woops, I guess the links don't work for some reason.}

Here is a link instead.

The sunny parts of my yard are starting to look like this too. Its frustrating given that I had this problem last year and have done everything I can think of this year to keep it from happening again. According to those who have shared watering records with me, I'm watering considerably more then most. I recently compared a years worth of water bills with my next door neighbor and I'm watering considerably more then him.

We both water twice a week, I have a sprinkler system, he does not. He did recently admit to watering a few dry spots by hand every morning. I did not have this problem back when the City let us water every 5 days. Watering less but doing it every 3 to 4 days hasn't been working for me.

I'm thinking of watering deeper and only once a week as has been recommended to me. But I'm afraid if I try to start that now during the worst part of the summer my lawn will burn up before it has time to adapt.

What do you all think? Is this a bad idea?

P.S. Last summer I had my lawn sprinkler system audited by the City of Austin and they recommended less water twice a week, which I started doing and after 4 weeks my lawn was developing burnt patches. I had to plug a few areas with sod, and with watering more, fertilizing in fall and early spring, I had it looking great this spring. Now its burning again.

[CptnRn]

This might help some people

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/growgreen...wnproblems.pdf

[tourbound129]

Personally, I don't put alot of stock in the "water deep and less often" theory. The soil in your yard would have to have the exact same consistency all over for it to work. Watering deep in some areas may work great but it might cause run-off in other parts of your yard leading to the same brown areas that are already occurring. And not only that, but your grass would have to have the exact same root depth all over as well. If you water past the depth of the roots, that has wasted water as well.

The soil in my front yard is much deeper (a relative term as we are only talking a few inches but very significant for grass roots) before it reaches clay/limestone than in the backyard. To compensate, I water for less time in the backyard but will usually water in the morning and at night on my water days to give a little dry out time and not cause the run-off that is inevitable if I try to water deeper.

I would check your sprinkler system to see how evenly the coverage is. The idiots that installed my sprinkler system were terrible. My backyard is laid out horrible and I can easily get more quality coverage using a hose and sprinkler (which I do use at times). Although not ideal, I guarantee using a hose and sprinkler saves me water over adding time to my zones in the backyard.

[BentBow]

right at dusk, on my off days to water with the sprinkler, I hand water the distressed areas by hand. By distressed, you can see the difference in the blades, of even the green grass.

My water bill is high, but my lawn has no brown spots, except where the dog pees in the back yard.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by austin-steve
I think most lawns in Austin look like these photos below at present. I'm not sure what all is affecting this well watered yard, but I suspect chinch bugs and grubs, maybe sunburn in some spots. These were taken July 1 after 12 days of 100+ degree heat in June, and little rain.

What steps, if any, could prevent a yard from suffering like this in 100 degree drought, even with regular watering?

Picasa Web Albums - Crossland - Lawn Photos M...

I'm updating this thread because I realized late last summer, after doing the test described here for Chinch Bugs http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/growgreen...wnproblems.pdf that my lawn had them. Yet I had been assuming I wasn't watering enough the last couple of years and ended up OVER watering to try and compensate.

I sprayed for Chinch Bugs last fall, and even though my lawn looked pretty bad most of this spring, MOST of it is now starting to grow back. I still expect to patch a few areas with sod in May, and plan to try Palisaides Zoysia for those patches and see how it does.

If you did not fertilize in the fall, which is the recommended time for once a year fertilizing, then Late April-May is the next best time that is recommended, see quote. BUT don't do it right before a major rain storm that will wash all your fertilzer away.

"Fertilize lawn with 10-10-5 once a year, late April - May, slow release -ureaformaldahyde 3-4 #/1,000 SF of lawn

The City of Austin recommends that you do not fertilize with a product that includes "broad spectrum" weed killers as many of them also kill trees and get washed down into the rivers in our watersheds. Large amounts of common weed killers are being detected in the watersheds around Austin, which then kills aquatic plants and animals as well as trees along the rivers.