Tall Fescue issues (lawn, fertilizer, grass, mower)

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Hi, I was wondering if there are any experts that might shed some light on my lawn.

I live in San Diego and bought a house with a gorgeous tall fescue lawn in November. I have been taken care of it very well thus far and use a reel mower to mow (middle setting).

However some parts of the lawn have a yellowish color. Coincidentally its in the areas where there is the least amount of water coverage from the sprinkler system. The other parts of the lawn are much greener where most of the water is hitting.

I have started using a hose attached oscillating sprinkler to cover the yellow parts and it does appear to be getting greener in the yellow patches.

The other thing I noticed too is that I inserted a pH and fertility gauge into the ground at several spots around the lawn. The areas that were getting the most water were more above 5 (around 6-7) and the drier parts were below 5. I havent gone out to do another measurement yet, but would the dryness be related to low level pH? In other words could this pH theoretically change if I continue to water said yellow areas?

Is there a chance it could be something else?

Thanks!

[nitram]

PH level 6-7 means normal, not too acid not too salty. That's the good range for the grass.
PH-5 means you're on the salty side and have salt build up that can burn the roots and cause yellowing. That area needs deeper watering to dissolve the salts and leaching them out. You should also fertilize with a well balanced fertilizer for your grass and maybe add some gypsum to loosen the soil, and adding a iron supplement will also help with greening up and salt control.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by nitram

PH level 6-7 means normal, not too acid not too salty. That's the good range for the grass.
PH-5 means you're on the salty side and have salt build up that can burn the roots and cause yellowing. That area needs deeper watering to dissolve the salts and leaching them out. You should also fertilize with a well balanced fertilizer for your grass and maybe add some gypsum to loosen the soil, and adding a iron supplement will also help with greening up and salt control.

Wow, thats perfect! Thanks so much!

Yes I heard gypsum really does the trick as well