First Time Grass Lawn owner - Lawn is dying - Need Help (lawns, grow)

[Infant Gerald]

Hello All,

I bought a home from a builder who also gave us a small backyard with Grass Lawn in it. As I bought the home in November, I could not take much care of the lawn. Now I see all neighbors grass healthy while mine is all dying. Attached snap shots.

I dont know if its weed, moss, fungus or disease. Please take a look @ the pictures and let me know if I can do anything about the same.

Thanks,
Gerald

[Hemlock140]

Mine is nice and green too, but I mowed today for the first time this season and it's probably 80% moss. Yours just looks very thin. I would suggest overseeding. Rake the leaves off, sprinkle with seed, spread some soft mulch or potting soil over them and then let the rain water, and you should be looking good and ready to mow by mid-April. I suspect that your lawn was planted too close to the first frost, and didn't get a chance to take hold.

[Seacove]

I agree with Hemlock, that looks like you just need to reseed. The grass that is there will help hold the seed in place and the additional mulch/potting soil should help it to take root.

[azoria]

Your grass is not dying. There are fresh green sprigs.

There is also no moss. Lucky there.

What it looks like is a lot of decaying debris that has matted up on surface.

Get out there and rake it. Soon. As you can see the dormant grass is resprouting now, you need to get that layer of decaying vegetation off of your lawn.

After you've raked it, throw out some nice quality grass seed. Scott's is good quality seed. You can either seed it with a seeder or you can take a coffee can, punch holes in the bottom, and walk around the yard shaking the seed out.

Do this a couple of times this spring.

And next fall be sure to rake up all the leaves etc. and don't leave them laying around to smother your grass.

[Ruth4Truth]

That's not a lawn. Looks like the builder just sprinkled some seed around and called it a lawn. You'll have to turn it into a lawn, yourself.

[uncleharley]

My experiance with a new lawn and a new house was that the "lawn" was made up of subsoil that was dug to facilitate the basement and foundation of the house. Consequently, I needed to fertilize heavily during the first year to get grass to grow. Additional seed & raking will probably be necesary also. Ask your neighbors what they did.

uh

[TinaMcG]

I agree with Ruth. Your pictures show new grass plants, not established grass. It is not dying. This is important, because if you overseed too heavily now, your lawn will come in too thick and some of the grass will die.

I suspect your neighbors put down sod, and your builder seeded your yard. That's the difference.

Your grass looks healthy, just immature. So this spring, you can core aerate (or have a lawncare company do it), fertilize and keep it well watered all summer. Each of those individual blades will fill out, sending up many more blades from the crown of the young plants. If your lawn is small enough, you can also spread about 1/4" of compost on top of it after aerating. This is one of the best things you can do for the soil, and ultimately, your lawn.

What you also want to do while your lawn is so thin is control weeds. This is the time to put down a preemergent to stop germinating weeds from thriving, thus allowing your glass to fill out without all that competition.

I am not a huge fan of the instant gratification that comes with sodding a new lawn. I would always prefer seeding. It requires patience, but in the end, grass that germinates in the spot where it will always grow just seems to be happier.

[pokesalad4u2]

IMO,I would not use fertilizer on my lawn,never have never will. It takes awhile to regrow.All we do is mow and go. All this lawn care may be one reason why we are a nation of cancer,alergy epidemics.

Unless your rich,I'd put my time and energy into food production.Also we always leave the leaves on our lawn. It protects the grass and feeds it. I'd do like someone else said, reseed and if you have to use something make it.

one cup per gallon,then spray it one about a #3 on your sprayer.This will dilute it down to about 10 gallons of liquid if you use 3 parts liquid to 7 parts water in your sprayer. Some here may be more helpful about formular that will work better.

amonia
molasses
original dawn dish soap
can of beer
fill with water

[TinaMcG]

I strongly urge no one take the advice given above.

Feeding our lawns is not what is making people sick. Pesrticide overspray might be a problem, but feeding your lawn IS important, and it is safer for the user (and the lawn) to apply nitrogen in the form of a granule than by using household ammonia. Throw those Jerry Baker books away, please.

[Cathy Adams]

A lot of builders scrape the top soil off the lot before they start building. It looks like that's what happened to your yard. All the grass seed in the world will not support a lawn with poor soil quality. Depending on how much you're willing to spend you really should plow this yard under, rake out the clumps of crap grass, add high quality soil or other soil amenities and plant a mix of high quality seed according to the directions on the bag. You can take your pictures and a soil sample to a local garden supply company and get professional advice for your area of the country and have your soil tested. A healthy lawn is not easy to grow, requires a lot of care but is well worth the effort once it's established. Good luck!