Hi All,
I hope everyone is keeping warm and busy.
I have just had an email from a client who we maintain a few gardens for to say that the lawn at his house (which he has recently rented out) has just completely died!
I`m no expert with lawn care so will be advising him to seek more specialised advice but was wondering if anyone on here has any ideas?
This is the email I have had from the tenant...
Re: Fwd: Urgent help needed with dying/dead grass(!!)Hi Joe,
Up until November the grass was very thick and full. It started to die off around mid-November. The grass turned quite gradually from green to yellow then to brown, before disappearing. It did start in patches in the early stages, but the patches of yellow then extended to cover the whole lawn in quite a short time. From there the change to brown then dying off was quite uniform across the whole lawn.
I have not put any chemicals on it in the time I've been here (beginning of July). I have tried putting new seed down, but I'm not sure if that does any good this time of year, or if the birds have just been eating it. I have not watered the grass as it has rained almost every day for the last couple of months.
Please let me know if you need any more info.
Cheers
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It almost looks like its been sprayed with a grass specific spray. Have you tried digging a couple of exploratory holes to look for anything like bad drainage etc.
are you Shore the new tenants have not put weed killer down (not wanting to do any gardening)
was the surface like the photo before you put the seed down as it could be leather jackets or chaffa grubs and the birds have been digging it up to get at the grubs, any idea how long the lawn has been there
Dig a few exploratory holes and look for either chafers or leather jackets. If it's either of those, to cause that level of damage you'll find them pretty easily. If it is, then big problem as only nematodes available as treatment and we've not had good results with them compared to other eg Merit Turf.
More likely...If you find nothing, then it's likely total weed control gone wrong eg glyphosate.
Was the lawn new in July? If leatherjacket (possibly chafer) then plenty of evidence if you dig about down to 4 inches below surface - if fresh turf then the eggs possibly imported with it. Normal grass seed requires minimum 8 degrees - more like 12 deg. to germinate properly
Have to say I immediately thought weedkiller but if it started in November in patches then fungal disease will be a possibility, especially since it looks like a courtyard - poor airflow, limited drainage, etc but the decline is pretty dramatic as there has been no living grass there for a few weeks....! Dig some test holes and tell us what you find..
Richard@Progreen
info@progreen.co.uk
I'd agree that chemical damage is most likely.
Those stepping stones look remarkably clean for a shady site and wet season. Did they power wash the slabs with a chemical?
The uniformity of the damage seems to suggest that something mechanical has happened to the lawn, other than an attack of anything natural.
Looking at the enclosure that the lawn is growing in I suspect the lack of air flow will always be a factor in determining how well grass is going to grow.
If there were ever a case for artificial grass or a ground cover planting scheme, this is it.
Let us know how this ends Joe.
Over fertilization could be the problem !
Hi,
maybe tenants tried to clean stepping stones and accidentally sprayed lawn by some cleaning chemicals. looks like no organic matters been involved to destroyed your grass.
My money is on Weedkiller or some chemical used to clean the stones.
But then there is hardly any dead grass to be seen. So maybe a fungus could be the culprit. As he states in his email it all started when the rains came. And it was wet and muggy. So if the water cannot flow or drain away. And we have had some great fungus growing end of last year. There were some lovely specimens out and about.
And has no sufficient drainage .
Maybe not enough sunlight neither .
It's like shrubs that overgrown a lawn . It will kill the lawned area .
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