need help with my lawn

jesse gonzalez · Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 1

:cry: hi i am new to this site, i am also a new home owner and ive spent some money on my lawn, i laid down some sod in april, i watered it daily and i sprayed miracle grow, it was very thick and healthy. ive kept up the watering, and ive used scotts fertilizers, but in the last month ive noticed dead grass and also some yellow and dry patches, and some perfect dry circles. i dont know what it is that i need to do, but i need help. can anyone assist me on this matter.

jmeier · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 110 Location: Garland

ummm, I think that you will probably get a plethora of responses to your question...However, A couple of things you can do, that will probably be expanded by others.

First stop using miracle gro and scotts, and over the next couple of months gradually stretch your watering out to once a week. You will need to devise a means of determining how long it takes to get an inch of water per week down on your lawn in one shot. There are several mentioned on this board.

You don't say what type of sod you had laid down but St. Augustine brown spots can usually be fixed by an application of 20-30 lbs. of feed grade cornmeal per 1000 sq. ft. As well, an application of finished compost never hurts anything, and dry molasses at roughly the same rate as the cornmeal will speed things up (I don't usually measure the molasses).

If you want to speed up the process of filling inthose dead spots with St. Augustine you can insert some grass plugs 6-12 inches apart, you will have to dig a little hole in the ground so it iis level.

Hope that helps...

Dchall_San_Antonio · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: San Antonio,TEXAS

That's pretty good advice. The dead spots are probably fungal. The "crop circle" is a dead give away to fungal disease.

If you put new sod down without treating it first with corn meal, guess what will happen? The new grass will die in about 3 weeks.
Been there. Done that. Bought more sod.

Put the corn meal down and wait 3 weeks before sodding. You might find you don't need to sod. And your first application of corn meal will start you on the road to organic fertilizing. Keep on that path with applications in early spring, 4th of July, and Labor Day and you are an organic gardener. Just fertilize and don't use herbicides, insecticides, or chemical fungicides and the organisms in the soil will take care of your grass for you.

JimKing · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 35 Location: San Antonio

Jesse,
Welcome to the site.
I agree the Miricle Grow and Scotts are not the correct way to go. Just the way they are made-they require you to continue to use them more and more. Your yard will always be dependent on those chemicals.

The very basics for this year should include compost (just once this year), a basic organic fert. like Green Sense ( spring,summer, fall) , and corn meal (a couple of time - more it needed). Remember to cut it regularly and water deep.

Welcome and Good Luck...