Dull Grass

[scottpetrie]

Hi
Ive been having trouble with my lawn forever now. I recently treated it with a thickener and feed. I went on holiday for 3-1/2 weeks and came back to long thick lucious green grass, which Ive never really had. I trimmed it on lawnmowers highest setting but it has now gone back to being patchy, dull straw like. Only time it seems to ever look good is when its longer. Any suggestions what it could be?
Thanks

 

[Wayners]

I had a chat to one of those lawn treatment people.
He said you need to feed the lawn and in summer water at least twice a day and 3 times when it's really warm.
Also cut long.
Maybe it rained a lot and grew nice and long when you were away

 

[scottpetrie]

Thanks for that. Yeh it rained a lot when I was away. Ill try cutting it long and just gradually lower it. Ill have a look for feed too

 

[pcaouolte]

Mine needs feeding about every 6 weeks, it gets cut long, never below 50mm, never taking off more than one third of the grass length at a time.
Cut twice a week when it is growing well, once a week when growing slowly, once a month in the winter.

 

[scottpetrie]

Okay thanks for that. What feed do you use? I recently used miracle grow thick and green. It certainly thickened it, speeding up the growing process and turned really dark green but when I cut it its still patchy.

 

[pcaouolte]

I usually use Evergreen Complete. The make of feed won't make much difference, it is the regular maintenance that works. If you let it get too long before cutting it the bottom of the grass stems go brown. If it is short of water the grass goes brown. If you cut it too short you cut off the green part and leave the brown base of the stems. If it is full of thatch (old dead grass) it will look brown when cut, this can be improved by raking the thatch out. If your lawnmower blade is not sharp it will not cut the grass cleanly and the tip of the stems go brown.

Can you post a close up photo of a problem area?

 

[scottpetrie]

Here it is. Its patchy all over. If its long its like it covers it and hides it. When I cut it, it re-appears. That last cut was longest setting on mower. It needs doing again so will try keeping it long see if that helps but I have been feeding it and watering it. Im in Scotland so its rare that it actually dries out

 

[Odds]

Have you checked for bugs in the bush? They can munch on the roots and decay the plant - or perhaps it needs more nutrients in those areas where the soil is thinner or the clay base is higher. Scarify the lawn and aerate with a fork, then apply a branded feed like 'Miracle-Gro' to see if it helps.

 

[scottpetrie]

I have noticed whenever I cut it there are a lot of moths. Ive just scarified it so will fork some holes and feed it. The soils quite hard which isnt helping