Lawn Issues

[Prashun Patel]

Is it normal for newly sown grass to grow brighter than established grass? I reseeded last fall and now I have 'patches' of bright green. I tried to capture it here...

[Rob Bodenschatz]

I'm having the same problem. I re-seed every year and this is the first I've seen it. Actually, it started last fall and has gotten really bad this spring. Closest I can find online is that it may be creeping bentgrass. That's what they use for putting greens. If it is, we have major problems. I may get a pro in to check it out.

[Sean Troy]

Absolutely normal for new grass to be lighter green. Did you fertilize with starter fertilizer when you put the new grass in? If not, it may be iron deficient. You'll see the lighter green in Rye or Fescue type lawns more so when the grass is young than other types. They darken as they mature. Usually by 3 or four mowings.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, Sean. I did put a starter fertilizer down last fall.

I DID use a fine fescue mix (Jonathan Greene's Black Beauty) even though the rest of my lawn is probably a mix of rye/KBlue/fescue.

I live in the Northeast.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Absolutely normal for new grass to be lighter green. Did you fertilize with starter fertilizer when you put the new grass in? If not, it may be iron deficient. You'll see the lighter green in Rye or Fescue type lawns more so when the grass is young than other types. They darken as they mature. Usually by 3 or four mowings.

I hope you're right Sean but I don't know. My light green patches are spreading like a weed (pun intended). Mine are also more pronounced so it may be something different.
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[David G Baker]

I have round dark green patches in my lawn that are caused by deer fertilizer that is dropped over the Winter.
Bob your patches look like fertilizer burn but probably aren't. Your lawn looks like it is well maintained and not consisting of 60% weeds like mine so if I were you I would get some professional advice before you loose your whole lawn.

[Sean Troy]

I hope you're right Sean but I don't know. My light green patches are spreading like a weed (pun intended). Mine are also more pronounced so it may be something different.
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Is it the same look as the rest of the lawn other than color? I'm fighting Johnson grass now, what a pain.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Once again I've gotta do all the work 'round here.

You're not looking at the lawn from the right angle.....
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[Mitchell Andrus]

I once spelled a naughty word in a neighbor's lawn with fertilizer. It lasted a long time.
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[Anthony Anderson]

It looks like you have two different varieties of grass. I am dealing with the same problem. I bought, what I thought was a good quality grass seed. I read the types of grass seed and noxious weed content on the seed bag label. Now I am dealing with a lawn that looks similar to yours. Very frustrating. For you, I hope I am wrong, but for my situation I know that this is the case. I have never been happy with the sod that was installed when we built our house, so maybe it is time to replace with sod from a different sod farm. Let us know how it turns out for you.

Good Luck. Bill

[Pat Germain]

I hope you're right Sean but I don't know. My light green patches are spreading like a weed (pun intended). Mine are also more pronounced so it may be something different.
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I recognize those markings. Those are actually caused by flying saucers hovering above your lawn at night. They'll go away after awhile.

Seriously, you might try a product I use every year called "Revive". It looks like Ovalteen. It must have a lot of iron in it because it makes my lawn very dark green. It also evens up the color. Not sure if will completely elimate the spots, but it might help.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

TruGreen told me that the light green is rye. The rest is heavier with bluegrass & fescue. Not sure I believe him but I think the only option is to kill it & rebuild. He didn't give me any other solution. I'm getting a second opinion though so I'll let you know if I find anything different.

[David G Baker]

Rye that I plant and use for a cover crop for some areas of my lawn dies off after one season. It gives the better grass a chance to get established.

[Larry Frank]

I agree that it is probably different types of blue, fescue or rye grasses. There are both annual and perenial types of rye grass. Your yard wiill look different depending on how much of each you have in an area. In addition, it will depend upon the time of the year. Blue grass grows well with cool nights and not too hot days. The fescue grows better in the hot weather. You really need a blend of these so that your yard looks pretty good most of the year. If it were me, I would buy a good quality seed blend and reseed the entire yard. It will make the grass stronger by maintaining different varieties. When you do not reseed for a long period of years, you will general lose the blend of varieties and the yard will not look good.

The grass seed is like anything else in that you need to read the label especially the part that tell what type of grass seeds are contained and how much of what you are buying is inert matter. I find that it is kind of like tools in that you get what you pay for. If you buy cheap grass seed, you will get a cheap looking grass.

[Terry Hatfield]

I once spelled a naughty word in a neighbor's lawn with fertilizer. It lasted a long time.
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Dude...I spit on the computer. You owe me.