Why Is my newly seeded Tall Fescue lighter than the rest of the lawn?
I’ve seeded some new patches of EFT. Now 4-6 weeks old. Much lighter than the older ETF lawn. Is this normal? Does it darken as it ages/thickens?
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Yeah, normal. New turf almost always comes in lighter than established turf, and at 4-6 weeks you're still in the early establishment phase.
New turf comes in lighter due to limited root mass restricting nitrogen uptake during establishment. A foliar brew of Charger bypasses the shallow root bottleneck and is effective for quick colour response, particularly when soil temperatures are low. The N, Fe and growth promoters will help darken it up without pushing excessive growth.
Once the roots are down properly, colour catches up. Usually a couple of months in good conditions, longer when it's cold.