Why your fine fescue lawn renovation isn’t working, cold soil, poor irrigation and no granular fertiliser
Hey guys , it has been 19 days on our Blenheim property since we lawn Scarified, overseeded; following a foliar mix of Liquid Starter, Restore, and Root Health. Watering for 45 minutes , schedule irrigation for the next days 3 times per day interval 3 minutes.
However , it seems the grass here as well our Chch are not doing great? A bit sad tbh ?? Any input here ? what do we need to put this grass to get it back on truck .
We have even some mushroom growing ion🥲🥲🥲
Post doesn’t make sense. You say you have watered for 45 minutes but then watering 3 times a day for 3 minutes? Perhaps back off the watering you will be leaching any nutrients out of the soil. You don’t need that much irrigation when it’s not been that hot.
@Lance McClure Blenheim has been really warm, our irrigation has a rain sensor which prevent to activate the system when is raining. It will te activate automatically once the day/week is clear !
When did you last use granular fertiliser on it?
@Brandon P almost two
Months ago I believe ! Checking my records !
@David Galeano You need to give it a granular feed then!
Hey David! What seed did you re seed don’t think I can see what you used? Did you put any soil dressing down when you re seeded?
@Emm Andrews NZLA Fine fescue , I know its taking a lot of time ; but it so frustrating to see the grass as it was so nice in the past Maybe we need more time ? Or perhaps apply all season granular fertiliser ? Just worry about the seed as it seems is germinating very very slow ( weather hasn’t been the best too 🤦♂️)
@David Galeano might possibly be too late in season now for granular but have you re put down starter as per the Reno guide? Did you top dress seed or just put over existing lawn after scarifying? Soil temps have dropped a lot too plus any new baby seeds will be hard to see in that currently. It takes a bit to bounce back when in scarify my fine fescue too. But it will.
@Emm Andrews seeds over existing lawn, I havent done much since I have been told don’t put anything till now . I will check the Reno guide and get into . Thanks ☺️
You’re probably better off going back to basics here since you're having poor results across multiple locations.
From some of the comments, it looks like it hasn’t had a granular fertiliser in over two months. Irrigation also seems to be relying on rain sensors rather than following proper watering fundamentals. On top of that, you’ve done the renovation heading into a period of cold soil temperatures, which slows everything down. All of that combined is going to hold the lawn back.
I see it's also fine fescue, which needs 15c soil temps at 10cm deep to germinate, it's way too cold for a fine fescue renovation now. I just pre germinated some in my garage and it took over 3 weeks to germinate. You've previously mentioned rye on your posts? Is this a different site?
It needs a granular fertiliser to carry it through winter before its too late. It's standard practice to use a granular when scarifying and top-dressing to help the lawn recover. There is an application guide on the website.
https://www.newzealandlawnaddicts.com/lawn-tips/lawn-care-101-getting-the-basics-right/
Yes mate, very disappointed ; considering we have two locations s. Very unlucky or perhaps inexperience having both side with no luck 🥲🥲. We have two properties ; Blenheim fine fescue and Chch with rye. Thanks
How's it looking now?
Next time your at the ff site see if you can find brown top grass . Do you use halo on your ff ?
The full spread of brown dots and areas make me feel bt is in there. It's a real sulky one when cut tall then short .
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Ff should respond slowly to dethatching mine does . Always top dress an over sow . Average results I've had just over sowing then trying the heavy water method . And that's with rye .
All seasons or starter fert be me . Normally I've only got N+ plus about . Bit ruff here .
Fescue likes warm soil temps to germinate consistently and damp seed throughout the slow germination process . Ff is slow .
@Stephen thanks man , here how it looks now