Can I revive this buffalo turf?

Samiyo

Hi there.

i had buffalo turf laid down 7 weeks ago (early February). For the first 2 weeks I watered (maybe overwatered?) the turf and it looked great! I went overseas for the past 5 weeks during which time my friend was quite good at watering the turf. He mowed it for the first time in my absence.

As you can see a huge patch looks like it’s dying. Another patch has brown patches and then finally another patch has a large brown portion with weeds coming through.

Google suggested I could literally have every problem from underwatered to overwatered to infection/disease to premature mowing etc. I don’t know which it is. Any idea how to find out and how to fix it?

Jason

Apologies for the slow reply @Samiyo. One of our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. experts will be happy to assist as soon as possible.

It might help them to know where you are based and what the weather has been like recently.

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. We're pleased to have you join us.

Jason

MitchellMc

Hi @Samiyo,

I'm so sorry for the delay in my reply.

Your lawn is not looking very healthy and, unfortunately, looks like it is dying off. You're right that it is exceptionally difficult to diagnose a reason for this, and it really revolves around the care you have provided. What sort of preparation did you do to the soil before the turf was laid down? Have you applied any fertilisers? How often was the lawn being watered? How has the weather been there? How is the drainage in that area, and does the soil stay wet after being watered for long periods of time? Why did you need to replace the lawn, was it because the previous lawn died off?

At this point, the only advice I could provide would be to apply some Seasol and water only when the soil begins to dry out. We'll just need to keep our fingers crossed that it comes back for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Samiyo

Thanks Mitch really appreciate your reply.

I’m based in Sydney Gladesville and this was laid down in February. There was no grass there before, only stepped garden beds. I wanted a flat area for my kids so removed the garden beds, flattened the earth and laid the turf down. Initially in the heat of summer I was watering twice a day on hot days but not if it was raining. The grass got mowed first when it was maybe about 5cm long and not again since. I used fertiliser once initially. I think the soil is staying wet after watering.

I’ll pop into Bunnings today and grab some seasol.

MitchellMc

Hi @Samiyo,

Do you have any idea how often your friend was watering the turf? We haven't had many really hot days recently in Sydney. If the grass was watered daily during the last five weeks and the soil is not draining well and remains wet, that could cause the die-back. I'd recommend only watering if the soil is drying out as if it always remains wet/moist, the roots will begin to rot.

Mitchell