HELP - Sir Walter Lawn doing it tuff

[Samc81]

Hi 

looking for a little help identifying the problem with my Sir Walter Lawn which was installed in April 2019 in Sydney.

It was looking amazing and healthy up until around mid November after a couple of really hot days a few large patches turned completely to ‘hay’ in a day or so

Since then I have been trying to nurse it back to life with doses of seasol and watering but it is still patchy with random green shoots. The dead patches are pretty solidly connected to the soil with what I’d imagine are root and it doesn’t lift up like some people describe when the lawn is infested with grubs but the patches are slowly spreading. See pic

 

Lastly I some of the grass where it is healthy is sprouting for lack a better tern and I’m not sure if it a weed or just because I have let it grow see pic

 

I’m not sure if I have a Grub and weed problem or just need to be patientand wait for it to bounce back. Any advice would be great

[Jason]

Hi @Samc81,

Thanks for the photos. I'm sure they will help some of the lawn care experts in our community like the wonderful @Adam_W to diagnose any problems. 

Let me extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. We're really pleased to have you join us and trust that our amazing community members provide plenty of helpful advice, information and inspiration for all your projects around the house and garden. Please feel free to post anytime you need a hand with anything or have something to share. 

Jason

[MitchellM]

@Samc81 I'll let @Adam_W diagnose the issue, as with this heat it's hard for me to distinguish between die-back from heat and other issues.

However, I do believe what you have shown is the seed stem of Buffalo grass not a weed. Adam can correct that if i'm wrong.

[Adam_W]

Absolutely 100% @MitchellM & @Samc81 , those are flower/seed heads so nothing to worry about.
Big issue for lawns just about everywhere is the extended dry. Lawns will often brown-off, especially on newer lawns, where soil is shallower or compacted from extra wear & tear or there is something underneath that may be retaining heat (rock etc.)
Trivial digression but archaeologists can use dry conditions to find lost architecture...

Best thing to do... honestly. Wait.
You can hit it with seaweed & soil wetter & water it but fact is you'll be fighting an uphill battle in the dry.
Do spread some soil wetter that can be applied to dry grass without watering in. This will help water penetrate when it does rain as soil becomes very water repellent when really dry.
Once we get over that hurdle we can have a chat about long-term fixes.
Fingers crossed Sydney gets the forecast rain.
We're pretty happy up here, had over 60mm in last few days. Our water tanks have just gone to overflow for the first time in I can't remember!
Makes me wish I could install more!

[Samc81]

@Adam_W   and @MitchellM  thanks for the advice. It has been bucketing down but we need so much more.

Ill get some soil wetter and hopefully it doesn’t die off too much during the rest of summer. Will it be able to regrow itself in the future or will I have to returf  those areas?

sam

[Garth]

That sure looks like buff seedheads the council planted on the roadside and the wet will bring it back, but put some soil wetter on now. if it has not already rained

[Adam_W]

Sorry for the delay @Samc81 the new buffalos are very good at self-repairing so assuming it gets some reliable moisture, maybe give it some seaweed tonic to reboot the soil micro-organisms and, most importantly, try to keep people off it for a while if at all possible.

[Maz5067]

Try throwing a wet bag over a section of the grass overnight.   Look under it in the early morning.  A quick way to check for lawn grubs. 

[Kermit]

How's your lawn looking now @Samc81?

All the recent rain has seen ours growing like crazy - bit unusual for this time of year.  

[Samc81]

Hi

I installed a smart sprinkler system not long after I posted and that helped a little and then the rains came recently which boosted the growth. In the end it was simply a lack of moisture.

it is still a little patchy but mostly all good