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A new buffalo lawn was installed in July 2023
The lawn appears to be growing very well in August
After applying two bottles of Seasol Lawn & Turf Starter and mowing, some areas of the lawn have turned brown or yellow and died, as shown in the following picture(Today, September 2023).
Some details
I'm not sure if the brown patches on my lawn are caused by fungus or lack of water.
I water once a week for 20 minutes.
The soil on top feels a bit hard, but the soil moisture is at a good level of 50-80% when measured with a soil moisture meter.
As a beginner, I didn't realize that using Nuway topsoil as the base soil for my lawn could be a mistake (This soil appears to be a pale yellow-brown color, rather than the dark black color that is indicative of nutrient-rich soil.). If this is the case?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @NateZheng. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about establishing a new lawn.
Buffalo is relatively dormant over the cooler season, so it's typically not laid then. Now that it is warming up, I expect to see your lawn put on new growth and start to green up. It's not unusual for Buffalo to brown off naturally during winter. I do understand, though, that it was quite green when it was laid, so I suspect something else might be happening here.
I note that in your images, the browned sections predominantly appear to be thinner blades of grass. Perhaps this is a cool season grass that has been oversowed to fill in the Buffalo and is now dying off. I'd only expect this to happen if you've seen some very warm weather in your area.
Some of the browned sections look rather compacted, so you could pick up a lawn aerator and go over the lawn. You can then apply some top-dressing soil. Here's a handy step-by-step guide: How to aerate and top dress your lawn.
I don't believe this issue has anything specifically to do with your choice of topsoil. Lawn soils are typically very sandy and designed for this purpose.
With your soil moisture reading, was that just after watering or a few days after? Ideally, unless you've just watered, moisture levels shouldn't be above 50%; if they are, it's not something the grass would tolerate for long periods.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
The potential of there being another thin-bladed grass was on hypothesising @NateZheng. I can't quite tell from your images, but the thin blades could be Buffalo that's folded in half as it's dried. Can you take a close look and see if that's the case? Given we are coming up to the growing season, I feel your lawn will fill in these gaps, and there isn't too much to be worried about. My Buffalo lawn has brown patches all over it, far worse than yours.
Compaction from foot traffic normally occurs over an area where people are continuously walking, like to a clothesline. It could just be natural compaction from the watering during establishment. You can identify if an area is compacted by how it looks, feels and if it's easy to penetrate it with a spiked implement like a garden fork. Your fourth image shows what appears to be a compacted area. I would just aerate it and apply some topdressing over the area. Follow the How to guide I linked above.
If you're using a moisture probe, I've found them to not be particularly reliable. Instead, stick your finger into the soil. It should be moist after watering, and don't water again until it feels dry. You mentioned previously that you're watering once a week, which sounds about right.
Have a look at your grass blades and check to see if they have a threadlike or powdery coatings on them; that's a sign of fungal disease. I'd hold off on applying other treatments to your lawn. Monitor it for a week after watering. Don't water again until the soil begins to dry out. If the soil is still wet by the end of the week, it would indicate there is a drainage issue.
Mitchell
Hi @NateZheng
Using the Trojan All Steel Spiked Aerator should be perfect to aerate the lawn and adding topdressing will help your lawn. My best suggestion is to keep an eye on your watering as too much water will actually drown the roots of the lawn.
If you need further assistance, please let us know.
Eric
Hi there I put down buffalo lawn from Bunnings 3 mths ago at first look amazing , now it’s gone patchy in many areas, we have had a lot of rain over the last few months in Brisbane , I have just joined this workshop so am going to try aeration have bought those shoes with spikes
Hello @alexhoughton
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's marvellous to have you join us.
I'm sure you've read the recommendations made in the posts earlier. Aerating the soil and adding top dress will help in recovery. If the bald portions do not recover it might be necessary to seed these areas in your lawn.
If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.
Eric
