How to revive patchy Buffalo lawn?

[LinL]

My buffalo lawn is not doing well. I’ve neglected it. Lots of bare and dry spots. Areas under shade is doing better. Wondering if it can be revived with lots of love and care or should I start again and returf my lawn? If I can revive it, please let me know what to do. There’s some weeds and there’s a patch of a different type of grass growing in some spots, one with a finer leaf. Thanks

Fine leaf grass

[aapkahiren]

Thank you Eric for your tips and recommendation. Let me try my luck and update you.

Have a good one.

Sincerely,

Hiren

[averagebloke]

Last November I had a healthy looking lawn out back. It's mostly buffalo I believe as it has lots of runners so I can't dethatch it. I had carefully improved it (it was never bad) over the course of the year with seed + fertilizer, regular watering, and mowing.

I set the sprinkler to a timer (and made sure it worked), went travelling, and came back in early Feb. This is my lawn now. (I had someone come and mow it regularly, and they noticed it going brown)

The funny thing is the nature strip out front — which I don't even water — is fine! Here's how the nature strip looks (pretty much the same as the day I left it)

No, the nature strip isn't perfect, but it's fine for a lawn I never pay attention to (other than mowing, raking, and trimming).

How can I restore my lawn to its former glory without buying a bunch of random products? I don't think it's a watering problem, as other lawns have survived without the same watering. I don't think it's a grub problem as it's evenly brown. Is it a fertilizer problem? I saw a post on Reddit suggesting just spreading manure over it (not sure how much), or maybe blood and bone. Maybe the soil is no good out in this yard.

I'm pretty sure the lawn is all still alive, but it's so brown.

One thing I may have done wrong is using the wrong lawn seed (kikuyu) over it to try to build it up before leaving. I maybe suffocated it... not sure.

For context, this is Melbourne. It didn't rain much in Nov/Dec, and got hot a number of days.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @averagebloke. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about lawn care.

I can think of a couple of issues that would cause this. Overwatering or the grass grew too long without being mown, and when it was eventually mown, it was cut too short. 

How often and for how long were you watering during this period? Since your grass out the front with no water is fine, there's a chance it was overwatered.

When grass gets long, the lower sections begin to brown. So you could have had a very lush, longer lawn over this period, and then when cut, you now have a brown lawn.  

I, too, believe the lawn is still alive, and my suspicions are that it's just been cut quite short after growing out quite long. I'd suggest applying some Seasol to help it recover and only water it when the soil begins to dry out. 

I don't believe this is a fertiliser, grub or an over-sowing issue.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[helpmygrass123]

Not sure what to do, have been giving plenty of water (early mornings, not evening), have applied seasol, and aerated. Some parts look healthy, most looks dry or greyed and shrivelled. Grass was laid 11 months ago.

[JacobZ]

Hi @helpmygrass123,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question about your lawn.

A couple of questions to start with. 

Do you have any pets? Does water pool in any areas when there is heavy rain? Have the brown spots appeared quickly?

I notice that there are two fairly different kinds of patches.

These patches look quite yellow and look more like dead leaves than root structures. They are isolated from each other and seem like they're fairly recent. It looks like grass has grown, root structures have developed and then something has killed the grass. I suspect these patches could be somewhere a pet is relieving itself, maybe a chemical was spilled there or there is a lawn pest like lawn grubs.

Identifying the cause of these spots will require some further investigation. If it is related to a chemical spill or a pet, then you should mow it short, aerate and then care for your lawn with a lawn fertilizer and regular watering.

If it is related to lawn grubs, you should apply Richgro Hose On Lawn Beetle And Grub Killa to the yellower dead patches.

 

These sections look more like the grass itself has struggled to grow. I think this is because there are low spots in your lawn where water is pooling during heavy rain. One large rain event won't kill the lawn, but with consistent downpours and regularly pooling water, the grass will die over time.

My suggestion for these sections of grass is to aerate, top-dress and level them. This will add nutrients to the soil and raise the lower sections to prevent the pooling of water. Check out How To Aerate And Top Dress Your Lawn for some guidance on top dressing and levelling your lawn.

It would also be worthwhile at this stage in your lawn development to apply a buffalo-specific lawn fertiliser such as Scotts Lawn Builder Buffalo Slow Release Lawn Fertiliser. This will provide your lawn with the main nutrients it needs to thrive.

You might also like to check out How To Care For Buffalo Lawn for some guidance on caring for your lawn.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

[montyy]

 

 

What is the best way to repair our buffalo lawn?

We have several dirt patches which seam to be not repairing. I have tried fertilising and seasol lawn applicators but it doesn’t want to bounce back.

I removed a large section of the dead grass which I could almost pull up like it was a turf roll. I suspect when we bought the property around November 24 that the turf was laid for selling purposes.

The lawn gets at least 2-3 hours of sun per day in all sections depending on position of the sun.

Should I pull up the whole area and redo it properly by aerating, new soil and turf?

Any other suggestions?

First time dealing with lawn issues like this!

[JacobZ]

Hi @montyy,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

There is absolutely no need to remove the soil and start again. It looks like you have some low spots, compacted soil and potentially drainage issues. The fact you could lift it quite easily indicates the roots had struggled to break through to the soil beneath, likely due to compaction of the soil.

What I would suggest is aerating then top dressing your lawn. You can use How To Aerate And Top Dress Your Lawn as a guide.

This process will allow oxygen to get to the roots, help with drainage and level any low spots in your lawn. With better soil conditions, the roots will extend sideways, and the bare patches will begin to fill in.

Let me know what you think, and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

[montyy]

Hi Jacob,

While I will relay the sections of dead grass, would you recommend when aerating that we use a mixture of soil/sand?

Once we top soil and aerate should the buffalo grow back over the dirt sections?

Is spring the best time of the year to do this?

Should I fertilise the soil when top soiling or some time after?

Thanks!

[JacobZ]

Hi @montyy,

Start by aerating everything. Both the bare areas and the areas with grass will benefit. This will break up the soil, allowing better drainage and encouraging better root growth.

When everything has been aerated, apply a mix of topsoil and sand around 50mm thick to the bare section and a thin layer around 10-20mm thick over the existing grass. Use a soil spreader to level and spread the soil and sand mix. The mixture will provide a good base for the roots of the new turf to grow into, and it will level and add nutrients to the already existing grass.

As long as the soil mixture is spread thinly over the existing buffalo so that the leaves can still poke through and it doesn't suffocate it, the grass will grow thicker and bounce back beautifully.

Spring is usually the best time to start work on your lawn, but it is not too late now. Grass grows predominantly in the warmer months, going dormant throughout Winter. While your time for improvements is nearing an end, depending on your location, Autumn is still usually warm enough for your grass to grow, and you should be fine if you start the work as soon as possible.

I would hold off on fertilising as most topsoil mixes have some fertiliser already mixed in. Over fertilising can burn the grass and cause more harm than good.

Let me know what you think, and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

[BlakeD]

 

 

I laid my buffalo turf in November. Since then some areas are starting to go brown and look quite dead. Is this just over summer? Or is there something else I need to do to maintain the grass?

also, along my sleeper wall, it doesn’t seem to grow here either. Any tips on improving this area too?