How to Fix a Yellow Fescue Lawn
Fescue is a cool-season type of turfgrass that is popular for its low-maintenance nature. It requires less fertilizer, water and mowing than many other types of turfgrass. In fact, overwatering a fescue lawn may cause problems -- making it especially susceptible to certain diseases. Some of these diseases, such as pythium, cause fescue lawns to turn yellow. A fescue lawn may also turn yellow due to a lack of nutrients. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Sharp knife
- Plastic bag
- Fungicide
- Fertilizer with trace elements
- Fertilizer spreader
Instructions
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Find an area on the lawn where the yellow grass meets healthy grass. Use a sharp knife to cut a 4-inch-square area with equal parts of yellow grass and healthy grass, and their roots. Place the sample in an unsealed plastic bag and refrigerate it until you can deliver it to your county cooperative extension office. The analysis will tell you if the grass is diseased. Follow the advice that accompanies the diagnoses. This will generally include the use of a fungicide.
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Purchase a lawn fertilizer with trace elements listed on the label for the non-diseased fescue lawn. Fescue lawns turn yellow when deficient in nitrogen, iron, boron, magnesium, sulfur or manganese. Ensure that all of these elements are included in the fertilizer you purchase.
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Add half the recommended rate of fertilizer to a drop or broadcast fertilizer spreader. Walk the lawn while you broadcast the fertilizer in strips. Add the remaining half of the fertilizer to the spreader and walk over the first application so that there is a crisscross pattern.
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Water the lawn to a depth of 10 inches after fertilizing. This helps soak the fertilizer to the fescue's roots.
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Tips & Warnings
Apply fertilizer to a dry fescue lawn.
References
- Seedland: Maintaining Fescue Grass Lawns
- WalterReeves.com; Fescue--Diseases; Walter Reeves
- Alabama Cooperative Extension Service; Diseases of Tall Fescue Lawns; Austin Hagan; January 2000
- "Landscape Management: Planting and Maintenance of Trees, Shrubs and Turfgrass"; James R. Feucht, et al.; 1988
