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Brown Lawn in drought

2.7K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  tgreen  
#1 ·
As you can see below, my lawn is a bit of a mess with massive brown sections. My town is on a complete water ban and they are fining anyone running their sprinklers. Hand watering is allowed, but the size of my lawn is a little big for that. The picture below shows just one section. The lawn was originally hydroseeded 3 years ago before I bought the house, so I don't know what type was used. I then overseeded with Black Beauty and a blend from SSS.

What I am trying to figure out though, is why only certain sections are brown. Is it different types of grass? I haven't watered any of it for at least a month, so it isn't like one section is just getting more water. Could something else be causing the brown sections that I can try to fix even without water? The grass there doesn't actually seem dead. It is just brown. If I try to pull some, it still feels like strong grass in the sense that it doesnt pull from the lawn easily.



Is this just a matter of needing to water everything? My best guess is that the brown parts are a different type of grass that browns in the summer time. At least if that is the case I can know to try and fix that part of it.
 
#3 ·
If it's not easy to pull up, then it's probably just dormant and not dead or grub damaged. It could be different grasses or even the soil composition could be different. For example, soil depth could be different or there are often areas of rock or even gravel from when the house was constructed. There isn't much to do right now, I don't think. I guess if you're really paranoid about it, you could select a small area to hand water and see if it comes back. I'm not recommending that, but it's something to pass the time, ha ha.
 
#5 ·
Water ban in Boston? Wow.

That doesn't look like poa and looks like lack of water. As to why the uneven patches, my guess is uneven water application. Not a criticism as I can't imagine trying to water that by hand. It also may be the differences in grass type. The fescue should be more drought tolerant.

Can you move out of Boston. Seriously, how ridiculous! Sorry.