[beastcivic]

Hey everyone,
I got my back yard looking amazing last fall (seeded and ferilized). It carried through to this spring. But now that warmer weather is here, it's dying off again.
It's a fairly shaded area in the very back (10-15 mature oak trees), but the ground does get light throughout the day.
I seeded with dense shade mixes (creeping red / chewings fescue, etc) that said 2-4 hours of sunlight was all that was needed.
I haven't watered it because the rest of the yard was just barely looking stressed, so I figured being shaded it would be ok. Maybe that was my flaw because the trees take the majority of the rain? Not sure, but just in the past 2 weeks it had gone from looking good, growing fast and tall, to thinned out, partly brown and matted down.
I just put down a fungicide, but I'm thinking maybe it's lack of water or sufficient sunlight. Any guess based on the pictures?

 

[beastcivic]

Here's what it looked like just a few weeks ago.

 

[g-man]

What are your temperatures? Creeping red doesn't like heat. The thin blades dry out.

 

[beastcivic]

It's been upper 70s - low 90s for highs, lows haven't really dipped below 60.

 

[beastcivic]

So, what are my options? Not much sun, high heat in the summers. Am I left with chopping the trees down? Haha
Or will chewings be ok in high heat, just not the creeping red?

 

[probasestealer]

I can't see your location on my phone? Where are you located?

Creeping red does well under my oaks in North Carolina, our temps have been 80s-90s with lots of rain and it survived a drought last summer.

I doubt fungus or lack of sunlight for red fescue based on the above pics. How much fertilizer? Red fescue doesn't need much. Any weed killer? Pre emergent? Tenacity?

 

[beastcivic]

I'm in Charlotte NC
Fertilizer was last applied on April 14th (.75 lb N per 1k of Milo). Dithiopyr put down 3 weeks ago (and in mid-March) no other weed killer since last year. Prodiamine put down in mid Feb.

 

[probasestealer]

How wet is the soil?

I think a definitive answer is going to be difficult in this case, especially online.

I do wonder about the soil being excessively wet with all of our rain causing the grass to sufficate. Does water tend to pool in areas? I wonder if a surfactant might help.

The limited light of not your friend. May want to look into more shade tolerant cultivars, as a rule tttf and creeping/red fescue do well (unfortunately not wear tolerant and need little fertilizer) but you may want to look at the NTEP in Raleigh and other transition sites.

I don't think the tree roots are the issue here, mid summer with a drought I would say yes.

I think fungal is still possible, but less likely from what I see in the pics

 

[JohnP]

I can't see your location on my phone? Where are you located?

For me, rotating to landscape makes the side pop in view with the profile info.

 

[g-man]

Just click the name in the post and it opens up their profile.

 

[Delmarva Keith]

Hey everyone,
I got my back yard looking amazing last fall (seeded and ferilized). It carried through to this spring. But now that warmer weather is here, it's dying off again.
It's a fairly shaded area in the very back (10-15 mature oak trees), but the ground does get light throughout the day.
I seeded with dense shade mixes (creeping red / chewings fescue, etc) that said 2-4 hours of sunlight was all that was needed.
I haven't watered it because the rest of the yard was just barely looking stressed, so I figured being shaded it would be ok. Maybe that was my flaw because the trees take the majority of the rain? Not sure, but just in the past 2 weeks it had gone from looking good, growing fast and tall, to thinned out, partly brown and matted down.
I just put down a fungicide, but I'm thinking maybe it's lack of water or sufficient sunlight. Any guess based on the pictures?

My guess based on the pictures is it sure looks like a combination of heat stress and insufficient water.

I don't know how folks around here would react to a recommendation for one of those $10 moisture meters from any big box store (ducking :mrgreen: a TDR will likely never be in my budget) but I have a little cheapie one and use it to track comparisons of what I see on the ground versus what the little cheapie meter says. It can be a useful tool when the suspicion is insufficient water or for those puzzling spots where soil depth is insufficient due to "things" underground.

 

[LIgrass]

I'm not a fescue guy but there are definite lesions and other signs of disease here https://postimg.cc/image/ml769nktj/

 

[beastcivic]

Thanks everyone,
When it rains heavy, the rain will pool in this area, but we haven't had very heavy rains lately. Actually was mowing the yard yesterday and it began to rain, I didn't get wet when mowing this area (under the trees), so I'm leaning toward not enough water. I'll try to keep it watered the next few weeks and see if it improves. I have put down a fungicide in the past couple days, I'll follow up with another round 14 days later. Hopefully it'll pop back to live. I'll try pulling plugs or checking soil moisture to see how it looks. If I kill it, I'll have to try and reseed this fall with another seed type.

Otherwise I'm not sure what to do, other than mulch this area or get the canopy thinned out (which I want to do anyway).