[matthewmoore3]

Hi

Ive been offering garden work and I have seeded a couple of very small grass areas for customers to fill bits of the garden in

The issue I have is the ryegrass is looking pretty rubbish, the stalks are very thick and yellowy (see picture) and when cut down to 2 or 3 inches looks quite bad.

I suspect a couple of different issues and looking for a bit of validation or ideas...

1: The grass was allowed to grow too long between cuts (im not always around to look after it, and sometimes has got to more than 12 inches)) so the grass grew too much and firmed up at the base to become too thick and the more ****** yellowy area at the bottom of the stalk became higher

... Is it correct that frequent cutting is neccessary to keep the ryegrass from getting overly coarse at the base which then looks pretty bad when mowed to 2 or 3 inches? Ie frequent cutting keeps it finer

2: I accidently used a very cheap seed mix, (i wasnt trying to save money, just i am in germany, and my girlfriend ordered it from the internet for me, we have seen since it is half the price of what you might expect)... the actual ryegrass content was 25%, all from a single type

...could it be some perrenial ryegrass is different than others, with different degrees of quality and coarseness, or is it pretty much all the same? in another mix ive used, there were a blend of 3 different ryegrasses totaling 55%.. i thought the 25% might be a bit low for establishing the lawn, and it might just be a particularly coarse ryegrass, though maybe that is better explained by the cutting issue...

Basically I am asking is cutting frequency the main problem, as to the poor look, or cheap seed mix/potential differences between perennial ryegrasses , or a bit of both?

I think the soil was prepared pretty well

Thanks, Matthew

 

[ales_gantar]

Hi.
From my experience it's the cutting frequency. I remember when we didn't mow regularly we had yellowish grass that looked like wheat was growing on it.

 

[g-man]

Yes, mowing frequency. The guideline is not to cut more than 1/3 of the total length. If your desire is 3in mowing, then the max you should allow it to grow is 4in.

 

[LIgrass]

Hi

Ive been offering garden work and I have seeded a couple of very small grass areas for customers to fill bits of the garden in

The issue I have is the ryegrass is looking pretty rubbish, the stalks are very thick and yellowy (see picture) and when cut down to 2 or 3 inches looks quite bad.

I suspect a couple of different issues and looking for a bit of validation or ideas...

1: The grass was allowed to grow too long between cuts (im not always around to look after it, and sometimes has got to more than 12 inches)) so the grass grew too much and firmed up at the base to become too thick and the more ****** yellowy area at the bottom of the stalk became higher

... Is it correct that frequent cutting is neccessary to keep the ryegrass from getting overly coarse at the base which then looks pretty bad when mowed to 2 or 3 inches? Ie frequent cutting keeps it finer

2: I accidently used a very cheap seed mix, (i wasnt trying to save money, just i am in germany, and my girlfriend ordered it from the internet for me, we have seen since it is half the price of what you might expect)... the actual ryegrass content was 25%, all from a single type

...could it be some perrenial ryegrass is different than others, with different degrees of quality and coarseness, or is it pretty much all the same? in another mix ive used, there were a blend of 3 different ryegrasses totaling 55%.. i thought the 25% might be a bit low for establishing the lawn, and it might just be a particularly coarse ryegrass, though maybe that is better explained by the cutting issue...

Basically I am asking is cutting frequency the main problem, as to the poor look, or cheap seed mix/potential differences between perennial ryegrasses , or a bit of both?

I think the soil was prepared pretty well

Thanks, Matthew

Welcome to TLF. First, you cannot cut off 3/4ths of the grass at one time (12 inch to 3inch). Any lawn will look like crap if you let it get away from you that much. You need to retrain it to grow at 3 inches by cutting no more than 1/3rd (or 1/2 at the very max) for the next few cuts.
Also are you sure the cultivars you have are Perennial rye and not annual ryegrass (sometimes also called Italian Rye)? There is a very big difference between perennial and annual rye. What were the other components of the grass seed mix?

 

[matthewmoore3]

Thanks for the responses..

I can see that it got way too long...

Regarding the compentents of the grass mix, this is the stated mixture:

: ● 10 % Poa pratensis ● 15 % Festuca ovina ● 25 % Lolium perenne ● 50 % Festuca rubra rubra

I do think another issue not related to length and coarseness is that the relatively low amount of rye meant it was a little sparse in the beginning before the fescue began to establish, by which point, with the bad cutting, it looks pretty terrible..

Im happy to have diagnosed the problem, as i did know regular cutting of small amounts is important, but its good to see first hand how important on some small areas... it was also surprising how fast it grew

 

[monty]

Is the grass damaged permenantly for that extreme of a cut or will it recover?

 

[ales_gantar]

It will recover, but not overnight.
It just needs to be trained to stay low.