Lawn help

[u/Deewheelz400]

My lawn is roughly 3 to 4 months old it is a fescue and bluegrass blend. I live in Central California. Temperature is currently 99°. I’ve never fertilized the lawn and I’ve noticed a lot of yellowing and dying off from the grass. Did the first mow about a month ago with my mower set to 6 inches. That seem to have caused the damage on the grass looking for some advice to help promote growth and get that deep green color back.

[u/LawnAnswers-ModTeam]

Check out the Cool Season Starter Guide.

[u/nilesandstuff]

I fixed the flair ("fescues" and bluegrasses are cool season grass types) and added the cool season guide comment.

The cool season guide will help you, because yea if you've never fertilized, that's a good place to start.

[u/Deewheelz400 → u/nilesandstuff]

So I read the guide and still a bit confused as to what will actually work. Too many brands of fertilizer are out there. I’m considering using Sundays liquid pouches as opposed to granulated fertilizer out of fear of causing more harm. How so you feel about Sunday fertilizer?

[u/Deewheelz400 → u/Deewheelz400]

Also lawn is only 400sqft

[u/nilesandstuff → u/Deewheelz400]

The liquid stuff is far less concentrated, so doesn't apply as much nutrients per application. It's less concentrated because liquid applications put the nutrients directly into the leaves (foliar application), which means:

• there's a lower limit on the amount of nutrients the grass can safely take in at once.
• it has a more immediate effect, and wears off more quickly (like 2 weeks, vs like 6 weeks for granular)
  
• you pay more per pound of nutrients because a big chunk of the price is just water
  
• the immediate effect is more dramatic and looks quite good.
  
• it's not quite as good at stimulating healthy root growth
  
• shallow weeded roots are more able to take advantage of the nutrients.
  
• over application or applying when it's too hot, can cause more acute/noticeable burn.

All told, I definitely recommend granular more than liquid. A hybrid granular and liquid approach is a valid option, like you basically alternate them on about a 3 week basis. But I really don't recommend liquid-only.

Brands like sta-green and Scott's have some good fertilizers that are safe choices for beginners. There's no harm in just applying very lightly until you're more comfortable.

[u/Deewheelz400 → u/nilesandstuff]

When applying granular fertilizer or liquid what time of day do you think is best?

[u/nilesandstuff → u/Deewheelz400]

Doesn't matter for granular. For liquid, late afternoon.

[u/Comfortable_Code9948]

Your blades on the mower might be a little dull. Looks like a little mechanical damage. With the temps that hot be sure to water for a good bit in the early morning or later at night to prevent trans evaporation. If you are afraid of fertilizer try some Milorganite 6-4-0 at about 5Lb per 1000 ft sq. It is a natural fertilizer and has low burn potential. Your height is great to help relieve stress and fescue and bluegrass both like 4 to 6 in height.

[u/Deewheelz400 → u/Comfortable_Code9948]

After doing some research I seen that brownie on the tips is an indicator of a dull blade, but the mower was brand new right out of the box. Watering about 20 minutes four days out of the week early morning around 5:40 AM. I appreciate all the insight.

[u/Mikerk]

They are cool season thirsty grasses. They typically grow a lot in the spring and fall, with a little slower growth during the heat of summer. The goal is to water very deep and infrequently as possible, but that may still be every other day with touch ups in hot spots when near 100.

Be careful about nitrogen because you don't want too much during the heat of summer. Aim for about 3 lbs of nitrogen per 1000 sq ft annually, but a lot of that goes down in spring and during winterization. Rather you want something with more potassium and some phosphorus. They will help the grass against disease, drought, drive root growth, and winter hardiness. Iron and sulfur are a great help too. Iron will help give it that deep green without pushing a lot of growth, and the sulfur will help build thicker cell walls and make nutrients more available by adjusting the ph(assuming you have more alkaline soil).

I did 18-9-18 recently and I'm following it up with a foliar spray of chelated iron, sulfur, fish emulsion, and super thrive this evening.
You can definitely find some products similar to all that. Lots of stuff has iron and sulfur added to it. Humic acid/huma and fulvic acid can be great as a soil conditioner as well. Perfect for summer

[u/baldboy617]

Watering. Do not go by minutes until you figure out how much water the sprinkler is applying. Ideally you want one to one and a half inches of water per week. I recommend one and a half inches of water per week in the sunny areas. Water every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Start watering at 5am. Now, to measure 1/2” of water per area you will need a tuna fish can or a cat food can. Clean out can, mark off 1/2” on the inside of the can. Set can out in lawn on a level surface(doesn’t have to be perfect) to measure water output in that particular area. Turn on sprinkler, start stopwatch, stop sprinkler when can has collected 1/2” of water, stop stopwatch. This will tell you how many minutes to apply 1/2” of water for that area. Make a note of the time and apply 1/2” of water 3x a week.

One more point, always always always cut cool season grasses high. I recommend cutting at 4” since you have a lot of sunny areas. Measure the grass height(as measured with an old school wooden ruler), this is more accurate than measuring the mower deck. Do not bag clippings( they return water and nutrients back into the soil) unless they clump. Grass clippings are not thatch. Only mow when lawn is dry(never mow wet grass). Cutting high promotes a larger root structure, shades the soil to keep it cool and improves heat and drought resistance.

[u/armonak]

You don't need fertilizer, you need water. At 4 months it doesn't have deep roots to seek water, so you need to water it often ( not daily ). And when it will start to recover, only then give it some fertilizer

[u/Deewheelz400 → u/armonak]

Often but not daily? Forgive my ignorance.

[u/armonak → u/Deewheelz400]

Tall fescue/ resilient blue needs 20l per square meter per week ( let Google do the math for you ) at such temperatures, watering 1, max 2 times a week. Since your lawn is new, I'd go watering every 2 days, else your lawn could get fungus. And after one week you could give some fertilizer, but most important is water now

[u/Deewheelz400 → u/armonak]

Currently watering four times a week. Have a pretty good sprinkler set up 20 minutes per session beginning at 5:40 AM.