Grass looks like its got Covid

[curren19]

Hi

I have a friend who has recently laid a turf lawn within the last few months and it has gone brown and patchy. Please can someone help…. His neighbours are classing it as the Covid lawn because it is that bad!!

Thanks

 

[curren19]

This is a photo of the Covid grass

 

[Chuck]

That looks like a turfed lawn in which the turf squares were not rolled. The squares did not make good soil contact so the roots could not grow and it died in big patches. Or, it has not been properly watered. I could be wrong.

 

[curren19]

Thanks Chuck obviously you seem like a person who knows their grass. what would your advice be? Keep watering and hope it catches or dig it up and start again?!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Yes, Chuck is pretty clued up on a lot of things. I know Southern England has had a drought, but Wales? That is a tad incredible

I have always been a bit cautious about turf, you don't really know what sort of grass you are getting or if it will be full of weeds. Also I notice that most of the people who are having problems with their new lawn have had it turfed and some aspect of the ground preparation, or rolling and watering, hasn't worked properly.
Patch repair mix is pretty dear if you want to do a large area, but it is easy to make up an imitation with some fine compost, grass seed and a little fertiliser. Then I would give it a good roll, a water, sprinkle the whole area with it and add something to stop birds eating all the seed, black cotton, windmills, rattles, something. Let it grow to about four inches, then cut it with the mower on the highest setting.

I don't know if Chuck would agree with that or suggest some alternative.

 

[Chuck]

I am unfamiliar with growing conditions, rainfall, soil, everything in the UK so I defer to @Oliver Buckle.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

We are an off-shore island, Chuck, so our weather is determined by the Atlantic ocean. That means it varies all the time, unlike Continental climates which are pretty predictable at a particular time of year. My Dad used to say "Other countries have climates, we have weather." Perhaps it is the reason we are always talking about it
Same goes for soil really, where I grew up in North London was next door to a disused gravel pit, where I live now in the Weald is solid glacial clay, either end of the country, Dartmoor and the Scottish Highlands, you have granite outcrops and over to the East in Lincolnshire it is flat, black, loam.

I admit I am not very familiar with Swansea, where curren19 comes from, but as Wales is one of the first places the prevailing SW winds hit after coming across the ocean it is usually reckoned to be pretty wet. However this year has been one of the driest on record, rainfall where I am is down about a third below average, and there have been records set for heat, so it is tempting to think that may be the cause of the trouble. There don't appear to be the large gaps between turves you get when they are badly laid either, which might imply that it was also rolled properly.

Mind, I admit I am generally biased against turf, there are some terrible shysters out there who will strip any old field, or strip the same field again and again, and the way it comes rolled you really can't tell what it is like until you start to lay it. Also it can mean that the top inch or two is quite different soil from what is underneath, and sometimes roots will just not want to make that jump and bridge the gap. That might mean it's worth rotorvating the whole thing before seeding, but what I am suggesting is an awful lot less work, and not too expensive, well worth a try.

 

[DirtMechanic]

We are an off-shore island, Chuck, so our weather is determined by the Atlantic ocean. That means it varies all the time, unlike Continental climates which are pretty predictable at a particular time of year. My Dad used to say "Other countries have climates, we have weather." Perhaps it is the reason we are always talking about it
Same goes for soil really, where I grew up in North London was next door to a disused gravel pit, where I live now in the Weald is solid glacial clay, either end of the country, Dartmoor and the Scottish Highlands, you have granite outcrops and over to the East in Lincolnshire it is flat, black, loam.

I admit I am not very familiar with Swansea, where curren19 comes from, but as Wales is one of the first places the prevailing SW winds hit after coming across the ocean it is usually reckoned to be pretty wet. However this year has been one of the driest on record, rainfall where I am is down about a third below average, and there have been records set for heat, so it is tempting to think that may be the cause of the trouble. There don't appear to be the large gaps between turves you get when they are badly laid either, which might imply that it was also rolled properly.

Mind, I admit I am generally biased against turf, there are some terrible shysters out there who will strip any old field, or strip the same field again and again, and the way it comes rolled you really can't tell what it is like until you start to lay it. Also it can mean that the top inch or two is quite different soil from what is underneath, and sometimes roots will just not want to make that jump and bridge the gap. That might mean it's worth rotorvating the whole thing before seeding, but what I am suggesting is an awful lot less work, and not too expensive, well worth a try.

English to English translation service:

Turves, plural for turf.

Have a nice day.