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I reseeded my lawn in early May with Scotts sun and shade grass seeds and Scotts turf builder starter 24-25-4. I did second feeding with the same fertilizer On July 2nd. The grass was growing nice until this couple of weeks it started to yellow. I am in the pacific northwest and the weather was not that nice this summer. We only have 3 or 4 sunny days. Mostly cloudy days mixed with some sun. There is also water restriction in my area. I water the lawn on Thursday and Sunday with about half an inch each time. Am I watering too much or the grass needs more nitrogen? Should I feed the lawn with Scotts turf builder 30-0-3? Thanks for your help.

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What I think I am seeing is too much water. The next thing I see is grass mowed too short. Is this part of the lawn in full sun or shade? How short are you cutting your grass? It HAS to be 3 inches no less. You fertilized in May and then July. Too much. Fertilization should be 4 times maximum per year. Fertilized with a proper formulation for the season.

When was the last time you pulled cores from the soil for aeration?

Normally, with a 'well trained lawn' 1 inch per week of water is perfect. But the pictures look like water soaked grass and soil. (how did you test for amount of water per session)? There seems to be only one species of grass thriving (sort of) and the rest of the grass species have died out (water, shade, fertilizing grasses that are in the shade and mowing too short or a combination could easily stress lawn grass species). Should not be able to see any soil when looking at your lawn. That means your lawn is wide open to entertain weeds and moss.

Have you used any other products/chemicals on your lawn?

I would wholeheartedly recommend trying Dr. Earth's Lawn Fertilizer or one that is similar. It's 'organic' versus inorganic thus inherently slow release. Instead of 4 applications of fast acting Scotts, I only used two applications of this Dr. Earth's Lawn Fertilizer versus 4 of the fasting acting fertilizers per year(there are other fertilizers in the same category but this is the only one I've used). After decades of residential and commercial lawn care using Scotts and Ortho, I tried this organic slow release fertilizer with micro nutrients, thatch eating bacteria! Slower to change but I was so impressed with the health of the grass!! I was pretty blown away and I don't say that lightly.

And mow no shorter than 3"...please send more information and a few more pictures. Oh, do you water both of those days even when it rains? Thanks!!

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Thank you for your reply. I took the pictures on Monday and I watered the lawn on Sunday so it looked soaked. I have not watered the lawn for a week before Sunday due to cloudy weather I use two tin can to measure the water. One near the sprinkler and the other way far back. The lawn was mowed every two weeks on high. So the grass is actually more than 3 inches tall after mowing. The next mowing is this coming Wednesday.

I have not used any chemicals or weed killer in my lawn. The lawn is pretty much weed free but I can see moss starting to show up because of the cloudy weather and there are trees shaded on one side. There are supposed to have three kinds of grass seeds. Creeping red fescue 34%, turf-type perennial ryegrass 24% and Kentucky bluegrass 24%. But you never know what you get in the bag. I am planning to overseed in mid September or October. Weather was really bad this Summer. I have tree peony on one side which bloom in late April and early May with sunny weather. After the blooming no new growth at all. Evey year I have to trim the peony leaves evey two or three weeks but not this year. Everything stops growing.

I fertilized lightly when reseeding in May and the Scotts package indicate that you fertilize every Six to eight weeks that's why I did one in early July. I will try some organic when I finish with my bag of Scotts. I am still not sure what I did wrong. Too much water or too much fertilizer or not enough sun.

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  • Mow once per week, once every two weeks is not good. The grass grows too long and if you mow more that 1/3 of the grass leaf you will stress your grass plants. Somehow, that soil and grass look way too water logged. Please turn off the automatic stuff and wait until you are able to see your footprints when you step on the lawn before watering deeply again. Let's see what that time difference turns out to be. Get rid of the Scotts, seriously. And you will have to wait before fertilizing again, too soon right now. If you see the soil in your lawn then something is wrong. Moss shall be...
    – stormy
    Aug 10, 2016 at 0:50
  • ...zooming in to occupy moist, shaded soils. Moss does not compete with grass, do not worry about moss kill! Changes the pH down and then you have to add stuff to bring the pH back up! You shouldn't have to overseed if you've got a great, vigorous crop of grass. How much slope do you have for your lawn? Is it so flat that water collects? Get rid of the Scott's fertilizer. Keep it to make yourself feel better? Once you get the basics right for your lawn, you will never change from this high tech organic fertilizer. Grins.!
    – stormy
    Aug 10, 2016 at 0:57

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