Caring tips for a new lawn

Question

I live in El Dorado Hills, CA (northern CA). A new lawn (~150 sq ft) was laid ~5 month ago. I was told by the builder that they planted 90/10 fescue/bluegrass sod for grass.

I have been trying to take care of the lawn by mowing it once a month and watering it regularly. However, the condition of the lawn seems to have deteriorated. A recent picture:

I am seeing a lot of dead grass spots appear. Don't understand why this is happening. I believe I made a couple of mistakes.

1. On a couple of occasions, I mowed the lawn too low. I've corrected that by moving the setting on my lawn mower to maximum height.

2. For fertilizer, I am using Milorganite (organic). In early August, I applied about 2lbs with a spreader (instructions say 35 lbs / 2500 sq ft). This was the first application. Instead of 'greening' the grass, a lot of it seems to have died.

3. For watering, the sprinklers are set to 20 min at 6:00 AM for every other day. I will reduce that as we get into the fall/rainy season. The soil underneath is mostly clay.

4. Temperatures have definitely been high (100-105) in the previous month so maybe that has caused stress on the grass.

Given the picture above, what am I potentially doing wrong? Any recommendations for any corrective actions I can take for the lawn to recover back to health?

Update on 4/18/2018:

Here are two pictures shows the update. I overseeded twice (once in Sept/Oct 2017 and once in late Jan 2018). We have gotten quite a bit of rain in the last 2 months and the grass has come back quite strong (I think). Still some bald spots in a few areas but I will add more seed to those areas in the coming fall. Will fertilize in May. Started mowing once per week. Things are looking much better! Thanks.

Answer 1

Most mowers do not have adjustments to allow you the correct height for cool season grasses. 3 inches is minimum. 3.5" is best. I have tried to find the formulation for this Milorganite. Sounds promising but I am weirded out they do not post the percentages for NPK!

I am concerned about the water schedule. Turn off the timer for awhile. After watering, that soil (clay) should be wet at least 4" deep in profile. Do not water that grass until (and this works very well as a test) you walk on the grass and your foot prints stay down. The grass doesn't spring back up. Then water again. Do NOT water until you see your footprints.

Doing this trains your grass roots to grow deeply making you lawn drought tolerate! Also gets rid of weed worries. I see your grass is still too short. So glad you changed your settings but if that grass isn't 3" it is still too low and too short for cool season grasses. Have your favorite appliance repair shop do a custom 'lift' for your mower. Sharpen blades, have a separate set of blades already sharpened...

I have to add the most important point and that this is PUBLIC grass. People walk their dogs and those dogs piss on chunks of lawn like this. When lawns are properly fertilized extra piss will burn your grass. If dogs piss on poorly fertilized grass that spot will get very green. I think this is your problem. Perhaps a little sign telling your neighbors to not allow their dogs to piss on other people's lawns!

post script; mow once per week! Not once per month. Once or even twice per week is best and bag those clippings. Great for the compost bin or dumping on top of weeds in the back of your plant beds/property. Sharp blades always. Your grass looks healthy from what I can see in your picture...how does the rest of your lawn look? Does it have these 'piddle spots'? Aerate once per year! Pulling cores and leaving them where they fall...