Long root Grass Seed

DOSS

Poker of the Hornets Nest
Location
Suncrest
Hype; your grass will grow roots dependent on how you water it, water deep and you get deep roots. The turtle seed stuff is very good at water conservation though. But really you get the best results when you actually give your grass the 1.5-2 inches of water it needs 2X a week. this puts the water deeper into the soil loosing less to evaporation and causing your lawn to have a deep root system. if you are just guessing at how much water you are putting down stop and put some coffee mugs out on various areas of your lawn, turn on your sprinklers for 30 minutes and measure how much you get and do the calculations from there to get the 1.5-2 inches your lawn really needs :)
 

DOSS

Poker of the Hornets Nest
Location
Suncrest
I've done the 1.5 to 2" and my grass yellowed out within the month. I've dug up portions of my yard to see the root depth in a few different areas and the yellowed spots all have deep roots.

I've measured the output of the sprinklers and adjusted the duration to get about 2" and my grass got really spotty (e.g., yellow patches and green patches). I'm back to trying every 2-3 days and it's coming back, slowly.

Most of my lawn is direct sunlight. If I go 2" twice a week, the day before the late evening watering, I've got cracks in my soil in certain areas.

It really frustrates me because when I bought the house it had the lushest, greenest grass. I know the PO's son and he doesn't remember the watering times/amounts.

This tells me that the soil below the 2 inch mark is probably questionable, and probably your top soil is as well due to the fact that it cracks so quickly - unfortunately many people only put in a couple of inches of top soil and then the soil under that is either sand, or a clay or something with little to no nutrients in it.. then it becomes a question of putting into the soil what it needs.. Sadly this can be a pain in the butt.. Really what you want to do is get a couple of soil samples and take them to your local Agriculture extension and have them give you an analysis of your soil and what you need to add to it to get it to be a long term solution for your yard. .. Otherwise you will be watering constantly with heavy evaporation that will eventually denude the shallow layer of soil you have of nutrients and leave a high saline content soil in its place that will require way more work than it is worth. The USU extension usually charges around $50 for soil analysis.. give them a call and see what they say for pulling your samples and how much it costs for sure though ;)
 

Spork

Tin Foil Hat Equipped
Grass appearance depends on a ton of factors, Soil type, fertilizer, amount of water, frequency, bugs, shade, variety of grass, etc. If I put 2" of water on my lawn at once, 1.5" of the water would be running down the street. My soil/slope just won't support 2" at a time.

Some things I've discovered:
1. lawn fertilizer outfits come out every month. Some people don't want to do this, but if you aren't willing to put down fertilizer/weed control every month you probably aren't going to have a lawn that looks like what they do.
2. If you are running a sprinkler and the water is running down the street, it isn't helping your lawn. Try breaking up watering duration, try running multiple times, if you want an inch of water on the lawn and after 10 minutes it's running down the street and you only got a 1/2" down stop watering and give it an hour or 2 then start watering again.
3. Sprinklers overlap, miss areas, use a hose for the dry/brown areas. A trickle out of the hose over several hours works great for the areas that don't absorb water.

If you decide you want to put down seed, wait until the fall just before the lawn goes dormant. I put half my lawn in one spring and the rest in the fall and the following year the fall planted grass came back much better and looked a lot healthier than the side that had been there longer.
 

DOSS

Poker of the Hornets Nest
Location
Suncrest
Grass appearance depends on a ton of factors, Soil type, fertilizer, amount of water, frequency, bugs, shade, variety of grass, etc. If I put 2" of water on my lawn at once, 1.5" of the water would be running down the street. My soil/slope just won't support 2" at a time.

Some things I've discovered:
1. lawn fertilizer outfits come out every month. Some people don't want to do this, but if you aren't willing to put down fertilizer/weed control every month you probably aren't going to have a lawn that looks like what they do.
2. If you are running a sprinkler and the water is running down the street, it isn't helping your lawn. Try breaking up watering duration, try running multiple times, if you want an inch of water on the lawn and after 10 minutes it's running down the street and you only got a 1/2" down stop watering and give it an hour or 2 then start watering again.
3. Sprinklers overlap, miss areas, use a hose for the dry/brown areas. A trickle out of the hose over several hours works great for the areas that don't absorb water.

If you decide you want to put down seed, wait until the fall just before the lawn goes dormant. I put half my lawn in one spring and the rest in the fall and the following year the fall planted grass came back much better and looked a lot healthier than the side that had been there longer.

Good point on breaking up the watering.. My water starts at 9 PM and stops just before 5 AM due to the need to stop and start multiple times so it will soak in deeply. Also don't bag your lawn.. get a good mulching blade/mower and leave the nutrients on your lawn instead of in the trash can
 
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