Recently laid turf - any cause for concern?

[oppty67]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the forums, and new to the world of gardening in general!

We live in a new build and had our turf laid approx 3 weeks ago. It has been doing OK and looks pretty good, but I noticed even when laid that there was some yellow (which now pulls out without any resistance) and some of the pieces had gaps between them, which have not closed up.

I've been watering diligently (1-2 hours a day with an impact sprinkler, and then a bit extra on the corners where it doesn't reach, longer on the unusually hot days last week). I've also kept off the turf. The ground was rotovated and levelled and had a good amount of fresh soil on top before it was laid.

The lawn seems to be rooting pretty well, and most tug tests show that they are pretty firmly planted into the soil. Where I do manage to get a bit of an edge up, the soil is nice and moist.

It's been a bit wet, but i gently stepped on a piece earlier and it felt very mushy, my foot sunk right in.. it's coming up to around the time I'm told I am meant to give it a mow at the highest setting, but I am a bit concerned about compacting the soil if I walk on it...I dare say, I need to wait for a dryer day?

2 weeks is only the rough time - time of the year etc, would I be doing any harm to not mow for say another couple of weeks, and at least after it's been dry for a few days?

Also in the third pic there; there appear to be flowering bits...what is that and is that expected?

Thanks for any help and advice - I suspect there's nothing major, but I'd rather ask those in the know and fix anything sooner rather than later, should that be needed.

Thanks!

 

[Sheal]

Welcome oppty67.

The lawn is waterlogged and needs time to dry out, so stop watering for the time being. At this time of year grass is still fairly dormant and it will be a few weeks yet before growth starts properly. I think the grass is yellowing because it's to wet. What you say are flowering blades are actually seed heads. Grass like any other plant reproduces through seed and the only time we see it is when the grass gets longer. No need to worry about that and when you mow the seed heads will be taken off.

Allow the grass to dry out but try walking on various spots from time to time to see if the bogginess has gone. Resist mowing for the next few weeks and if you're worried about excessive growth, post another couple of images for further advice. When you do eventually mow, adjust your lawnmower for a high cut for the first two or three mowing's. Too low and it will tear at the turf.

You say there are gaps between some of the turves? That can be dealt with by dropping some topsoil between them, the gaps will close as the grass grows into it.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I would agree, that sounds like the sort of watering that might be called for by a mid-summer drought. This time of year the grass won't be taking up so much and it won't be drying out so quickly; There has been hardly any rain for ages, but the ground is still well damp as soon as I break the surface in my garden, and now there has been rain as well.
To give you an idea, I made a seed bed for broccoli about a couple of weeks ago, watered it in and then during the dry spell I watered it once more, and the seedlings are all showing . It is a well drained spot on the end of a raised bed, and seeds don't like getting dry.
A broom is a good way to get soil into those cracks.

 

[oppty67]

Thank you both for such a detailed reply. It’s good to know that there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. I was advised to water it a lot by the company who laid it, but I guess that’s just playing it safe as too much is presumably better than too little.

I’ll cut back on the watering and keep an eye on it. Sounds like less is more at the moment!

I’d like to try broccoli growing too!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I’d like to try broccoli growing too!

I have two sorts going, there is one that will flower late this summer and then there is purple sprouting which will come next Spring. They take a bit of space, but I have put purple sprouting in the flower bed before. By the time it is getting big the flowers are starting to go over , it is a bit of green all winter, and then the first vegetable from the garden. My only beef is having to pay £2.40 for five hundred seeds when I want about six plants tops. Last year I got a pack of four different veg from pound shop, much more sensible but less predictable.
This year they had 'Vibrant veg', a striped tomato, different colour beetroot and carrot, and I think it was rainbow chard.
(Chard is something I regard as well worth growing. I go for the ordinary white ones; the colour goes in the cooking and the white stems are thicker. We either chop the leaf and stem all together or use the leaf like spinach and pour a cheese sauce over the cooked stems)
There was also a pack with two sorts of chili, a pepper and something else, we shall have chili this year, I have just finished the repair of the greenhouse windows that were blown out by the storm.

Sorry, getting carried away there

 

[DirtMechanic]

Composted cow manure is a great over the top treatment for grass and those cracks you mentioned. Also grasses from yours to corn respond to a plant hormone called auxin. This stimulates the quantity of growth of tips both rootwise and above ground. I use one called superthrive early in the season up to budding and flower stages. 1 drop per gallon water, if you have an injection or irrigation siphon system.

 

[oppty67]

Thanks for the extra input there! On the whole compost and topsoil thing - agai this is super new to me, would generic compost from the garden centre be a decent all rounder? I have a piece that is actually looking quite dead at the edge and i think this is down to poor soil below so was thinking to pack it out with quality compost to see if itll help longer term (but truth be told I am not terribly worried about it as its in part of the garden that I'd cut out some turf for plants..

Oliver, that sounds great (and the cheese sauce idea is excellent!). I have all sorts of ideas, but need to figure out where best to put things in the garden. We've just ordered some wildflower seeds but I will definutely check out those veg medley packs

The lawn seems to be drying out quite well, I had to venture on due to some mess around the edges from the wind..apart from one very boggy patch in the middle...which I think is a more fundamental problem underneath the soil as the same patch was pooling before the turf was laid (though the guys who did the ground works said its most likely just compaction as the soil broke up well), things seem to be much improved - the example above that I said was very boggy, is now much less so, but the grass is still moist.

Not ready for mowing yet, I will see where we are at in a week or so - notably however there's no worsening of the yellowing, albeit also not a great deal of improvement yet. I went out and pulled out some of the bits and I could see an improvement so I think a bit more time and a few mows and things will be looking good

As a side note - a neighbor had their turf laid by a different firm. It's a much darker green and they said they were not given much in the way of aftercare. I've not seen a hose in sight...it looks like it was transplanted from a field where you'd find cows etc. I guess there are just very different turfs out there!

 

[DirtMechanic]

Thanks for the extra input there! On the whole compost and topsoil thing - agai this is super new to me, would generic compost from the garden centre be a decent all rounder? I have a piece that is actually looking quite dead at the edge and i think this is down to poor soil below so was thinking to pack it out with quality compost to see if itll help longer term (but truth be told I am not terribly worried about it as its in part of the garden that I'd cut out some turf for plants..

Sure, it is just that in the leftover world of compost, those components of a tree that do the growing have the most sustenance for what you are growing. Bark, leaves, thin limbs that are say no more than 2 or so inches across will have more sugars and micronutrients relative to Carbon from the cellular material especially trunk wood. I imagine carbon content would be about the same whether bark or ground wood. Since C-0-H is more important than N-P-K is, it cannot hurt, the bark just has more of "that good stuff" you want in a soil. As a matter of breaking down, the hard and softwood lignins and their decomposition contribute toward a humus the pines cannot ultimately give you chemically. Even dead grass would be better at making humic materials. Witness the depth of humic materials from the great plains and you can see why the farmers loved the area so much. These would be the humic and fulvic and other humates from the grass roots and decay that are worshipped for having magical growing powers. Toward that end you can simply buy and spray humic and fulvic acid for that matter. Usually it is combined with fertilisers or you can buy it separate and mix your own "concoctions'.

 

[Sheal]

It's good to hear the lawn in general is improving. The yellow will eventually disappear as the grass gets into it's Spring growing mode.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you say the darker green is like a cow meadow. Usually darker green is associated with plenty of nitrogen in the soil, and cows deposit a god deal of it
I gave my lawn the first mow of the year the other day. Last year after I had spread a bit of lawn sand and raked for moss I had several bare patches. As I was weeding I kept aside the meadow grass, (Not the coarser stuff) and planted it into the bare patches, this year it has spread and filled them so they look just like the rest. Nothing is instant in the plant world, but with time and a bit of care ...

The compost from garden centers varies, some has far more bits of stick in than others. For jobs like that I usually put it through a sieve and drop the big bits into my own compost bin or use them somewhere they will get buried.

 

[oppty67]

Me again folks! Nice tip above about the patches (I’ve actually found a couple which I wasn’t expecting..)

Overall firming up but still some soft parts - couple of pics attached of the areas that are still concerning. The soil is still moist underneath and the turf seems nicely established - but can’t decide now if this is a result of under watering, so wanted to check

 

[Oliver Buckle]

The soil is still moist underneath and the turf seems nicely established - but can’t decide now if this is a result of under watering, so wanted to check

I think you answer your own question; if it is still moist why water it? Besides we are in England, April brings the sweet Spring showers, going on for hours and hours. A lot of rain falls at night when you don't see it too. Even without direct precipitation there will still be water going into the grass, though you have to get up early to see the dew.
Most plants need time more than anything.

 

[Sheal]

Looking at the two images there seems to be a big difference in grass colour, is this how it looks to your own eye? I'm wondering if it's had so much water until now that it may need fertilising. What would your opinion be please @Oliver Buckle?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Well, you could fertilize it, water that in, brush compost over it, scarify it, rake it and mow it; they are all supposed to be good for lawns.
On the other hand you could leave it and re-lay the hedge until mid May

 

[oppty67]

Thanks! Sounds like waiting is the better option then. I should note, this was not a DIY job, it was a paid service from a turfing company. They also just talk about water (their watering advice is in stark contrast with this site and indeed anywhere else i look!) and time, and since I don't know any better, I just want to be sure that that's not just an easy answer to not help me if I go to them with a 'problem'

On the colour, indeed they look very different i think that was just a trick of the light/exposure on that particular image. The more naturaly greeny yellow colour is the most true to life. The other one looks quite a bit sadder than reality, though handy to show the gaps/brown bits.

I don't have a hedge, but I shall take your considerable experience and advice and stop looking at it under a microscope and find something else to do

Noobs, eh?