Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 11, 2013 3:58 pm We had our Sir Walter Buffalo laid mid October 2012. The site was prepared with a rotary hoe and loam and organic material and gypsum was added. The lawn was fertilized at the time of laying and 2 other times since. i have been regularly watering it and early establishment was quite good. Over the past 1-2 months I have been watering it 2-3 times a week. The area gets full sun in summer time but will be partly shaded in winter. Over the past couple of weeks it is looking very sick. I am not a fan of SWB and would be more than happy to spray the whole lot with round up and starting again with Santa Anna or Empire Zoysia ( though I have read this may not be ideal in Adelaide). Before I do that, I would like the opinions of some of the knowledgable ones on here on my grass. http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c191/amgsl55/photo-7_zps050f8d67.jpg http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c191/amgsl55/photo1-9_zps34e1ca78.jpg Re: My lawn is looking very sick 2Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm Hmmm. . . I know not-much-at-all about lawns. . . you could try some good old-fashioned methods though, like aeration. . . or you could have curl grubs? We've had pretty shockingly hot weather lately too. . . maybe just give it a little time after the hot weather subsides? Re: My lawn is looking very sick 3Jan 12, 2013 7:35 am Hi, few questions for you, how are you watering? By hand or sprinkler or other? You should be giving it 1 big drink a week of 25mm or two 12mm applications, which is very hard to do by hand. Are you watering at night? Also did you spray with any herbicides or was it infested with winter grass/weeds recently? Re: My lawn is looking very sick 5Jan 12, 2013 10:12 am Cheers, grab a garden fork and aerate the whole lawn. Extra holes in the hard spots. You want holes 100mm apart. Then water deeply make sure the soil is wet through to 150-200mm depth by probing or digging a small hole. Probably handy to apply a wetting agent and a seaweed product before watering. Switch watering to the mornings so the lawn isnt damp overnight. Once you see improve rack out the dead leaf patches to encourage repair. Btw its not because your grass is sir walter that is the prob, its the 45 degree days. Re: My lawn is looking very sick 6Jan 26, 2013 4:01 pm We have had the same problem multiple times with our sir Walter and it seems to be a combination of mowing it too short and it then getting burnt on the hot days. A friend just had theirs laid and mows it high and has got through the entire hot summer with a gorgeous looking lawn. Ours is coping better the second summer but our instruction guidelines clearly stated to mow high in hot weather....now if only my lawn mower man would listen! Re: My lawn is looking very sick 7Jan 26, 2013 5:30 pm I'm not all that happy with the Sir Walter so I'm now looking at watering it with round up and will be replacing it with a softer lawn. So for now, I'm going to put up with the dead patches as they'll soon be getting a whole lot bigger. Re: My lawn is looking very sick 8Jan 27, 2013 12:51 pm lozza99 ... seems to be a combination of mowing it too short and it then getting burnt on the hot days. A friend just had theirs laid and mows it high and has got through the entire hot summer with a gorgeous looking lawn. .. instruction guidelines clearly stated to mow high in hot weather....now if only my lawn mower man would listen! I can't figure how people still can't figure this simple thing. How many times have I seen my neighbours mowing their lawns (whatever the grass type may be) late in the arvo or in the evenings in these 15 years? Once or twice. How low can they go? Not possible to go any lower. Here is a good case study. We replaced our new front lawn wider than our own nature strip is, ie. we also stripped and replaced small parts of neighbours' strips (up to their driveways) so it's all one nice same lawn (and they both loved it). One neighbour mows his little part regularly. Always to ground zero and always around 11am to 1pm. Just did it a few days ago when it was 35. What a difference to the lawn after less than a year. You can see bare soil all over the place on his side, with lawn completely disapperaing in once spot. When you look at our side, it's lush and compact, no bare soil or weak lawn. Same subsoil, same prep, same conditions, same maintenance - other than his mowing. To the OP: it's not your SW. In fact, I find SW amazingly able to cope with 50 degrees heat (and around 30 to 35 for many continuous weeks) - after no watering for months prior to that. And I'm talking areas in absolutely full sun in summer! I am so impressed. Imagine what SW lawns can people have if they mow smartly and water deeply once a week or once a fortnight in the worst of the summer. I think SW really well survives ozi heat. Much better than it can survive shady spots. Oh, and one more thing. Who waters the lawn (and especially other plants) by deep-watering the roots from up-close, possibly by hand? Who waters them by sprinkling tiny drops on top of the leaves, very often from a distance, be it by hand or via sprinklers? And note - this is NOT an actual question !! My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: My lawn is looking very sick 9Feb 06, 2013 10:21 pm Feed the soil, never feed the plant. Poo teas, fish emulsions, seaweeds, molasses, blood and bone. There is also a bunch of other stuff I would also suggest but 15 people have chimed in already with info Re: My lawn is looking very sick 10Feb 12, 2013 7:41 pm My lawn has recovered a lot since the pic was taken, so it was quite likely the extreme 40+ degree heat which caused it a bit of stress. Tomorrow I'm having subterranean irrigation placed so the lawn will be looking patchy again. However, I'm not all that happy with the sir walter so I will be replacing it soon. At this stage I'm thinking about placing Kikuyu but would consider putting in EZ however there is not much to be found on the net about the success of EZ in South Australia. Has anyone here grown it successfully in SA? The next question, after I kill off the Sir Walter with roundup, do I need to clean up the dead material left behind or can I sow seed or lay turn straight on top? and how long do I have to wait after spraying with round up? My lawn is looking very sick 11Feb 12, 2013 7:57 pm Wait 10 days. If installing subsurface, be extremely mindful of ensuring the integrity of your domestic water supply. An RPZ valve installed and serviced annually by a registered plumber is required by law and according to Australian Irrigation standards. The great thing is you won't be able to use chemical fertilisers, pesticides or fungicides anymore. Any nutrient applied will need to be watered in by hand. Not many water experts in WA (considered leaders in domestic water use research) recommend subsurface on lawns, instead preferring MP rotators which are also very water efficient but require far less expense and no RPZ valves. Re: My lawn is looking very sick 12Feb 12, 2013 8:09 pm Thanks Fu, I'm having the irrigation installed by "irrigation professionals" so I guess it will be done properly. why wont I be able to use chemical fertilisers and pesticides anymore? I considered pop up type sprinklers however my lawn is not very wide, one section is 8 x 1.5m, another 10 x 2.5m hence I decided on subsurface. I would have preferred pop ups as I find it quite therapeutic to watch it do it's thing. Re: My lawn is looking very sick 14Feb 13, 2013 10:14 pm You can't use them because water is needed to carry them through to the roots. Unless a huge rainfall comes along and washes it through... and then away, you can get some serious burning. I know of a private school with it under their turf. A very well known fertiliser and garden product company is contracted to fertilise the oval. They know its irrigated with subsurface. They apply regardless and get paid. The lawn has been replaced because it died (burnt by fertiliser) Yet the school groundsman don't want to know about why its all happening and continue to poor money into it. I know two people who have giving them a nudge. Problem: Apathy by contractor, professionals not skilled at maintaining turf with integrated drippers and a lack of information about on going care of the turf by the irrigation installers. I deal with the *uck ups of subsurface irrigation installations all the time and they are always done by people that should know better. The owners just don't realise for years after the installation. Now the RPZ valve. A serious bit of kit and worth a healthy sum in its own right. Must be installed as per irrigation regulations. Why? because in time to come, people will not have the skills to care for turf irrigated by integrated drippers, nor understand why it needs to be treated differently. Installation of regular back flow valves is in no way an acceptable means of maintaining the integrity of the domestic water supply. The very important reason why is because when turf is irrigated by integrated drippers, it required a special filter (Netafim Techfilter) which has discs impregnated with a herbicide. That is something that in no way in hell do you want that finding its way through the pipes into your household water taps for you to drink traces of over long periods of time. Not only will it find its way into your water but also that of your neighbours and therefore compromise the integrity of the water supply by contaminating it with herbicide. The herbicide that is required is called Treflan or also known as Trifluralin Gardeners need to be aware of what all those little ingredients are in little tiny writting on the box or front of the products we use so flippently. http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/Triflura.htm Here's the installers guide outlining what needs to be installed by the contractor. It is this brand that is by far my preferred option. http://www.netafim.com.au/data/Uploads/ ... 202010.pdf (Page 22 in particular) Attached is the Irrigation Australia standards for irrigation installation. http://www.watercorporation.com.au/_fil ... ations.pdf All irrigation installers must work to the standards of those posted above. (In and out of WA) (In particular page 14 and 26) So overall, MP rotators are a far better option for far less hassle and money. Water Corp of WA are fully aware of subsurface being used under turf but prefer not to recommend becuase so few people will install properly to cut costs and therefore pose a risk to domestic water supplies. Only in garden beds where insecticides and fungicides are used far less and no herbicides are required to be introduced to the water supply. http://www.watercorporation.com.au/_fil ... iteria.pdf In short, get MP rotators. One of our members found some excellent prices for MPs on eBay recently. Very waterwise alternative. *I am not saying systems installed under turf should be regarded as an inferior system. They offer a superior delivery of moisture. These are only great systems when ALL the checks and measures are used so they continue to serve the client well for the foreseeable future. Hi - thanks for your reply. Yes I think 'Ill go for whitish with very speckly bits rather than pure white something like this. PS was actually 2008 I built the… 2 11696 the leaves that are now underground go yellow, the tips that poke through photosynthesise and have chlorophyll, same reason they grow rhubarb in the dark. 5 4864 Hi team, Im looking for a second hand sd4b monitor preferably white. 0 8923 |