Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Dec 09, 2012 6:26 pm Hey all, long time lurker, first time poster. I am at my wits end with my lawn at present. It has been down for a little over 18 months and is now looking quite worse for wear. I will be the first to admit that I have not been the best at doing the known things for my lawn, Seasol, Power Feed and Molasses, however I have started to be more active in this but the results just don't seem to be happening. Unfortunately I did not know the existence of this wonderful forum prior to the lawn being 'professionally' installed and I can almost guarantee the soil prep was not done to the standard recommended here. This is the front lawn overall - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Here is a close up of some 'dead' patches which are all through the front lawn and also in some quite large patches in my back lawn (not shown, but looks the same) - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Here I have scraped some of the 'dead' grass away - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Basically i am hoping that someone can tell me if I am not wasting my time with the old trusty triple treat of goodies for my lawn or if there is something else sinister at play here as i have over 100sq meters of lawn to treat. Just to add, I have also done the unenviable task of coring the lawn prior to treatment too and wetting agent has been applied to the lawn. Thank you in advance. Re: Help with Sir Walter 2Dec 09, 2012 8:37 pm How much water is it getting mate? It just looks water stressed. You need to make sure the soil is damp down to at least 10cm when you irrigate. So if you have heavy soil you need to water very slowly for many hours. Where are you also, that could be a factor (i.e. Perth - sand). The aerating and wetting agent will help as long as you are giving it a good drink something like 15-20mm a week. If its not water then the next bet it is nutrients and/or mowing height. Re: Help with Sir Walter 4Dec 09, 2012 10:15 pm Sorry, should have stated location, am just out of Fremantle - Perth. Water wise, obviously we have had a fair bit of rain in the past week but otherwise it is getting 25mins on my two watering days. Soil is extremely sandy to say the least. That is why I am spewing I didn't come across this forum earlier. In regards to mowing height, the grass really doesn't grow high at all, out the back i have areas which have very mild traffic which are almost compacted down like carpet, whereas the grass under the eaves of the house needs cutting like every second week. Re: Help with Sir Walter 5Dec 09, 2012 10:39 pm Yeah, you are going to need to get some water holding capacity to the sand you have got. So that is top dressing with compost. If you aerated with a corer?? you can sweep the compost into the holes to speed things up. There is a fair few posts where Fu (wa expert) gives out some specfic sand advice. Re: Help with Sir Walter 6Dec 10, 2012 12:00 am Thanks so much for your help. You have confirmed my thoughts on the issue, I guess I just needed confirmation from another source Fu, if you are reading this can you give some advice as to what and where to get the certified organic compost here in Perth in large quantities as buying Naked Farmer (or equivalent) by the bag from the big green shed is waaaaaay too expensive. Cheers all. Re: Help with Sir Walter 7Dec 10, 2012 11:23 am What might be happening to your lawn is a thing called scalping. Scalping is where the lawn is cut too low and the grass is “scalped” of it’s green leaf that provides photosynthesis, in other words the grass is deprived of it’s ability to grow. The golden rule here is to cut no more than a 3rd of the green leaf blades and cut constantly. How I go about it is to have my lawn mower on the pavement and with a ruler measure out 50mm from the pavement to the bottom of the mower base. You can try 30-40mm as well after a while but to get the grass going I have chosen 50mm. The rule of thumb is that the height of your grass is the same depth in roots below. What the buffalo in your case is doing it spreading out and not going deep. You might want to also spread some water retaining product on the areas you want to revive. But definitely don't put any more fertilizer on. You might do more harm than good of which it looks like being the least of your problems. Further good info on http://buchananturf.com.au/sir-walter-turf Sir Walter soft leaf buffalo grass can be 'killed with kindness'. Once established, your lawn will grow vigorously except if it is fertilised too heavily, watered in the afternoon and mown with blunt blades during hot-humid weather. This can cause a fungus disease called "Grey Leaf Spot". For this reason we do not recommend that you fertilise your lawn heavily between December and March and preferably water in the morning. Hi there, long-time lurker but first time posting. 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