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Hello,
I have found this site helpful with other projects around the house so was wondering if I could please tap into the abundance of wisdom and guidance on this forum to help with my lawn.
I have tiff tuff Bermuda which I lay down 12 months ago. It grew well over this summer but unfortunately I was away for a few weeks in December so I have been trying to slowly lower the lawn height with a cut each week but it’s gone brown in some sections. I also built deck 2 weeks ago and where I was continually walking the grass looks very brown and dry. I think I might have a compaction issue and maybe a thatch issue. I did aerate the lawn in late spring with a fork.
My question is can I dethatch, aerate and give a good fertilise now or is it too late in the growing season and the grass may not recover. We are on heavy clay here and I feel like there is a compaction issue with the grass growing horizontally across the top not vertically because when I pull it up it’s quite long. It also feels spongy. I have attached photos.
Any suggestions on the best way to dethatch and aerate?
I appreciate any help thank you.
cheers
Hi @dougieboy,
Although TifTuf Bermuda does require less water than a standard lawn, it still needs around 25mm of water per week and up to 65mm in hot and dry weather. So, it sounds like you are adequately watering prior to excessively hot events. 20mins with a sprinkler would likely be around 5mm of water, and that water would hardly reach down deep to the roots. I'd switch to two waterings per week for an hour each so the lawn gets a good soaking. Then, prior to hot days, you can do an additional watering.
Try this regular watering regime of an hour two times a week and see if there is any improvement.
Mitchell
I think that would be a good place to start, @dougieboy. Then, if you have no success, we can look at dethatching and aeration.
Mitchell
