drvox
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2017 10:45 am

Lawn Yellow spots - PH High

hi

I have built a new lawn, seeded rye grass and it was looking good first two months, then it started looking yellow and I had a fertilizer. I found it weird that many spots still kept yellow even though I used a fertilizer spreading car. I have put a few more in those yellow areas but keep yellow.

So I bought a soil test kit and tested PH, N, P, K on two samples of soil. One sample is from green areas and the other is from the yellow areas. Turned out that all tests had same result in both samples except PH which was too high on yellow areas soil sample. Any ideas why I have such differences in PH in a small lawn? Any idea how I could fix this?

Please find photo of the lawn in attachment.



Thank you for your help.
Attachments
20171104_140913.jpg

PaulF
Greener Thumb
Posts: 910
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:34 pm
Location: Brownville, Ne

My answer may not be what you really want to hear, but those home kits are next to useless to get a good picture of what you actually have. Soil sample of only two spots is not enough to be representative. The instruments used by soil labs cost in the thousands of dollars and the pH indicators in kits are not accurate enough to rely on. Did your kit use litmus strips for pH? Or solutions from the soil and add a liquid to a test tube and match a color?

For a better test, even with your kit, every yellow spot needs to be tested and the core at least six inches deep and likewise the green areas.

For best answer, get a real soil test done by a reputable lab. Your lawn looks pretty good and I would bet it will fill in the brown or yellows with green after a little time. There is really no reason to think the pH varies from spot to spot in your lawn.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13947
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It is too hot for rye grass here, but it is summer. Yellow spots in the lawn especially in patches could be either fungal if the soil is not well drained and there is a lot of water or it is July and the soil webworms, armyworms, chinch bugs would be peaking.
Grass is a heavy feeder. It needs a lot of nitrogen but it also needs iron. If your fertilizer does not contain iron, you could correct a nutritional deficiency quickly with iron. I avoid ironite because it is made from mine tailings and may have heavy metals. Liquid iron is available. Be careful it will stain clothes.



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