For anyone with lawn-repair experience, see if you have some ideas here....

I bought a new house in May, 2007. The yard had been in disrepair for sometime, I think the previous owner didn't take care of it when he was here, then it was vacant for several months when I bought it so everything was grown over and very weedy. I did some initial cleanup, and found the backyard wasn't in too bad shape - looks pretty nice and green, but when you look closely, it was about 90% weeds (mostly clover) and very little grass.

Here it is in June 2007 (just focus on the part inside the fence. outside the fence was not yard at all, just undergrowth, which I cleaned out).


So last summer I did spray-on weed killer, which basically killed everything, since there was very little grass to begin with. Then in the fall, ~sept-oct 2007 I aerated (which basically ended up tilling the entire yard, since there was no grass, which was fine with me) then seeded with a basic southern-mix (tall fescue, Kentucky, whatever) and fertilized. I let it grow all fall and winter without mowing, and by the spring it was looking quite good.

This is February 2008. You can tell by the trees that it was getting lots of light, but even in the winter the grass had come in very well and was very green.


It continued to grow and get thicker throughout spring and summer (it died off a bit around the edges when all the trees got their leaves and there was a lot of shade). This is early summer. You can see very thick fescue on the right side




But in the past month, the whole yard has gone to shit! The grass has all but died, and it's been taken over again by some weeds, but mostly moss! the ground is spongy and muddy. I haven't mowed it in about 6 weeks, because 1) the grass isn't growing enough to mow, and 2) the ground is so soft it will just tear it up more.

This is a far-shot from today. Most of the green you see is weeds and moss


Here's some close-ups. This is what the moss-carpet looks like, with little sprigs of grass in some places


There are a few strange spots that are black, almost like something was burned on it (but it's not an actual burn mark)


There has even been mold of some sort growing on top of the moss. All the yellow spots in the moss here was where about 2 weeks ago there was a coat of white, fluffy mold growing on top of the moss


Finally, also 2 weeks ago, I noticed most of the yard where the dirt was exposed was covered in these tiny little dirt piles, about 1" in diameter and 1/2" high, made of tiny little dirt balls. I looked around and I think they were from mole crickets, so I spread bug-killer last week and watered everythign down, and they seem to be gone for the most part, but a couple have shown back up again



So does anybody have a clue of what is causing all these problems? Can this be linked to an infestation of some bug or disease or something? There seems to be a lot of things happening at once, and I can't tell if they're related or not.

Also, my side and front lawn, while not exactly flourishing, are not showing any signs of problems like this.


[Edited on September 20, 2008 at 9:31 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2008 9:29:12 PM

looks like brown patch

fungicide treatment will help, but looking at your photos, it's like starting chemo after metastasized cancer...

do you water in the evenings?

what's your fertilization history like? if you fertilize at the wrong times of year with the wrong mix of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash, that can exacerbate the problem.

[Edited on September 20, 2008 at 9:43 PM. Reason : adsf]

9/20/2008 9:40:27 PM

I don't know, but it looked pretty in early summer.

9/20/2008 9:41:27 PM

may want to look into a professional lawn care company to get the chemicals and stuff balanced for a year or two.

also, are you sure there isn't some sort of water / sewer leak going on. in 6 weeks that area should have dried out. It looks like the yard slopes into the middle and then the back (judging by the fence lines) is it possible that there is a leaking water line through the yard, or does water not drain from the yard?

[Edited on September 20, 2008 at 10:03 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2008 9:57:14 PM

hmm, that is possible.
I actually live at the apex of a downward sloping cul'd'sac, with right-of-ways on both edges of my property. on the northern (higher) edge is the sewer line and on the southern, lower edge is a street-runoff stream.
At the back edge of the property, beyond the fence, you can see the run-off stream for other neighborhoods, but there's only water in it when it rains, and when it floods it never makes it up to the fence.

my neighbor's yard, though, on the other side of the sewer line, looks great. Of course, her's is a bit higher than mine.

so, yes - the backyard is in a bad spot as far as water run-off and rain. but given that is has been relatively dry recently, and my front/side yard are dry, the backyard should definitely not be as soft as it is

9/20/2008 10:13:54 PM

any chance that the sewer line on the right side is leaking and flowing water into your yard. you say that your neighbor on the right is higher than you, so their yard wouldn't show any leaking affects. did you have any problems with dampness during the fall/winter last year?

the moss is probably caused by the constantly wet soil, i think you probably want to figure out why the soil is so wet.

9/20/2008 10:21:03 PM

So it was fine early summer, and died shortly there after. Sounds like my back yard. We fought the good fight each year, but our problem was that once the leaves are full grown the back yard gets no sunlight. It's surrounded by 30' trees.

So now we're content at letting this one weed that will not die take over so it at least provides some ground cover.

Still looking to see what the name of this weed is. It's so aggressive that we'd have to dump a ton of rock salt in the soil and till it in to get rid of it (facetiously speaking).

Oh, it's chickweed.

[Edited on September 20, 2008 at 10:35 PM. Reason : -]

9/20/2008 10:22:47 PM

^^ yeah, i'll try to look into that sewer line thing.... i'll have to see what I can do about it myself before calling the city.
I don't recall that I had any dampness problems last fall. when I aerated, it tore the hell out of the ground, so I know it was pretty loose and a bit soft then, and after aerating it turned into a mud pit for a while before the grass started taking root. but i can't really compare it then to what it's like now

^ we do have heavy tree cover, as you can see from the first picture, so I think that might be part of that too. When I got the house it was covered pretty well with clover, which actually looked not bad, so maybe I should ahve left it!
I wouldn't expect it to totally decimate the yard like this, though. I also have heavy shade around the side of the house in the 10 feet between the house and some tall, thick trees, and the grass has thinned there, but the yard there hasn't turned into a state where it looks diseased, like the back yard

9/20/2008 10:38:03 PM

in the summer when those deciduous trees get their leaves, does you yard stay shaded a lot? i bet that's what's hurting you most.

the cause of your problem is not one single thing, it's a few things acting together:
-fungus from the wet ground (possibly too much shade like i was saying above).
-the moss. it's like the fungus and grows in a damp, shady area too.
-the mole crickets. you can't just treat them once and expect them to be gone forever if your neighbors also have them. you'll need to keep treating them every so often. they feed on the grass roots.

i'd just focus on getting the yard to dry up first.

[Edited on September 20, 2008 at 10:42 PM. Reason : ^ha, you posted that while i was writing my response]

9/20/2008 10:41:47 PM

Looks like a north facing lawn. So you have a lot of shade...not really the trees that are your problem...your house is shading it. Your front yard must face south. That's why there is all this moss there right now. Watch in the winter. Your backyard lawn will be the last place to melt if it snows. It also looks like your back yard may be flood prone...at least from the first picture you can tell mud and sediment washed into your yard.

[Edited on September 21, 2008 at 9:03 PM. Reason : asdf]

9/21/2008 9:00:47 PM

too much moisture, too much shade, and not enough lime. go by the dept. of agriculture on reedy creek rd. and pick up a soil sample kit. follow instructions and drop it off to them. it's free. it will tell you everything you need to know about the condition of the soil.

9/21/2008 9:24:25 PM

Agentlion, you have a few problems.

1: The most obvious is brown patch fungus. This is nearly unavoidable in cool season lawns over the summer.

2: The Moss & Blue Green Algae is an indicator of a poorly drained area & one that's well shaded. That species of Algae also emits a neurotoxin, so I don't suggest handling it.

3: The bulbous dirt piles are Earthworm crap. You're not doing any good killing the Earthworms off.

9/21/2008 9:32:45 PM

As a high school lawn-cutter, I recommend the following:

EPM


In all honesty you're always going to be working against our poor Clay-based soil.

9/21/2008 9:41:34 PM

^^I don't see any symptoms of brown patch disease.

9/21/2008 9:44:32 PM

It does not look like any kind of normal grass pest that I'm familiar with, and we've dealt with them all, my mother-in-law is a master gardener. Looks like a fungus.

9/21/2008 10:36:58 PM

concerning the water thing.....
here's a picture from some of the torrential rains back in mid-spring. The run-off ditch at the back of the property floods during big rains, but I have never had standing water actually cross the fence-line. (note how thick and green the grass is! this was late spring, probably within weeks of the leaves coming back on the trees)


and here is the orientation of the house and yard, taken from Google Maps (up is North)
You can see the yard is south-west facing, so it should get some sun, but I have a two-story house, and the trees in the backyard are unusually tall pines.
Also, the neighbor to the north has fantastic grass still. She doesn't have quite as much tree coverage.
the green lines are the general terrain, sloping down

Quote :

"go by the dept. of agriculture on reedy creek rd. and pick up a soil sample kit."

I'll definitely do that. I'm really curious as to if there is something else going on in the soil besides just being too wet, because just walking on and looking at it, everything feels "sick" and unhealthy

[Edited on September 21, 2008 at 11:03 PM. Reason : .]

9/21/2008 11:01:39 PM

do you have flood insurance?

9/22/2008 12:13:40 AM

i don't think it could get that bad. There are several more feet of rise in the back yard, then I'm on a raised foundation, 4' from the top of the back yard to the footers

9/22/2008 7:02:53 AM

Quote :

"I don't see any symptoms of brown patch disease."

I was going off of the lesions on the grass blades in some of the pictures, but thinking on it some more, it's gotta be more than just brown patch

9/22/2008 7:20:40 AM

There is a reason the yard was mostly weeds when you moved in!!

white fuzzy stuff on the moss is probably Sclerotinia.

all the moss indicated that your soil is too acidic to support grass- the moss out competes it. you can ameliorate this with some applications of lime. unfortunately, the Sclerotinia has already made its fruiting structures, and these can be viable for 3 years, so you need to work on drainage in your yard. also, your basic southern mix is NOT optimized at all for damp, heavy soil with little sunlight.


if you seriously want a grass lawn, you probably need to fumigate the soil, till and heavily amend the soil with organic material, perlite, and sand to improve the drainage, and then replant with plugs, not seed, of zoysia or another shade-tolerant grass.


an easier option might be to make some shade flower beds and minimize the amount of grass you try to grow.

[Edited on September 22, 2008 at 8:53 AM. Reason : ]

9/22/2008 8:52:00 AM

Quote :

"i don't think it could get that bad. There are several more feet of rise in the back yard, then I'm on a raised foundation, 4' from the top of the back yard to the footers"

famous last words

9/22/2008 9:20:43 AM

^^ SPOT ON!!

9/22/2008 9:38:51 AM

^^ yeah yeah, i know. "it won't happen to me" is never a good mindset, but if the water rises 7-8ft higher than in the picture, just to the first floor level, then Raleigh is going to be in a world of hurt - it won't just be me that is wishing they had flood insurance.

thanks GREEN JAY. that all sounds very reasonable.
i do realize now that maybe the previous owner wasn't just negligent, but maybe he had those weeds and clover on purpose. Or, more likely, by being negligent, he just let the most natural ground-cover take over. By getting in there and getting all excited and trying to get a green grass yard, it looks like I fucked it up worse than had I just left it alone....

So for now, I'll still do a soil check to see what kind of acidity I'm working with, then see what I can do about getting rid of the moss and getting some kind of ground cover that will work well in the shade. Hell, maybe I'll cut some trees down too and lighten it up a bit back there - i'm already at risk of several of the tall trees of falling on my house in a storm. Plus work on the drainage somehow, hopefully a way that doesn't require taking a backhoe to the whole yard.

this is also going to throw a monkey wrench in my plans to tear out that ass-ugly chain link fence and build a wooden fence all the way to the property lines......

9/22/2008 9:55:36 AM

well, what are the reasons that a plain grass lawn appeals so much to you? is it aesthetic reasons, or do you have a dog or children that need the run of the yard? If these aren't necessarily the case or your top priority, you should consider developing the yard with some partially raised shade flower beds and mixed use turf rather than trying for a putting green. I think it would increase the aesthetic value of your yard and allow you to incorporate some of your plans with the fence and not require that you cut a lot of trees, not to mention saving you money and effort in the long run.

9/22/2008 12:28:12 PM

I don't have a specific affection for normal green grass over an alternative, decent looking covering. I had just assumed that the previous owner was negligent as far as weeding and seeding, and that's why there was no real grass there before. At the time, it just never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to grow grass.

I do have two smallish dogs that use the backyard for play (and bathroom....) so I definitely need something dog-friendly. What bothers me now, apart from being just damned ugly, is the ground is wet and soggy, which isn't good for the dogs or for walking on without tracking mud into the house. At this point, I would rather have the original weed/clover covering, which didn't look all that bad really, apart from being a bit thin, than moss and sparse grass. I think how around the edges where there is direct shade all the time, I need a ground covering like mulch or pine chips, the some other grass/weed/plant covering for the rest of the yard that doesn't need much sun and can handle wet ground

9/22/2008 2:04:56 PM

I think GREEN JAY is right on point.

The the grass you planted, and the way you did it is the very very likely culprit here. You said you heavily aerated the yard, and reseeded, but I didn't see any mention of checking the soil type, nutrients, or fertilizing before you picked your grass and planted again.

The combination of aerating a delicately balanced area, not properly fertilizing it, and picking what is probably an entirely different species from what was needed likely sealed the fates.

Oh, and it also probably has something to do with owning a Mac. PC users don't have horrible yards like this

Get a local landscaper to come out for a consult, and within an hour or so he/she can draw you up a plan to get your lawn back. Might cost you a few bucks, but it's better than starting over again after the next attempt goes south.

9/22/2008 5:48:39 PM

Quote :

"The the grass you planted, and the way you did it is the very very likely culprit here. You said you heavily aerated the yard, and reseeded, but I didn't see any mention of checking the soil type, nutrients, or fertilizing before you picked your grass and planted again."

nah, of course not. I just tore it up, and threw a "southern mixture" of seed down and some kind of starter-lawn fertilizer. Then I went inside and edited movies and made iDVDs (you know, creative stuff) on my Mac, while wearing faded jeans and hoodie sweatshirts of course, and let the grass take care of itself.

9/22/2008 6:00:55 PM

hahahah awesome. No worries man, I've fucked up several yards back in my high school days of being a landscaping apprentice. I only know enough now to ask someone else before I go doing anything major to a yard.

9/22/2008 9:55:21 PM

I was thinking about just doing Terf Fescue myself since it's in the front and apparently it can grow this time of year. Anyone know anything about it?

9/22/2008 11:22:21 PM

9/23/2008 2:09:33 AM

My parent's back yard was similar. kinda dark/dim, kinda soggy. It was a downward slope away from the house like yours and it would flood a bit down there when it rained hard. mosquitoes were a bitch, too.

So one day he said, "Dan, why don't you come up early Saturday for dinner?" So i did and he tricked me into digging ditches with him all day. Then we laid perforated pipe, put rocks on top, and buried it. Soggy/drainage issues solved. Well pushed on to the downhill neighbor anyway.

But still, it was kinda dim and shady back there. So over the next few months he started cutting down and weeding out certain trees, pushed the forest back probably 20ft, pruning things up, cleared out all under brush, etc. THAT made all the difference. It still looks like a forest. Its dense with trees and provides good cover, etc, but it was enough to brighten up the atmosphere and make it sort of more cheery. It also helped the grass and all their landscaping back there.

9/23/2008 2:56:27 AM

i've already said what the problem was:

Quote :

"too much moisture, too much shade, and not enough lime."

9/23/2008 5:40:25 PM

well, I may have inadvertently stumbled on the problem, or at least a problem.

I was in my 4' crawlspace under the house today getting some tools, and saw the water heater was leaking like a bitch out of the overflow/pressure pipe. I have actually noticed this in the past, but it was just a small trickle and I thought maybe it was overheated a bit and was letting off some steam (so to speak), and I guess I ignored it. But today, it was just venting steaming hot water out of the tank, kind of like if your kitchen faucet was about 1/4-on.

Also, this morning before I went to work, for the first time I noticed steam actually rising out of the yard, way down at the edge of the property next to the drainage ditch.

So, turns out, my water heater is under house, at ground level at the back corner of the house at the lowest spot in the crawlspace. There is also a drainage pipe from that corner, through the foundation, and running beneath the fence-line to the back of the property. And the end of the drainage pipe was covered and was buried with no outlet, ending, you guessed it, right where the steam was coming out of my yard this morning.

So my water heater has been leaking for months now, and has accelerated recently (have not seen any real impact on my water bill, fortunately) and apparently sending almost boiling hot water down the edge of my yard. The pipe is in bad shape, probably original with the 18 year old house, and hot water has been leaking out of it. Furthermore, the end of the pipe was clogged up, so the entire pipe was probably full of water just sitting there and seeping out constantly.

here's the water pouring out of my water heater


and pooling behind the heater at the bottom of the foundation, and draining through the built-in pipe (and, uhh... a roach)


this is where I found the end of the drainage pipe was buried, where the steam was rising this morning. The pooled water there was almost too hot to touch, even that far away from the house. The drainage pipe runs just inside the fenceline, from 2-6" under ground, and the water heater is in the corner behind where the hose is hung


I started pulling the pipe out of the ground, and the trench left behind was full of hot water.



so, next steps.....
1) hopefully just replace the P&T valve on the water heater to stop the leak
2) replace the water heater if that doesn't stop it
3) bury a new drainage pipe with a proper outlet
4) see if I can get the lawn dried out and in good shape again


I hope that is it, but I can't be for sure. It seems strange that that could kill the entire yard, and not just a strip within a few feet of the pipe, especially since the yard is kind of a hump and the middle is several inches higher than the right-side where the pipe was buried.
oh well, can't hurt though

10/21/2008 11:11:40 PM

10/21/2008 11:19:35 PM

I didn't read the whole thread, but don't worry about the fungi. This was a crazy year for it and its been EVERYWHERE in massive quantities. However, if this leak has been causing excessive moisture in the yard then it likely kept it growing.

My favorite suggestion is to burn your yard. But I know you won't for fear if it getting your house. But it is a GREAT way to get some fresh, good stuff growing.

Hope you get all this figured out soon!

[Edited on October 21, 2008 at 11:27 PM. Reason : ]

10/21/2008 11:26:43 PM

I am gonna go out on a limb and say the whole water heater should probably be replaced.

10/21/2008 11:42:11 PM

Agreed

10/21/2008 11:50:01 PM

hey, come on now, a little rust never hurt anyone! It's supposed to look like that!

yeah, i'm going to try to replace the P&T valve first, but i've tried a bit already and it might be rusted to the tank completely. i.e. if I try to unscrew the valve, it might just rip a hole in the tank....

10/21/2008 11:51:56 PM

I think if you get that valve off a chunk of the tank is coming with it.

I bet you did not really notice your power bill and water bill creeping up since the leak has probably gotten worse gradually, but you will notice them go down when you get a new water heater.

10/22/2008 12:00:19 AM

ah shit, come to think of it..... it's a gas water heater, and my gas bill has been high. My water bill never got too high, but we are pretty conservative with our power and water, so I guess I will see a pretty good drop in that too

10/22/2008 12:13:46 AM

Quote :

"if I try to unscrew the valve, it might just rip a hole in the tank"

Yeah, be careful with that or you're going to become a burn victim. All that boiling water once in the tank will end upon you. Say hello to a life of misfortune.

10/22/2008 4:20:20 AM