green thumb people - save my grass

[thumper55]

I'm in Nor Cal and my lawn is the fugliest on my street. the temp ranges from 75 - 88 degrees

its got huge patches of dry yellow areas - I don't think I could possibly be under watering by that much. I have been watering the lawn daily for over 2 weeks with no change in appearance, . It was on for 12 minutes per day.

about 3 days ago, I started watering it twice on some days. It has been watered 5 times in three days now.
there are four zones with my sprinkler system - the zones where the grass is not bad I kept on 12 minutes. The zones that have alot of yellow have 17 min on it. is this good?

my monthly water bill during summer last year was about $360 and makes me want to cry

[McGavin]

Are you watering at night?

That's all I got.

[kaylie]

It's possible that you're over watering. I would try some lawn fertilizer from a garden center or HD/Lowes.

I would also take a picture and post it in the gardening forum. They've diagnosed a few issues for me before.

[1 sister]

fertilize
water 1 inch once a week, do not cut grass short - cut on highest setting
grubs? Do a grub treatment

[FoxInFiji]

Get your soil tested in both the good and bad areas. With that information in hand it will be very easy to diagnose what needs to be done to you lawn.

[thumper55]

May 31, 2012 7:54:21 GMT -5 kaylie said:

It's possible that you're over watering. I would try some lawn fertilizer from a garden center or HD/Lowes.

I would also take a picture and post it in the gardening forum. They've diagnosed a few issues for me before.

when it was turning yellow, the sprinklers were on for 12 minutes for only 3 days a week...so when I put it on 12 minutes for 5 days in a row..there is no change
I will put in gardening forum later, ty

[thumper55]

May 31, 2012 5:46:28 GMT -5 McGavin said:

Are you watering at night?

That's all I got.

it gets watered in the early a.m.

[sierramist03]

Did you seed is year? We seeded and the patches where we got too thick are killing themselves out.

[Deleted]

Aside from the yellow part, have you considered having less grass and more native/draught tolerant landscaping? That's the best way to save water in NorCal (though I get some people can't live without lawn, maybe you could do with less, especially in the trouble areas?). I have nothing but flowers and food in my yard by the SF bay, and my bill has never been over $20/month. Things like ceanothus, penstomen, santolina, lavendar, euphorbia, thyme, beach strawberries and jade thrive in my front yard with zero supplemental water and very little labor during any part the year.

[treedimensional]

It's probably fungus.
Lawns are crap. I agree with the person who suggested redesigning to make your lawn as small as possible. Make your planting beds bigger- they should be huge and filled with trees and shrubs.
Turfgrass is unnatural. It is a man-made environmental detriment.

[simpsongal]

Could be grubs too.

[peach]

Did you spray for weeds? Fill your lawn mower with gas on the lawn? Maybe you killed the grass in some spots with something....

12 minutes doesn't sound like much...we water our lawn about 30 minutes every second day. Keep the mower on a higher setting and mow more often, cutting it low causes it to dry out and need more water.