Hey everyone,
I’m hoping to get some help figuring out what’s going on with my backyard lawn. Some areas look healthy and green, but other patches are yellow or pale (see photo).
Here’s what I know:
Location: Houston, TX
Grass type: Not 100% sure — would love help identifying it from the photo!
Sun exposure: Partial shade
Watering: 3 times a week
Recent treatment: I applied a fungus removal product, thinking that might be the issue, but the yellow spots are still there.
Could this be from nutrient deficiency or watering pattern? The soil seems to drain fine.
Appreciate any advice on how to bring the yellow area back to green — and if anyone can help identify the grass type, that’d be great too!
by banana2712
4 Comments
A lot more fertilizer. Your grass is starving and the trees are stealing all the nutrients
I think crabgrass is dying…
You have zoysia, either Emerald or Zeon, it’s starting to go into dormancy, especially under shade and/or if it was stressed for a period of time earlier this month in our drought. Dormancy is NOT only triggered by temps, it’s also triggered by less/lower intensity sunlight, which is first noticeable in the shady areas. The sun intensity right now is the same as mid February.
You can hit it with a half rate of slow release N and K fertilizer so it’ll have something to bounce back with come late March, but it’s gonna look like this till the first freeze and stay dormant till then. 2x a week watering should be plenty for now. Really as long as the soil isn’t totally dried out it’s fine, it’s just winter dormancy.
Source: I have zoysia in Austin, some of it under heavy live oak shade. It’s still very green in the full sun areas but looks like this in the shade, and growth is completely stalled. It’s done for the season. I’ll only be mowing to mulch leaves and water once a week just to keep it from totally drying out. I’ll put down a pre emergent in February and won’t worry about another fertilization till early April, usually after my 2nd mow of spring.
We’re in a drought to the point of a burn ban being issued..