How do you know if you have an insect problem???

[brabdau]

My wife and I bought a 2 year old home in Victorville California (High Desert). We purchased the home in the winter of this year, and found that most homeowners turn their sprinkler systems off during that time.

When early spring got here (mid April) we turned them back on. We only have grass in the front yard and I checked and have continued to check that all the sprinklers were working. I originally turned them on everyother day and watered twice each watering day. Once in the moring and once at night for about 6 minutes each. In a few weeks the color came back and I added some fertilizer to help.

Since about late May or early June a couple small sections have started turning yellow. The soil felt dry to the touch and I figured because it was getting hotter maybe I needed to water more. I've up'd the watering times to 10 minutes each watering day. The yellow sections are getting larger to the point now that most of the yard is yellow. My yard is shared with my neighbor and his portion is fine. As are all the other yards in the neighborhood.

I'm not sure what else to try but ripping the lawn out and replumbing the sprinklers. To me they seem to be a very poor configuration. Bad angles and poor coverage. I've heard before that sometimes insects can cause your grass to die and thought you guys would know best.

Sorry this thing is so long, let me know what other information you need. Any tips would be great.

[bcg]

What type of grass?

There are lots of things that can cause yellowing but it's usually a nutrient problem, not insects.

Grass generally benefits more from deep waterings less frequently than it does from frequent light waterings. I don't know how hot or how much rain you get in your area but in Houston where it's 95 - 100 all summer I water my lawn every other day for 20 minutes in the morning. This is about 1 - 1.5 inches and the soil has usually dried out between waterings. This is what you want to shoot for (though you may dry out faster than me because of low humidity) as the deeper waterings encourage deeper root growth which will make healthier grass. Ideally, you want to have the roots as deep as the grass is tall.

You probably also need to fertilize but what to add is hard to say. Not enough Nitrogen, too much Nitrogen, lack or Iron, Sulpher and lots of other things can cause yellowing. Your best bet is really going to be to take several tissue and soil samples, mix them together and go by your county ag extension office to see if they can either do an analysis for you or recommend a lab that can. It shouldn't be more than $40 or so and the results will tell you exactly what you need to add to your lawn and in what quantities to get it green again.

If you tell us what kind of grass it is, someone else can probably give you more specific advice on that variety.

[brabdau]

I believe it is tall fescue.

Thank you for all the great info. We get very little rain during the summer and temps run between 90 and 110. I will switch my watering times to just in the morning and run for about 25 minutes. We dry out pretty fast here.

I will locate an ag office and get some samples tested. Thanks again.

[MASTERMOWER]

Could be a fungus problem.....you mentioned you watered in the evening?

[brabdau]

I water about 45 mins to an hour before the sun goes down.