My grass has turned yellow, not growing, looks dead..is my soil to blame?

[Bigmallly]

I know nothing about lawns but would forking the area help if it is the mebrane that's causing the problem?

[Matt94]

I know nothing about lawns but would forking the area help if it is the mebrane that's causing the problem?

I agree with BM, I wouldn't dig it up yet, I would rake it, to remove thatch and dead grass, aerate it with a fork, put some sand down and put some new seed down. It may not work, but I would rather do that first, as it will only cost you a couple of hours and a few quid - so if it doesn't work, you won't have lost a lot!

[Aberdeenplotter]

I only ever use permeable membrane. That allows moisture to move both ways yet holds back the weeds. What sort of membrane do you have down?

[Bigmallly]

From the pics, it appears that the water is getting through the membrane but the grass roots are not hence the suggestion for forking or spiking to allow the roots to go down as it looks dry similar to a summer lawn.

[boundtothesoil]

From the pics, it appears that the water is getting through the membrane but the grass roots are not hence the suggestion for forking or spiking to allow the roots to go down as it looks dry similar to a summer lawn.

I agree with Bigmallly that it is worth forking an area, deeply enough to break through the weed suppressing membrane. From my experience with these membranes, roots don't penetrate them until the membrane (if it's a cheap one) begins to degrade after a couple of years.

As it's not clear from your photos or the site history what the cause of the problem is, you could experiment over small areas of the lawn this March, when growth of the grass should resume, rather than rip the lot up. Mark out/identify a few small plots (eg. one metre square), then, for example:-
1. To see if the cause is the membrane impeding drainage and/or root growth, deeply spike/fork one of the plots every few centimetres to break through the membrane.
2. To see if the turf itself is the cause (i.e. unsuitable species of grass or contamination), remove the turf from a plot and replace it with a layer of fresh topsoil then sow some perennial ryegrass seeds into it.
3. To see if it's a soil-bound pest/disease, apply a suitable mix of insecticide/fungicide to a plot.
4. To see if it's a plant nutrient deficiency (unlikely if you've been feeding it in 2012, although most will have leached out due to the high rainfall), apply something like growmore to a plot.
5. To see if it's a soil alkalinity/toxicity problem (high pH and/or some kind of contamination in either your bought-in topsoil or the subsoil), remove the turf and dig out about one foot of the soil, plus membrane, replacing it with fresh topsoil (known to be pH 5-6.5). Then replace the turf and/or sow with perennial ryegrass seed (perennial ryegrass is one of the toughest species of lawn grass and should establish pretty well).
Cut the grass as per usual then observe how these plots perform compared with the rest of the area until late summer.

This approach requires quite a lot of work (interesting though!!) and isn't fool proof, but should at least eliminate some of the possible candidate causes.

Alternatively, it may be useful to peel back a bit of the turf and take a close look at the state of the roots at the junction between the turf and the underlying 4 inches of topsoil. Obviously you might not be able to do this if the turf has knitted well into the underlying topsoil, which it should have during 2012. But you want to look for signs of healthy/newish roots, penetrating within the 4 inch topsoil layer and deeper, plus you should also be able to see if there is a heavy infestation of leatherjacket grubs etc and/or root feeding pests, or even fungal infection of the roots. It is not unknown for commercially supplied turf to be infected with pests/diseases. Sometimes grass pitches in sports stadia have had to be entirely replaced due to these.

Then rip the lot out and resow in the Autumn!!!

[scorpius]

Very interesting info re leatherjackets etc didnt know that.

Probably not relevant to this but our lawn turned yellow as our dogs wee was so strong - didnt happen as he got older, our other dog doesnt affect it.

[Macka]

Thank you all for trying to help and I value every single suggestion.

I have now forked the entire area, in March will apply lawn feed. I have dug out small area of my lawn, removed the membrane(from there) and found this..little white like grub(I am attaching a picture)

My future plan:

I will also dig out another spot, remove the membrane, the soil and replace with some new soil. I shall try a few variations incl adding some sulphur and monitor the results.

I really thing the soil is not great, the grass roots I have uncovered today looked very lazy to me as if they can't be bothered to grow ha ha

[Potstubsdustbins]

Does thsi look similar, its difficult to tell from your pic but I think I see an orangy head?

There is also a pic of the damage they do.

Colin

[rustylady]

If you only found one grub then I would suggest this is not the cause of your problem. I still cannot understand why you laid weed membrane down. Grass normally grows anywhere and everywhere unless it can't get it's roots into reasonable soil and I think your weed membrane is probably the reason.

Exactly what sort of weed membrane did you use?

[Two_Sheds]

found this..little white like grub

It's normal to find just one. It's not an infestation, it hasn't killed your lawn

I will ... replace with some new soil.

You don't need to do that, just improve it. Removing the membrane will help more than anything.

I really thing the soil is not great, the grass roots I have uncovered today looked very lazy

It is winter, nothing is growing yet.