Grass too tall?

[wonderlyeric]

I put in new sod last sept, and have never mowed it very short. I have been keeping it pretty tall, (probably cause i'm scared to cut it too short). But now I've noticed that below the green part of the grass stem, all the grass is brown and thin. Is this because i've kept it too tall. It seems that my whole yard is getting thin and brown down low. If I start cutting it shorter will it get green down there?

[BuenPatron]

Okay... This is a totally amateurish opinion, to be taken with a large grain of salt. I didn't reply to this thread yesterday because I figured somebody who knew something of this topic might answer, then we'd all know.

But since nobody has, I'll give it my two cents. Read on at your own peril.

Sod from a sod farm is usually hepped up on nitrogen. It grows like crazy when you first get it, you water it a ton, and are reluctant to mow it, of course.

Down lower, the blades don't see any sunlight, so there isn't any chlorophyll action happening.

Then, your nitrogen shot wears off like that Red Bull you had awhile ago.

Solution? I'd back it down to 3 or 3 1/2 inches and give it some good slow release fertilizer. No more ammonium sulfate. I use a 25-5-10, I think. Ease up on the water if it's not too too hot to encourage root growth.

Then ask someone who's qualified.

[TrickyDick]

My guess is that what you are looking at are the dead stems from last seasons grass. If you didn't cut it low at the end of the fall you would just have a bunch of tall dead grass sitting there until the new grass grew up through it in the spring. If you take a rake to it can you pull out a lot of the brown grass?

[Prolawns]

IMO Tall grass isn't as much a factor as is how often you mow, the more often you mow the thicker your lawn will be, the brown stuff is thatch, i wouldn't mess with it unless its over 1/2" thick, otherwise wait until the fall. my advise without looking at the lawn would be to mulch mow at least once a week, cut off no more than 1/3 of the grass blade at one time. It your lawn grows faster than that, you may need to mow twice a week. I also wouldn't let it get any higher than 3 1/2 to 4 inches tall. and give it a good helping of organic fertilizer in the fall and next spring. That should help but its hard to tell without looking at it or a soil test.