Question
Hi Tom.    I sampled 2 areas in my lawn, ran ph test on each.  test 1 -6.2 ( mostly sunny area little shade), test no. 2- acidic off color chart (-5.0) shady area below 50' cedar, shady area.   My lawn even in semi shade areas not doing well.   Shady areas horrible.   Use Scotts fertilizer, water often, fescue in shade, fescue and ber-muda in sunny to partly sunny areas.   Got me reunning in circles.   Please help.      Thanks Tom....  Joe

Answer
Joe:

Sorry about your troublesome lawn.  From your description, you may have suffered from some recent stress to the grass.  A custom renovation may be in order.

I would add lime under the cedar, as recommended on the soil test.  Do not add lime to the 6.2 portion.  Disturb the soil everywhere, either with tiller or with aerator.  You need not actually till the soil as for a garden, just scarify it, break the surface, show soil.

Sew your preferred grass in each area.  At this point, I recommend a compost application at the rate of 1/2 to 1 cubic yard (CY) per thousand square feet (M) of a high quality material.  Depending on where you are, there should be some producers of this quality or professional grade compost.  Bagged material is rarely worth anything.

This use of compost replaces fertilizer, lime and mulch.  If you sew Bermuda, sew on top of compost.  If fescue, sew before applying compost.  If you wish to use conventional practices, use normal materials.

Under some trees, grass does not do well.  I believe cedar is one of them, if not from competition for water, then from needles covering grass and soil.  Make sure shaded areas are getting some sun for grass.  Prune up if necessary for sunlight.