Question
Jim,
   Again, thanks so much for all your help.  I do need to clear up a couple things.  We acually live in Northern CA.  Paradise is 95969.  To my understanding... this is Zone 7.  Im not at all doubting your knowledge... I just wonder if this makes any difference.  We do have a timed sprinkler system but the water just doesnt seem to be getting through that top layer (which you allready picked up on).  Please get back to me with any additional info.  Thanks again.
Becky
Followup To
Question -
Jim,
     We live in Paradise, CA.  Zone 7 I believe.  The grass is Kentucky Blue from what I understand.
Thanks again.


Followup To
Question -
Jim,

   First of all, thanks so much for any advice you can give me.  About 2-3 months ago we had sod installed in our back yard.  From the very start we had some trouble... it seems our sprinklers didnt come on when they were suspsed to.  Our brand new sod went 3 days with no water... Eventually it came back and looked great. BUT NOW... we water 1 hr (per side) EVERY night and the lawn just seems to keep dying (the side in the sun mostly).  This evening I picked up a bottle of liquid fertilizer (attach to hose and spray) and emptied it over the yard (as directed for sq footage).  Even with the amount of water we are giving it... the ground just never seems to soften up.  What can I do?  Should I get my hopes up after using the fertilizer? Also, would it be helpful to do the "golf shoes" trick to aeriate a bit? Thanks again.
Becky

Answer -
Hi Becky,

Please provide the following information so your generalized question can be more precisely answered>

1. GENERAL GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION or Horticultural Plant
  Hardiness Zone:

  Only Use plants and grasses rated for your climate-zone.
 HORT ZONES from ZIP CODES:
 http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html

2.  GRASS TYPE. There are more than 20 common turf-grasses,
   and each types has its specific needs.
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__ Jim Gibbs
Answer -
Hi again Becky,

Zip Code  95967.
Location:   PARADISE, CA
HORTICULTURAL PLANT HARDINESS Zone:   8 - 9


Your Horticultural Plant Hardiness ZONE is number 8+.  This is considered a warm-climate zone.  The recommended turf grasses for you to use for lawn areas are:

Bermuda grass,
Bahiagrass,
Centipede grass, and
Zoysia grass,

Where there is shade, you can try to cover areas with a cultivar of TALL FESCUE, this intermediate zone grass-type will need to be re-seeded every fall.


By far the most common for your zone is a cultivar of Bermuda grass.
This is about the easiest to grow and hardiest grass-type there is and it can survive drought conditions better than any other.  Bermuda can also tolerate poor soils better than any other grass-type.

Kentucky Blue grass  ("KYB") is not generally started from SOD nor is it hardly ever recommended in southern California as far as I know,... so you may want to be sure this is indeed your grass type.  If a sod installation company has been promoting a grass with 'sale appeal' such as 'Kentucky Blue-grass' but delivering something else,...there may be grounds for litigation.

Kentucky Blue grass can be grown but with difficulty beyond zone-7;...and depending upon how warm the summers will be.  Some of the newer 'high-tech' KYB patented-named hybrids may do OK with the best of soil conditions, but should be selected for heat tolerance.  In the higher altitude and mountainous regions of California, any number of cool-climate grasses can be easily grown.

KYB is susceptible to a number of fungal diseases including dollar spot, leaf spots, stripe smut, powdery mildew and summer patch. Summer patch can be particularly troublesome in certain localized areas. KYB Grass is subject to attack from a number of insects including root-eating grubs, cutworms, billbugs and sod webworms. When under stress, most cultivars will show diminished resistance to damage from insects, diseases and drought.

As temperatures start to hover in the eighties, KYB and all other cool-climate grasses will be heat stressed and will need to be re-seeded every fall.

If you plan on trying to continue with this grass-type, you will probably need to do more to make the soil more moisture retentive. This will mean adding soil amendments to the existing top-soil and re-seeding with KYB.  Unlike some grass-types, you cannot add soil to cover the tufted grasses.  To improve the top-soil to make it more moisture retentive, you will have to start over with seed or sod after the amendments have been added.  The soil should then become more friable and tillable as well as fertile and moisture retentive to support the deep-rooted cool-climate grass types.
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Some information about watering:

Regular "Clock-timed" watering causes a "spoiled, shallow and weak root system" unable to cope with hot weather conditions.

ABOUT WATERING:
Unless you have a COMPUTER CONTROLLED IRRIGATION SYSTEM, i.e. one which automatically accounts for not only how much water rains are supplying to the lawn but also keeps a record of quantities applied to the lawn, DO NOT totally water your lawn with clock-timed regularity.  This can be a big mistake.

It is a common error with watering and sprinkler systems in particular to water with clock-timed regularity .  Lawns are best watered on a visually inspected and "as needed" system.  You should know how much water your sprinkler system delivers and also have a rain-gauge to help keep watering to within 1-3 inches per week.  Climate and weather factors of humidity, barometric pressure, winds, and micro-climates, soil drainage-physics etc., can make clock-timed watering more than in-efficient and un-reliable. A well hydrated stand of turf grass should bounce back when compressed by foot traffic; it should also be able to go several days between soakings in mild weather...this promotes deeper rooting and helps to get by in dry times. A single good deep soaking is better than frequent smaller waterings.

Watering at nights is usually more practical and efficient.  The idea is to NOT lose water by winds and evaporation effects which are usually less intense at night.
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Start shopping for a more carefree grass type:

1.  http://www.turfmerchants.com/special.html

2.  Visit Turf-Seed Inc. for the Seed Selection Wizard's help:
   https://www.turf-seed.com/Home/Wizard/

3.  Go to GOOGLE.COM and enter the
Keywords: "YOUR/LOCALE/NAME Horticulture;"  this search engine may direct you to many good lawn/garden websites for your precise geographical area.
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In summary,

Given the basics of climate and an appropriate grass-type, enough sun-light, good to mediocre soil and so much water, all common turf grasses are easy to grow.  Add some extra water and an occasional nitrate fertilizing event,...  all common turf grasses are VERY EASY to grow.  So, if you have been having long-term lawn appearance problems, then most likely you do not have the basics well established for an optimized greens-keeping scenario.

With either an improved moisture soil base or a change of grass-type or both,...your lawn problems should become history.
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With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!
Have a fantastic Summer!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more Lawn and Garden Tips, Facts and Links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

Your Questions and Comments are welcome at ALLEXPERTS.com  

Answer
Hi Becky,

Matching Hort-zones to plant species is extremely important so that you will not be wasting time and money with plants and grasses that are simply not adapted to the local zone/climate and conditions.

Please Visit the http://ardorday.org/ web-site to verify that your hort-zone is indeed 8-9 and not zone 7.  Even in zone-7, KYB is difficult to grow. The state of Kentucky from which we might suppose this grass type originated is mainly zone-6.  Turf-grass scientists and hybridizers work to make grasses more widely marketable with improved qualities in new cultivars; it is possible that there could exist cultivars of KYB that are more able to tolerate the summer heat of  zones 8-9, but I doubt it and can find no indication that this is so.

The Hort-Zones are not absolute and are based upon ten-year averages for low temperature extremes (hard freezes).  The system used by most nurserymen places your zip-code into zones 8-9. These are generally considered moderate temperate to warm semi-tropical climate zones while zone-7 is more or less an intermediate temperate zone.

You can roughly translate the USDA hardiness zones by finding out how low your area's temperatures can reach, and then use the chart below to find your corresponding zone:


Zone 5:  (-20 to -10 F)
Zone 6:  (-10 to 0 F)
Zone 7:  (0 to 10 F)
Zone 8:  (10 to 20 F)
Zone 9:  (20 to 30 F)

Zones 8-9 do include most of the coastal areas of California and the southern states with most of south Texas and northern Florida included.

This being said, I stand by my opinion that all species of botanical Poa (including the so called "Kentucy Bluegrasses") are not the best choice for your location.  They may prosper for parts of the year but be prone to continual lawn appearance problems.  I do recommend that you consider using a warm-climate grass type. KYB cultivars make excellent lawns where the climate is suitable, and people in other zones are attracted to the images these present with grazing thoroughbred race-horses and all, but to grow a cool-climate grass in zones 8-9 is a stretch and probably will be more trouble than it is worth.  You can work to optimize the top-soil and continue with hopes for a KYB lawn, but chances are you will be better off with one of the warm-climate grasses.

If you must use a 'tufted grass' (all of which like cooler weather), you might try the hardiest varieties of TALL FESCUE such as 'SR-8600', 'Rembrandt' or 'Plantation' patented cultivars.  These are very hardy and are almost classifiable an warm-climate types.

Top-soils vary greatly from place to place in their chemistry and physics so that they drain or 'perk' at different rates and exhibit any number of other variable qualities as well.
You want to establish a healthy root-zone where water, air and nutrients permeate well for greens-keeping excellence.  This may involve efforts to alter the existing top-soil.  If this soil improving project is too costly or labor intensive, sometimes you may have to consider alternative landscaping scenarios and just go with what exists as far as establish soil conditions are concerned.  Unfortunately, this may mean a typical lawn is impractical. Do a soil-test if there are any questions about your top-soils efficacy for supporting turf-grasses.  If the neighbors are having success with lawns,...try to emulate what you see.  Still, no amount of human effort will make an inappropriate grass-type work where it is unsuitable.


From what you have said, your top-soil could benefit from being improved by the addition of soil amendments to improve fertility, aeration, drainage and general soil physics.  If you do want to change to a warm-climate grass-type, consider investing in top-soil improvements so that greens-keeping efforts will be easier for the years ahead.
---

With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
--------
I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more Lawn and Garden Tips, Facts and Links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

Your Questions and Comments are welcome at ALLEXPERTS.com