A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 new grass dying and mushrooming

Hello, I'm new here and looking for some guidance. I just had a new lawn and sprinkler system installed in my new home. I live in Auburn, CA and it's been approx 100 degrees since the sod was laid a lilttle more than a wk ago. First, the sod started to turn dry, so the watering schedule was increased from 2x/day @ 45 min ea. to 2x/day @ 60 min ea. After 2 days, the gardener added a 3rd watering since the sod was still drying out. I now have mushrooms coming up. I am going to have him change the watering schedule tomorrow, as the ground is now saturated. I'm disabled and cannot do it myself. It was too late tonight when I realized it to ask for help from a neighbor.

Is my sod ruined, and what about the mushrooms? What do they mean other than that there is alot of moisture? mom2grandma1@aol.com

Hello! I'm no expert, but when watering new sod here in Florida, I've seen people leave the sprinkler on all night, then shut it off when it starts to heat up outside. They start watering again when the sun starts to set. I haven't noticed any mushrooms as a result, but then, all yards are different. Just an idea, though...

What kind of sod did u lay?

When ever i get a lot of rain or water on my yard, the mushrooms grow too. If u have a lot of dead tree roots or rotting organic matter in the ground, that encourages the the presence of mushrooms. I don't think mushrooms are anything to worry about.

I have seen people lay bermuda sod and it will turn brown brown initially, but then come back again soon. But i don't want to tell u that everything is alright, just don't know for sure? Have u asked the person who installed your sod about it?

It's me again! Just wanted to tell you that when my hubby put some grass seed in our yard, I watered it a lot, and we found a few mushrooms, too. But no harm done, the seeds did fine (except where the dogs keep running through it ) Now, if I could just keep these blasted pups out of my flowerbeds...
PUPPY, ANYONE??? :p :p

Hey mom2gramma2,
I just wanted to let you know, I've got some mushrooms in our yard now too, I think it's because of the rain/watering...........
We've been having a batch of thunderstorms going through out area and recieving much needed rain, and I've noticed alot popping up!
I think it's a natural thing to happen when it rains, the spores are in the soil and the right conditions sets them to sprouting.
Another time to get mushrooms is when you've cut a tree down and with the tree sawdust or choppings creates the right conditions for them too, compost like material..........

How's your grass doing????
Did you call the place to have them come back out and see what happened????

Weezie

It is very likely that you new sod is recieving too much water, and it may not be dry but only appear to be.
Many fungal attacks mimic dry grass, at least on the surface. If you are having mushrooms popping it is pretty likely that is the case, as they only grow in wet environments.
Fungal diseases thrive in warm humid weather.
If you look closely at the individual blades of grass, a lot of times you can see it attacking. It could appear as black or brown dots on the blades. Or yellow or tan lines going across the blade itself. This is just to name a few, as there are many different types of diseases, and they all have their own identifying marks.
Hope this helps you find out what is going on with the lawn.
Oh by the way, I would NOT water the lawn at night until you find out for certain it is not a fungal disease that is hurting your lawn. This will help spread the disease.


Good Luck!

Hello, well it's me again. First I'd like to thank all for your replies.

I think my lawn is going to survive. The color is looking pretty good now, at least for the most part. We have a few drier spots that are picking up now, and a dead patch. The gardener says that he'll wait 2 wks and replace any needed areas at that time, just to do all at the same time.

About the type of grass: I know it's a bluegrass mix, mostly blue, but my gardener has a heavy Spanish accent, and I don't understand him very well when he says the type to me. But it's a pretty blue-green color. Sometimes the language barrier is a problem.

We have adjusted the water situation again, now watering at 2x per day, 30 min ea time. I hope this works, the ground is still pretty soaked, and the roots are started to get to the dirt below now, so I'm pretty sure that the sod will take hold.

:p

I got huge mushrooms growing in the area where the town cut down an ailing tree was.
They ground the stump up and left the chips and weeds have since covered the area, but we've been having alot of rain!!!!!!!!!
And I went to get the mail this morning, there's about 9 of them as big as grapefruits and musk melons!!
They are huge!! White, and very nice looking.
I used to have a neighbor that lived next door to me that lived in Poland and had her father here visiting. They would come out and look around for mushrooms and I gave them a lecture on mushrooms and they reassured me they were very firmiliar with mushrooms and knew the consequences.......
Weezie