Another Cause Of Brown Grass: Dont Use A Dull Mower Blade
Dull mower blades rip through the grass blades instead of slicing them cleanly, and that stresses the plant. You can always tell a lawn thats been mowed with a dull blade because it looks brown on the top. Get on your hands and knees and you can actually see the damage. Be sure to sharpen your mower blade each season to keep your lawn in good shape.
Grass Care For Greener Lawn
Watering and fertilizing are not enough to ensure a greener and a more healthy lawn. Sometimes, the enemy lies within the grass or soil itself, and your only choice is to address the concern and fix the damage before it ruins your entire lawn.
Always remember that to keep a healthy lawn, it entails constant attention and care. You need to observe and be keen on how your grass is growing. The color or shade of the garden itself can tell you a lot about its conditioned whether it lacks nutrients or water, or if fungi disease or pets are infesting it.
You also need to be watchful with what you do in your yard since foot traffic and other heavy and solid objects can stress the grass that would eventually turn them brown.
Keep an eye on your pets, too, since their waste is not healthy for your grass.
All these lawn care tips should be taken seriously and administered regularly. Taking care of your lawn is a long-term commitment. Without time and attention, it would only be a matter of time before your turf turns brown, ugly, and dead.
Dont wait for that to happen. Fertilize, water, mow, and care for your lawn to keep it green and healthy.
Grass Turning Brown Despite Watering Here Is Why
Water is life, and when you water your lawn, you expect to have a healthy green lawn. Unfortunately, this isnt always the case. You might be watering your lawn twice a day, and still, it doesnt change.
Would you love to know what is bothering your lawn? Here are top reasons for your grass turning brown despite watering:
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How To To Get Rid Of Brown Patch Fungus On Grass
Many conditions can cause patches of brown, dead grass on your lawn, but only one gets the official name brown patch. Brown patch disease is a condition caused by a single species of fungus, Rhizoctonia, that often occurs in mid- to late-summer when the weather is hot and humid.
How To Bring Your Lawn Back To Life In 5 Simple Steps
Does your lawn look dead and dying or filled with brown grass instead of green? Don’t give up hope quite yet. Chances are there’s still life in that “dead” lawnit’s just calling out for help. You can answer its cry and restore your lawn to lush, living beauty with all-in-one Pennington Lawn Booster and these five easy steps:
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Common Lawn Diseases And Pests
If youve eliminated all the above causes, its time to move on to some of the more serious diseases and pests that plague lawn grasses. Some of the most common culprits are:
Thatch: Thatch is a buildup of decaying grass blades that can build up so thick that it chokes out healthy grass.
Remedy: Remove thatch if it is more than ½ thick.
Grubs: Grubs are a common problem in mid to late summer, and most easily identified when your sod easily pulls back from the ground like a carpet.
Remedy: Pull back a section of sod and inspect for fat, white curved worms. More than ten per square foot can cause lawn damage. Grub control products are available at your garden center.
Chinch bugs: Chinch bugs are a common summer pest in warm-season lawns, especially in hot sunny patches beside driveways and sidewalks.
Remedy: Inspect your lawn closely, and look at your shoes as you walk through the grass you should be able to spot the small black and white adults. Theyre resistant to many pesticides, but there are products available to target them.
Other insects: Caterpillars and other pests can live part of their life cycle in lawns.
Remedy: Watch your lawn closely look for crawling and munching insects and for grass blades that look eaten. Also watch for birds and wasps feeding on these pests in your lawn.
Why Your Lawn Is Turning Brown And How To Fix It
So you want a beautiful, lush green lawn or a bright emerald, or even a sweet pale blue. Thats why it can come as a shock when your lawn starts to turn red or brown. If your lawn is turning colors that you dont want it to turn, here is why its changing colors and what to do about it.
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Summer Lawn Drought Stress
When there are long periods of dry and hot weather, then its quite possible that your browning summer lawn may be the result of drought. Grass responds to summers high temperatures and lack of water by wilting, browning, and potentially even death.
One way to evaluate whether your browning lawn is the result of drought is to look at the bounce back of the grass blades when theyre stepped on. If footprints appear throughout your lawn after youve walked on it, then it may very likely be drought stressed. Similarly, you may see mower tracks in your lawn after mowing, and they dont go away.
You could also do a simple test using a stake or a screwdriver to see how dry your soil is. Push the stake or screwdriver into a brown patch and into a green patch and evaluate how easy it is to penetrate the soil. If its easy to push into the green lawn, but not the brown patches, youre dealing with dry soil that may be related to drought stress. Watering the lawn deeply in the morning hours, 2 to 3 times per week will keep lawns green for the most part.
You Allow Pets To Your Yard
There is nothing wrong with allowing precious pets on your lawn as it has been shown its vital for their growth, but when they are there, they urinate on the lawn. Since dog urine contains high amounts of nitrogen, the urine burns the grass.
Dogs are habitual, so they urinate on the same spot. When you continually allow the dog to your lawn, no amount of watering will bring back the grass.
To fix this issue, avoid allowing dogs and other pets to your lawn. The grass will stop being exposed to the harmful nitrogen and will soon sprout.
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How To Repair A Brown Lawn
While summer can be tough on your lawn, it doesnt mean that you have to settle for having ugly grass! Now that we know the reasons your lawn may be turning brown, lets talk what you can do about it. You should:
- Reduce compaction in your lawn with aeration: The process of lawn aeration involves the removal of small plugs of soil throughout your lawn to loosen soil and reduce compaction — allowing moisture, air, and nutrients to reach its roots.
- Stimulate new growth with seeding: After aeration, the best thing you can do to take advantage of your new, healthy soil is to lay down new seed on top of your existing grass. This helps promote new growth and can eliminate bald spots!
- Implement a regular lawn care regimen: Stronger grass is more resistant to disease and the harsh conditions of the changing climate. Protect your lawn by implementing a regular lawn care regimen so that your lawn is in tip-top shape year round.
The Grass Is Growing In Acidic Soil
Grass does well in a pH range between 6 and 7. If there is an evergreen tree or fresh leaf mulch nearby, it can turn the soil acidic, making it hard for grass to grow in the affected areas.
If watering the soil but not seeing results, stick a pH meter into the soil and determine the exact pH soil value.
If the pH is below 6, you need to amend the situation immediately. Roll the grass sod to the side and add lime to it.
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How To Get Rid Of Dog Spots
Soak the patch until the grass is sopping wet to dilute the urine acids and salts and wash them deeper into the soil, beyond the grass roots.
Scrape up the dead grass with a hand rake and remove it. Rough up the area to loosen the soil 1/2-in. deep. Seeds germinate better in soft soil.
Sprinkle on a 1/2-in.-thick layer of topsoil, then pepper it with grass seed. Cover with a pinch of new soil and press it to firm it up. Keep the area moist until the new grass is about three inches high.
Why Is My Grass Turning Brown And How Do I Fix It
Not much freaks out a lawn-loving homeowner more than the sight of their beloved green grass turning tragically brown.Noooooooooo! Why is my grass turning brown?!!!Its sort of like the apocalypse, but not really. So, why is your grass turning brown? It could be any of a few reasons. Lets take a look. And, what the heck, well even tell you how to fix it.
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Why Does Grass Turn Brown How Are You Watering The Grass
If youre watering your lawn with a hose, you probably arent watering evenly. This leaves certain areas of your lawn thirsty, while others are overwatered. This not only causes brown patches in your lawn but can needlessly increase your water bill. Plus, with technology advancing, sprinkler systems can be programmed to deliver the right amount of water to where its needed.
Dead Grass Or Dormant Grass
Grass begins turning brown when its roots are no longer absorbing the necessary nutrients from the soil but this isnt necessarily a concern in fact, its part of grass natural life cycle. Dormancy is comparable to an animal hibernating over the winter when food is scarce, and it can be caused by drought, flooding, too much watering, extreme heat, extreme cold, or poor soil quality.
However, brown grass could also mean dead grass. Its often difficult to tell the difference between dormant grass and dead grass, especially for the casual gardener. There are however some signs to look for:
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Your Lawn Has Plenty Of Thatch
Thatch is the buildup of decaying grass blades. When you dont take good care of your lawn, thatch builds up so thick that it chokes out the healthy grass. It does this by preventing water and food from getting into the roots.
When you allow thatch to build up too high, grass plants start growing roots in the thatch layer. Since the layer cant hold water, plants begin drying out, leading to brown spots in your lawn.
To restore your grass, inspect your lawn, and if thatch is more than ½ thick, its time to dethatch your lawn.
How To Identify The Cause Of Brown Spots In Your Lawn
Brown spots in lawns are frustrating to deal with! Just when you think youve done everything right, suddenly theres a patch of grass thats dead or dying. There are a number of causes of brown spots in lawns, from insects to disease to human error.
To get to the bottom of the situation, youll have to do a little old-fashioned investigating. Heres a checklist to help you determine the cause of brown spots in your yard.
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Brown Patch Lawn Disease
Brown patch lawn disease is one of the most destructive of all turf lawn diseases. It sneaks up on you and destroys large areas of turf virtually overnight when the weather conditions are just right.
Brown patch lawn disease isnt picky it attacks a wide variety of grass types, and really likes the lawns receiving large amounts of fast release nitrogen fertilizer.
Get Help From The Pros
If your lawn is turning brown or showing bald spots, it may be time to call the pros. Having a consistent lawn care schedule that includes lawn fertilization, weed control, disease control, aeration and seeding and more can take up a lot of your time. Its not only time-intensive, but it also takes an in-depth knowledge of best practices and products to use. Why not let the experts handle it so you can spend your time doing things you enjoy? Here at Tailor Made Lawns, we know exactly what your lawn needs to survive the North Carolina seasons. With over 20 years of experience in the lawn care industry, we can provide your lawn with exactly what it needs and when it needs it.
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You Have A Lot Of Foot Traffic On The Lawn
While your lawn should be a place for you and your family to kick back and enjoy, sometimes you open it up for other people. When you allow people to walk too much on certain areas of the lawn, you are bound to have bald spots that dont get green.
Other than a lot of foot traffic, leaving toys and other materials on the lawn will create dead patches.
For grass to grow, you need to change the path people use to access your lawn. If there are toys, forgotten hoses, or other materials, remove them from the lawn.
Cultural Management: Preventing Brown Patch Lawn Disease
Since high levels of fast release nitrogen increase disease activity, Spring-Green uses a correct blend of fertilizers for lawn fertilizing during the warmer months. Mow less frequently during periods of hot and humid weather, this reduces stress and limits the movement of grass disease by being carried on your feet or mower. If possible, increase light and air penetration, or movement, by pruning overhanging trees and shrubs. During cooler seasons, open up the thatch layer with power core aeration. If these cultural cures fail, a preventative fungicide lawn treatment program may have to be applied to control this most damaging of lawn diseases.
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Cool Temperatures + Brown Lawn = Grass Dormancy
- When does grass go dormant: As summer starts to fade away and temperatures consistently drop below 55°, lawns enter dormancy. If leaves fall off the trees in your area, your grass will likely go dormant.
- When does dormant grass come back? Inactive, brown grass will become green again in spring. To help your lawn green up faster, fertilize this fall.
Recommendations For Your Summer Lawn Care Schedule
Proper lawn care throughout the summer can help protect your grass even as temperatures heat up. This includes avoiding some of the common mistakes leading to lawn stresses that we mentioned above.
As part of your summer lawn care schedule, you should be sure that youre doing the following:
- Practicing Proactive Lawn Care: While many of these issues are not completely preventable, how your lawn handles them will come down to how healthy it is. By being part of a regular lawn care program, youre already being proactive in preventing your lawn from succumbing to summer lawn stressors. A strong and healthy lawn can better withstand the stresses that will arise during the summer months.
- Proper Watering: If you suspect that your summer lawn problems are a result of drought, youll want to be sure that you are watering your lawn properly. How much water your lawn needs is all dependent upon how much moisture is in the soil. Your lawn needs approximately two inches of water each week and if its not getting that from rainfall, youll need to supplement with irrigation. Be sure to water in the morning hours to reduce evaporation and to also not agitate turf diseases.
- Regular Inspections by a Pro: By having a professional on your lawn on an ongoing basis, theyll be able to spot problems with insects or diseases early on, before they become a major threat to your lawns survival. That means youll be able to start treatment early and restore your lawn to good health.
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My Lawn Is Turning Brown In Summer What Do I Do
All year, we dream of sinking our toes into lush, green grass. Its nearly as relaxing and rejuvenating as the beach sand!
Thats why it irks us when our lively grass slowly loses its luster and browns.
If youve been unhappy with how your lawn looks, lets solve the problem together. Learn what to do about brown grass in summer and why this could be happening.
Can A Brown Lawn Be Saved
Generally, yes. If the lawn is brown because it has gone dormant, it will bounce back by itself and turn green again during its growing season. However, if your lawn has turned brown all over due to drought, there is no way to revive it.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at .
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Chemical Burns From Fertilizer
Another very common reason your lawn is turning brown in spots is overusing or spilling fertilizer or spilling other chemicals on your lawn.
This results in either a chemical burn or a change in pH in your soil, which will cause your grass in that location to die.
Solution
To avoid these types of chemical burns, it is important to use fertilizer as directed and to dispose of other chemicals properly.
Avoid pouring gasoline into your lawnmower on your lawn and instead, do it in the garage or on your driveway.
Too much nitrogen can specifically cause these kinds of burns, whether the nitrogen comes from spilling fertilizer as you turn your broadcast spreader or from animal urine.
Thats right, dogs or other animals peeing on your lawn also kills grass due to the high nitrogen content in their urine.
Encourage your dog to pee elsewhere in your yard or take them on a walk to avoid urine burns on your lawn.
