Texas Turf Guys

Brown Spots on the Lawn

When you see brown spots on the lawn, you could be looking at several different kinds of problems. Pet urine, a dull mower blade, brown patch fungus, even grubs can all be culprits. Check out our list of symptoms and solutions.

Prevention and Maintenance
Small Brown Spots in Unexpected Places
Do you have a dog? Dog urine contains concentrated nitrogen, which can burn a lawn. Create a pit stop in your yard with mulch or pea gravel for your dog.

Brown Spots Appear after Mowing
You probably have a dull mower blade. Dull blades shred the grass, damaging the ends. These damaged ends die and turn brown. Try sharpening your blade and see what results you get.

Brown Spots in Mid-Summer
You could have Japanese beetles and grubs. Check to see if the leaves of your trees and shrubs have been eaten into a lacework. If so, apply Scotts GrubEx® to your lawn and mulched areas. Spray trees and shrubs with Ortho® Bug-B-Gon® MAX® Lawn & Garden Insect Killer.

Brown Patches Appear in Hot, Wet Weather
You could have brown patch fungus. It loves hot, sticky weather. Brown patch grows in circular patterns sometimes several feet wide. Treat your lawn every other week with a lawn fungus control product such as Scott® Lawn Fungus Control. You'll need at least 3 applications. Only water once a week, since a wet lawn encourages the fungus.

Broad Brown Patches
You could have overfed your lawn. Water the burned area every 3 days with at least ½ inch of water for about 4 weeks. You don't want to fertilize again until the area perks back up.

Another job by Texas Turf Guys in The Woodlands , TX

JULY LAWN TIPS

LAWN CARE: Lawns at this time of year are rapidly growing and need frequent mowing. The best lawns will be those that are mowed regularly. If you mow often enough, you can return the clippings back to the lawn. The rule of thumb is to not remove more than 1/3 of the length of the blades per mowing. This may mean mowing every 5 or 6 days instead of once a week (or less). Removing more than 1/3 is stressful on the lawn, and will tend to leave visible clippings on top of the grass.

As rainfall becomes less regular, irrigation will be need to be more frequent. Lawns need about 1 inch of water per week. This can be supplied in one or more applications per week, depending on the soil type and how hot and dry the weather has been. Sandy soils need more frequent watering, as do newly planted lawns.

Watch out for lawn pests. Chinch bugs multiply rapidly in warm weather, and their feeding causes St. Augustine grass to look like drought stress. No treatment is needed until symptoms first appear. Look for wilting grass which does not respond to water. The grass will continue to dry, giving it a burned look. Look for tiny, 1/6 to 1/5 inch bugs scurrying quickly up and down grass blades and or scurrying to hide down in the thatch. Flooding the perimeter area with water, or soaking the edge with soapy will drive them up from the thatch onto the grass blades where they are more easily seen. Damage usually occurs first in the hottest and driest parts of the lawn.

July and August is also the time to treat for white grubs if there is a problem. Treatment is based on whether grubs are present in the turf and the way to find out is to dig a few test areas and look for the small grubs in the soil. Not all lawns will have grubs and excessive use of pesticides can lead to other turf problem and contamination of sewer discharge, so it is better to check first rather than automatically treat.

Love the view from my office chair (Toro Z Master mower)...