Brown Spots In Lawn

[MossRoad]

My father in law has a beautiful lawn. It is his pride and joy. He has developed some brown spots in his lawn, about 2-3 inches in diameter, where the grass just dries up and dies. He was suspecting bugs. I am suspecting overwatering. He wanted to dump on the insect control, but I talked him into digging up one of the spots and seeing what is in there. We dug out a cylinder of sod about 4 inches across and 8 inches deep. After carefully disecting the sod and soil we only found 2 one inch long earth worms and a red and yellow stripped worm like bug that was only about a quarter of an inch long. Thats it. No other life forms. I noticed that the roots of the sod were only about an inch deep and I could pick up a handful of dirt and squeeze the water out of it.

He likes to water every day. Sometimes twice a day. He knows that he only needs 1 to 1.5 inches of water a week. I am trying to convince him to water every other day to give the water a chance to soak in and make the grass develop deeper roots.

Any thougths to this from anyone? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Egon]

Could these spots be the start of Fairy Rings?
Egon

 

[Frosty]

Do you have any pets or "stray" pets? We have a lot of brown spots exactly as you describe in our back lawn.

We have dogs and a week or so after urinating a dead brown spot appears. I believe the grass is burned from the concentrated ammonia. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

<font color=blue>We have dogs and a week or so after urinating a dead brown spot appears.</font color=blue>

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I hadn't considered dogs. I was thinking more along the line of errant sons in law........./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[pajoube]

Harv, congratulations on your VETERAN status, well deserved.
PJ

 

[pajoube]

MR, the over watering is a very good possibility. I'm very surprised he does not have fairy rings that usually occure when you get to much water over a period of time.
PJ

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

We had the same problem. Started feeding the neighbor's dog miracle grow...

Seriously, one old guy told me once to mix some dishwashing soap in a hose sprayer. Said it was caused by a bug. Also asked me at the time if I noticed a small white moth type of bug that only flew a few feet when mowing or walking across the lawn. He said the larva eats the grass roots.....

But, I'd go with the dog theory or son-in-law theory... Tom

 

[MossRoad]

No dogs or son in laws going on the grass /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I've seen fairy rings before. They are darker green than the surrounding lawn and several feet across(at least our were). These spots are only three inches in diameter.

I was really surprised by the lack of life in the turf and soil, and the amount of water that I can squeeze out of the dirt. That is why I suspect overwatering and overuse of pesticides or fertilizer.

 

[njrqs]

MR

Try a search somewhere on "Dollar Spot" or something similar. I have heard of it associated with lawn care.

Maybe this could be it??

 

[cowboydoc]

I had the same thing last year on my lawn. It was a fungus. I had to spray a fungal spray to get rid of it.

 

[Turfman]

Could be a fungus, could be a bug. Bugs generally eat in irregular patterns and the brown grass lifts out easily. Fungus will kill out in spots and will be very generalized (spread thoughout the area).

Dog spots will have a dead spot with a very actively growing dark green ring around them. The salts in the doggy stuff kill the spot, but the dark green is from the fertilizer in it. Leaching it out will help move the salts from the root zone.

Fairy rings look like doggy spots, but the centers generally still have a very light green appearance in the early stages. Decaying organic matter causes them. A piece of wood, etc. will cause it. Removing the organic matter and placing new sod down will fix that. They can be any size, depending on the size of the organic matter. I say one a few feet across, with a 18 inch piece of plywood 6 inches under the lawn.

Overwatering will cause the lawn to yellow out all over as it depletes the nitrogen in the soil.

More information on the appearance of the spots would be helpful.

Turfman

 

[MReeter]

Moss,For sure a Fungus,too much water and warmer temps. will bring it on.Too much water will also not give the grass time to root down to deeper moisture.The grass will get used to the daily drink and become lazy,it will only grow up and out,not down.

Once a week watering is plenty,some times too much is not a good thing.

 

[MossRoad]

I tried telling him that the grass will get deeper roots if he waters for longer periods, but less often. Instead of a half hour every day, maybe an hour and a half every third day. But he is from the old school of standing on your lawn with a hose every evening after work and watering by hand. He got the sprinkler system with automatic timer, but he runs it manually. He likes to be in control of it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

If I remember, I'll take the camera over there this weekend and take some pictures of it.