In the first picture, the area of the turf that is toward the bottom of the photo, that is less straw-like in appearance looks like it could be Pythium Blight. It is swirled and matted. There is also a portion that is clumped together in the top right of the photo. Go out very early in the morning and see if there is a white cottony, fibrous substance covering the affected areas. Or you can check at dusk and see if the areas appear "wet". If they are, stop watering immediately and halt all Nitrogen application. Do not use wheeled mowing equipment in or over the affected areas. There are chemicals available to cure and prevent Pythium diseases, but I no longer reccommend their use for homeowners. Pythium spreads rapidly and you can easily lose your entire lawn to it. Google "Aliette", "Chipco Signature", or "Banol" and make your own decision. Some lawn-care companies are equipped to spray for Pythium but not many. You may wish to call around.

The problem is so many lawn issues look the same. The end result is the grass turns brown and that's the only thing I can see from the photos. No obvious signs of spots, spores, mycelium or other characteristics that could distinguish one disease from another.

If you can find any blades of grass that are not completely brown, that still have some green on the blades and take a closeup photo of it and post it that would help. Even then there's usually some debate on what you have.

Best bet is to call a couple of good lawn care companies in your area and ask them to come take a look and give you an estimate and recommended treatment. Hopefully they all agree on what it is. But that's not always the case unfortunately. They should have a better shot at figuring out than anyone of us that just looks at photos. Then if you want, come back and ask for recommendations based on what they said. They'll usually have more effective treatments but sometimes you don't need to do anything or there may be other options. The important thing is to find out what you have as soon as you can.

If I were to guess I'd say nitrogen burn. What have you applied so far and how much?

we used Scotts Turf Builder with summergaurd about 2 weeks ago. That is why I thought it could be fertilizer burn. We have a 5000 sq ft lawn and used a bag that was meant to cover 5000 sq ft. It seems like browning is more in the areas that get alot of sun and not in the shady areas. We applied it like the day of or the day before a good rain.

We also have not watered this year. We have had a lot of rain, there has been no need for it.

Thank you for your input!

Nitrogen Burn? You are pulling her leg, right Noob? Nitrogen Burn occurs in spreader overlap patterns and turn-around points. Shawnann....Did you or your husband dump handfulls of fertilizer onto those areas pictured?
On second thought, nevermind. I'm sure the next poster will suggest sending a blade of grass to a lab for specific pathogen identification before moving forward with any disease control what-so-ever.
Good luck with your lawn Shawnann.

> " I'm sure the next poster will suggest sending a blade of grass to a lab"

Naaa, I got a 20 that says corn meal ... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

You have to water in fertilizer right away, especially on a hot day so that it doesn't sit on the blades.

What part of the country are you from? What has your weather been like?

Stupid question, but are you sure you have a 5,000 sq ft lawn? I ask because 5,000 sq ft is a common lot size in my area and I've known people that over applied fertilizer because they forgot to subtract the house's footprint, driveways, flower beds and other non lawn areas. When applying at the recommended spreader setting did you think you should be finished but kept going because you still had more left?

Were you able to find any grass blades that were only partially damaged? A picture of one of those might help nail down what the exact problem is.

It seems like you overseeded to fix a problem. Was this what the grass looked like before you overseeded?

> "What part of the country are you from? What has your weather been like? "

The coffee is ready, help yourself noob!

1st post - Posted by shawnann z6 ky

4th post - We also have not watered this year. We have had a lot of rain, there has been no need for it.

Ok Here is what I have,
my dh and the pest and lawn service measured the lawn so I assume they did it right.

however, we only have a hand held spreader that can drop clumps now and then, but I am not sure that accounts for why the spots only happen in sunny areas does it?

We did erroneously wait to let the rain water it in. And it has been VERY rainy lately with heavy heavy rains. But it has also been very hot and humid.

Here are some more pics (sorry they are not more clear):
I did find a couple of piece with this white stuff on it but only a couple and it was 9 am.
{{gwi:101094}}

{{gwi:101095}}

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I did send an email to the coop ext to find out what I should do and where to take it. So hopefully I will hear from them soon so I can take some in.

Looks like it could be leaf spot. My second guess would be brown patch. I'm curious what your extension office will have to say.

I still wouldn't rule out the main problem being fertilizer burn or at least a contributor. The hand held sprayers aren't very accurate. Push type spreaders don't cost much more and will give you better results. They have small versions for small lawns.

Every time I come to this thread I click on your blog link and get distracted by how organized and beautiful your garden is turning out.

Sorry for missing some of the details. 5,000 sq ft is plenty big and you should really look into a wheeled spreader for more even coverage.

Thank you soooo much! We have worked really hard. Wish we could say the rest of the yard looks as nice as the gardens! Even though we have worked hard and spent a lot of money there too!

We do plan to get a wheel spreader, there just always seem to be other priorities! But we will. It probably isn't coincidental that this browning occurred almost right after applying fertilizer.
Haven't heard anything back from ext office, may have to go over there sometime this week.
But we are thinking of trying the cornmeal if we can find some. Seems like it couldn't hurt and could even help some other problems. I'm interested in finding out and seeing the results!