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dead patches in lawn ......

13 years ago

Rather puzzled. At my sister's place in SE Michigan, she has some large irregular dead patches (a couple are over 10 ft across) in her lawn that developed during October. The ground in those areas has almost a spongy feel. Some of her neighbors have the same issue.

There aren't any sign of mole tunnels that we can see and no mole hills. But then too, had it been mole damage, I would have expected the dead areas to follow more in tunnel paths rather than these large patches. I also wouldn't think grubs would be all that highly active this time of year as fall tends to be a time when just about everything slows down. Also I wouldn't expect the sponginess with grub or fungal damage. In addition, there hasn't been an inordinant amount of rain this autumn so I wouldn't think water logged soil would have been the issue either.

Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

garycinchicago
13 years ago
Give it a pull. I bet it's real long and stringy ... like creeping bent.
dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
With sponginess my first thought would be fungal.
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goren
13 years ago
If this damage is recent, then let's assume its not because of pest invasion, they're long gone from our northern lawns and are deep underground now making babies that will come up next spring.
I suggest you bring out the rake, the fan rake to begin with, and pull out all what grass is weak and wont stand up to winter anyway. If you feel there are bugs in the soil, treat with diazonon or other soil treatment.
I suspect its not bugs. Much of other pests that invade our lawns have to be shown by a soil test.
Many of the usual bugs only cause minimal damage that is regularly put up with and the affected lawn damage is then repaired.

A normal fertilizing program can repair most winter damage by encouraging turf roots to advance through our lawns.
Mowing to remove only 1/3 of the grass height and leaving the clippings on the lawn can help.
Too much thatch, depriving the lawn of sunlight and proper moisture absorbtion, can do damage. Regular raking to remove thatch can prevent most of this damage.
Improving sunlight to areas where shade is prevalent can help a lawn produce new grass. Where trees shade areas, prune the lower branches to admit more sunlight.
Where rain is not sufficient to encourage development of grass, then we have to turn to watering the lawn at appropriate times and amounts.
goren
13 years ago
I should have added that if your lawn contains large areas of crabgrass, it would have died back once the cool/cold weather arrived since it is an annual and does not stand up to the lower temperatures leaving bare patches.
I think you should plan on repairing the areas by doing an overseeding of what grass type you prefer. Lay down a 1/2" layer of compost ...now if you like, but definitely next spring with an overseeding program.
Then count on following a fertilizing program to encourage strong roots.

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