lawn issue--spots of death

6 years ago

I have a city yard that has morning shade and sun starting at around 11:30/12 until sunset. The yard has grass with the following history:

Originally the whole lawn was existing, unamended soil with what the distributor told me was kentucky blue grass sod. Very little fertilizer over the years, maybe 2-3 applications of herbicide in the past 6 years, minimal watering, etc. Basically, almost no care other than mowing and me pulling weeds by hand. The grass was doing well until 2 summers ago when towards the end of the summer large brown patches of death appeared. First, the grass would wilt and fall down, then it would turn brown. By next spring the grass would usually have filled itself in. This happened last summer as well. This spring we removed about half of the sod to build a patio and level the yard. We trucked in soil and compost and planted seed (Jonathan Green Black Beauty). As a result, half of the yard is the original kentucky blue grass sod (if that is what it is) and half is the new seed. This grew in a bit patchy but we seeded very late in the year so it looks pretty good for that. This year we used a started fertilizer on the new seed and corn meal on the old grass as I read on this list that that would help the patches of death if they were indeed brown patch. So far we have not gotten the huge brown patches of death but have gotten many small patches more or less the size of your hand. Some of these are yellow and others are dark gray. I am not sure if the corn meal helped as it almost looks as if the death spots in the old lawn are where there was a clump of corn meal. However, there are also death spots in the new lawn where there was no corn meal. The spots have quite defined borders and don't seem to spread beyond the original patch. Another patch might form, but the original patch doesn't grow or spread. We did have a soil test done by Penn State and amended with organic, low nitrogen versions of what they recommended. We are not watering as we have lots of rain this season and have mushrooms of various kinds sometimes popping up in the lawn. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we have spent a lot of time trying to establish this lawn and really want to avoid our isolated patches turning into the huge patches of death we had in the past. Also, we are trying to do things organically and are hoping not to use chemicals. Thanks so much.

Comments (2)

beckyinrichmond
6 years ago
Here is a tool to identify turfgrass diseases: disease id

Here is information on the diseases: diseases (scroll down to where the various diseases are listed and click on them)

What kind of watering are you doing? When fungal diseases are a problem (hot and humid weather), try to keep the leaves as dry as possible as long as possible. So when needed, water early in the morning, not in the afternoon or early evening. What is your height of cut? Where do you live? Spring planted grass has short roots and may not make it through the summer. Are you planning to overseed this fall? In your spots of death, is there any live grass or is it all dead?
dchall_san_antonio
6 years ago
Can you post a couple of pictures? One would be a big picture maybe from the street, and the other would be from very close to the grass (3 inches away). The best pictures are taken on an overcast day or in the shade.

Becky, OP has not watered this year because of all the rain. They're getting mushrooms so apparently plenty of water.
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lawn issue--spots of death

Comments (2)

beckyinrichmond

dchall_san_antonio

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