Homeowners: DIY Tips..

[Jim_Vess]

Yeah, tell Mother Nature to stop watering so much.

Seriously, I had a similar problem several years back. We had a neighbor up the hill from us who had just put in new sod and they were watering it way too much. The excess water was running down into my backyard and we ended up with brown patches like you are experiencing.

I was told it was a fungus caused by too much water. It was suggested that I go beat up my neighbor and use the granular version of Revive on my lawn. It worked, the brown spots disappeared in about a month and the neighbor cooled it with the water.

[GixxerCarrie]

Yup...was just going to say the same thing...if its not a pet issue...its too much water...I'm seeing the same thing in my lawn...and I happen to be downhill from 3 houses.....

[The Black Knight]

To bring this thread back a bit.....

I got the lawn nice and green, filling in nicely after aeration and overseeding. Spots are slowly closing up as well.

This week, I've had brown spots show up, in no specific shape, of slowly dying/drying grass. Not dog sized either. Watering habits/mowing habits have not changed at all. Any suggestions as to a possible problem? How to fix?

Quick question Gregger, did you notice where these brown spots are at, before they turned brown where they any different color: like maybe a brown or silverish or white in color?? If so, you might have "dollar spot". I've not seen it in the Parks for a few years but the last time I saw it, was back in 2004 when we had a rainy season(seems like the high humidity brings it out). It's really not a bad fungus, and it's something you can clear up with a good fertilizer(something rich in nitrogen).

My best advice is, if it is Dollar Spot. Try and keep it contained to one part of your turf. If you've got it say in the front yard. It's fine, you can still mow your front yard. But when you go to mow your back yard, wash off under the mower deck and sterilize your blade.

Dollar Spot, gets spread through grass clippings and people walking through it. It's a little fungus that spreads quick and attaches to everything. So without seeing your turf, I can't tell exactly what you might have.

But if it looks anything like this:
Attachment 13619

it may be "dollar spot". Also here are some sites I pulled up real quick for managing turfgrass diseases:
http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/turf/index.htm
http://www.turf.msu.edu/disease_profiles.htm
http://turfgrassmanagement.psu.edu/turfdis.cfm

or google: "turf disease" or "turfgrass disease"

Hope this helps. Also, I'm not sure how much rain you're receiving up in your area. But in the Springs we've been getting pounded everyday(at least in my area). So make sure you're clock/irrigation controller is off. And stays off for several days. If you're getting free water from the sky, no need to suppliment it with irrigation water.

Also it's even good after the rain quits to leave off your system for a few more days. Even to the point of letting the turf almost stress. Why? because it drives the root system of the turf down further into the soil. The further down the root system, the better it will be able to withstand heat and wind(moisture robbing elements).

Don't water everyday, that's a waste and keeps your turf's roots very close to the surface. It's best if you can get down to 4 nights of watering(3 nights if you do it right and know what you're doing). Anything more like 5 nights can be a bit much, although in 100 degree days it can help. Just break your watering nights up into cycles.

At my house, I run 4 nights, with 4 cycles of only 20 minutes. Equals 1 hour of water. 3 Watering nights are tough, because my lawn faces the South and gets hit with Morning(East), Midday(direct overhead South) and Evening(West) Sun, so it gets alot of sun all day. So I run the 4 night schedule. Lots of things will come into affect when watering, but know that you should be at 4 nights of watering max.

Yeah you'll see businesses around town, that water everyday, water in the rain, water at 3PM in the afternoon. And if they have the money to waste, let them. But they are always the first ones to stress during a stretch of 90 degree days, because their root systems are shallow.

Again good luck, and hope this helps.

Jason

[buzzardman36]

I'm not going to read all the reply's cuz that takes time but I will say this.

the usual fee I charge is $350 per room for interior painting. So yes, if you are at all handy then do it yourself. The trick to making absolutely perfect lines from cieling to wall and for two colors coming together is to tape off, then get some clear painters caulk. Cut the smallest hole possible on the tube and lay down a VERY small bead of caulk right over the edge of the tape at the paint line. Then very quickly smooth the caulk with your finger and the goal here is to remove as much of the caulk as possible but what this does is fill all the empty spots where the tape isn't catching with the textured wall. Then do your cut in and roll, then back roll (very important) and remove the tape. Don't leave the tape too long because if the caulking dries up too hard to the tape and the wall, it will peel off what you just painted over it.

Paint the ceilings first because when your rolling, your going to get spots falling off the roller onto the walls. Paint the walls second to cover those spatters. Same principal for washing a vehicle, you start at the top and wash it all down.

Hope this helps and if you would like, you can offer me some cold tea on one of these hot days and I'll ride over and show you this technique.

Also, check your local pet store for a product that you add to your dog's water that will stop it's urine from damaging your lawn. Fix it at the source right?

[Gregger]

I've had my sprinklers off for the last couple weeks because we've been getting good rain in the afternoons. That's when I noticed this. It doesn't look like dollar spot because there's no shape to it. Irregular patches of brown. Seemed like the grass got really dark green/grey almost before it died. I have my sprinklers set to M/W/F mornings, 20 minutes per station.

[The Black Knight]

I've had my sprinklers off for the last couple weeks because we've been getting good rain in the afternoons. That's when I noticed this. It doesn't look like dollar spot because there's no shape to it. Irregular patches of brown. Seemed like the grass got really dark green/grey almost before it died. I have my sprinklers set to M/W/F mornings, 20 minutes per station.

Hmmm, might be Brown Patch then. That's good if you're getting by with a 3 night water schedule. Means you're making the best use of your water.

Quick question, are you getting Mushrooms to come up because of all this rain?? If you are, that might indicate that your soil is over-saturated. Which like others have posted, means you've just got to much water. Though with mother nature in affect there isn't much you can do with over saturation. Just hope for some hot days to dry things out.

Also not much you can do, unless you want to cut in some drainage. But that's almost to the point of over doing it, when all it might be is just too much rain. We're having a rainy Summer(like we had back in 2004), it's just a seasonal thing. I'm just thankful it's a ton of rain, and not moderate drought conditions like they first thought this year might be.

[Gregger]

I'll take some pics in the morning. No mushrooms growing. No standing water, as my lawn is on a hill..