Want to know how to properly address common problems like brown spots in your lawn? Below you will find some gardening tips!
Unsightly spots and brown spots in the lawn are not uncommon, although there can be different causes. As is the case with other garden plants, ornamental grasses can be infectious and non-infectious. The infectious diseases are most often caused by pathogenic fungi, and timely action is particularly important for the lawn. Additionally, a brown lawn can be caused by insects, pet droppings, and other factors such as increased foot traffic. Extreme weather conditions and poor soil conditions can also lead to this, which often makes proper lawn care more difficult. In the case of serious brown spots, it is therefore important to identify the possible culprits early on and treat the lawn accordingly. Here is some useful information and steps you can follow to get your grass areas green and lush again.
What are the most common causes of brown spots on lawns?
A fungal infestation that leaves brown spots on the lawn is usually the species Rhizoctonia solani. This fungus often appears in mid to late summer when the weather is hot and humid. If it is brown rot, this leaf disease damages the blades of grass, but not the root system of the turf. In addition, it canlack of lawn care, drought, waterlogging and other pests such as maggots and larvae of meadow flys cause such problems. When it comes to fungal infections, the main causes can be excessive irrigation and nitrogen, poor air circulation and soil drainage, as well as too much thatch or compacted garden soil.
As already written, some insect larvae also cause brown spots on the lawn as they eat the grass roots. This is the case with maggots and larvae of the meadow fly, which can cause the affected area to expand. These can be seen when walking on the lawn and differ from fungal infections in that the grass can be raked up more easily. Another reason for brown grass can be excessive thatch. This happens with improper fertilization, watering or lawn mowing, where dead and rotting plant material builds up between leaf blades and root systems. In some cases, grasses also attempt to take root in thatch. However, since they cannot hold water, the plants dry out and in turn cause brown spots in the lawn.
What other influencing factors could cause a brown lawn?
If brown grass develops even in drought or scorching temperatures, it is a natural process. When there is little rainfall, the grass goes dormant to conserve water.In such dry periodsA brown lawn should actually turn green on its own as the weather cools and rainfall increases. The urine of pets such as dogs can also cause lawn burns due to high nitrogen levels. Other common causes of brown spots on lawns include foot traffic and leaving items behind. Lawns are delicate garden areas, and playing on them too often or leaving things on them for long periods of time can damage the grass growing underneath.
What should you do if there are brown spots on your lawn?
Occasional watering with a sprinkler system would be one of the first countermeasures you can take to prevent brown spot during drought periods. However, if these are the other causes described above, you may also want to take more in-depth steps. Here are some example strategies for different individual cases that you can consider to ensure proper lawn care.
What should you do if your lawn is damaged by meadow fly larvae?
Although the meadow fly is a harmless insect, its grass-eating larvae can cause enormous damage to lawns. These are found beneath the soil surface and are nocturnal, feeding on blades of grass and crowns. Many grass species tolerate small to medium populations, but eating too many can have disastrous consequences for lawns.
- However, since the use of insecticides is prohibited, you should use alternative control strategies to minimize the amount of crane fly larvae.
- By excluding their habitat, you can, for example, use useful nematodes (Steinernema Feltiae) to get rid of the pests. These are parasitic organisms that you can order and use against fly larvae until late summer. This allows you to significantly reduce the number of pests without chemicals.
- Another option is to roll or aerate the lawn or scarify it. Spiked rollers that you can fill with water and aerate the lawn at the same time are suitable for this. You should carry out this type of lawn care at least once a year or as needed, which also allows you to remove thatch.
- After you're done, you should reduce watering the lawn as the larvae survive better in a moist environment. Most ornamental grasses do well in moderately dry soil, as long as you keep it well-drenched when watering.
Prevent brown spots on the lawn caused by ants
Insects in the garden such as ants can also damage the lawn in various ways. For example, the anthills can suffocate the grass, with underground tunnels damaging the grass roots and also causing brown spots in the lawn. In addition, ants also eat grass seeds and can promote the development of garden pests such as aphids and mealybugs. However, the damage caused by this is usually only likely in the case of a large infestation. When this occurs, ants destroy the grass roots, which can cause the entire lawn to wither.
- To prevent all of this, you can use natural remedies such as repellent scents or certain types of plants. If there is a nuisance ant infestation, these repellents will ensure that the insects stay away.
- Additionally, you can use essential oils such as peppermint oil or lavender oil against it or grow such plants near your lawn. Focus on the infested areas where brown spots have appeared in the lawn due to ants.
- It's also possible that other factors in your yard are unintentionally attracting ants, making your lawn more susceptible to damage. Therefore, try to identify the possible hiding places of the insects and limit their habitat.
- Taking steps to keep your yard clean and organized will help you save futureProblems with antsand other pests.
How should you treat brown spot fungus in your lawn?
Mushrooms also thrive in a moist and warm environment, as well as when the garden soil is waterlogged. This can promote suppuration. If your lawn develops brown spots due to a fungal infection such as brown spot disease, you can recognize this by the ring-shaped patterns. In such cases, you should avoid overwatering your lawn. Instead, try sticking to a morning watering schedule. You can also reduce the risk of fungal disease by mowing and scarifying your lawn occasionally and aerating it twice a year.
- Removing thatch such as shoots, stems and roots that accumulate on the soil surface when the grass is about an inch tall will also help in this situation.
- If problems persist, you may need to switch to a fungicide and reseeding with more resistant grass varieties.
- However, you can also deal with it naturally. To do this, make a solution of water, a little baking soda and vegetable oil and spray it on the affected area. Do this again every three days, but do not add too much baking soda as it can increase the alkalinity of the soil.
- Another solution is to spray neem oil on the area and repeat as necessary until the brown stain disappears.
What general measures and care help against brown spots on the lawn?
Since larvae of beetles such as grubs also feed on grass roots, you should not allow such grubs to thrive either. These also occur in late summer, which can cause brown spots in the lawn. You can easily spot these by simply digging into one of the brown patches and looking for milky white grubs. If you discover more than 10 of them per square meter of turf, a maggot infestation is probably the cause of the brown spot on your grass area. Here too, a natural control method is to use nematodes. These should ensure that new green shoots emerge in a maximum of three weeks. Otherwise, you can take the following lawn care steps to properly address the problem.
Water the lawn on a schedule
Do not overwater your lawn as this will increase the risk of brown spots on the lawn. These occur when the surface is wet but the soil is dry. Therefore, try to water your grass area to a depth of approximately 1 cm each time, every 3-4 days. The best time of day to do this is early morning, before the sun is too strong and moisture remains on the surface during the hottest part of the day. Avoid watering the lawn at night if the grass does not have enough time to cool completely until early morning.
Avoid common mistakes when mowing your lawn
Although it can be tempting to mow your lawn short in the summer, doing so can deplete it. The reason for this is that heat and moisture are poorly dissipated. As a result, brown spots can appear in the lawn, which is why you should adjust your mower blades about 1.5 cm higher during the summer months. You should also be careful not to mow your lawn under the blazing sun, as the strong rays of the sun can quickly dry it out and burn it. Therefore, try to mow the lawn on cloudy days or in the evening to prevent such damage.
Reduce brown spots in the lawn by aerating/scarifying
To keep such problems to a minimum, you should also improve air circulation in lawns. Therefore, try to aerate your lawn in late summer or early fall. In this way you remove plugs and improve soil permeability, providing the grass with a constant supply of oxygen, nutrients and water. This also reduces the humidity, which promotes the growth of fungi in the lawn. Therefore, you should aerate and scarify your lawns annually, the latter of which can be done manually, with a stiff rake or with an electric scarifier. You can find this in hardware stores, and many of them also offer such devices for rent.
Fertilize the lawn properly and pull weeds
When caring for your lawn, it is also very important to avoid over-fertilization. In addition, you should also use the right fertilizer mix depending on the condition of your garden soil. Since fungi react to nitrogen in the same way as grass, too much of it can lead to a significant increase in brown spots in the lawn. You should also not forget to weed, as weeds and...Tree roots in the gardencould remove vital nutrients and water that would otherwise reach the grass. This usually leaves a dry and brown lawn. Use gentle weed killers and dig up weeds by their roots without damaging the grass.
Prevent brown spots on lawn caused by pet urine
The high nitrogen content in cat or dog urine can also cause brown spots on the lawn. In such cases, you should first make sure your pet does its business elsewhere. If damage is already present and looks like brown centers with dark green outer rings, you should balance the pH of your soil. This is best achieved through irrigation or adding ground limestone. Afterwards, you should let the limestone sit for a week before covering it with topsoil and planting new grass seeds.
Final thoughts
As you can see, maintaining a healthy grass area is essential against brown spots in the lawn. Therefore, it would make sense to take care of it by protecting the lawn and providing it with adequate nutrients. Lawn care also includes mowing, consistent watering, proper fertilization and weed control. If all your previous efforts fail, you may need to sow a new and more resistant variety of grass. Otherwise, the lawn could recover from brown spots, but this may take some time. Depending on the growing season, this can vary with the new sowing.
