Brown patches
- Thread starter cmiller
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I am assuming the brown patches are on the grass? Can you post a picture of it so we have a better idea what the problem might be?
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There are 3 main reasons for brown patches in a lawn. The first and most likely are that grubs have damaged the root system. The second is fungus of which there are several. The third is a dog coming back to the same spot to do his business. IMO
My first thought was the dog doing it's business in the same spot. I also have 3 brown spots on my lawn that I don't think would have been created by a dog. It could be grubs that have damaged the root system, I will have to take a closer look at the spots.
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Once the brown spots have shown up the grubs have already gone. Go out to the brown spot and pull on the leaves. If the whole thing comes up, runner and all it is a damaged root system. If just the leaves come it is a fungus. If neither then sniff it or you can sniff it first and possibly save a little time.
Dog urine is very acidic and will kill grass, if you can get to it in time you need to get water on it, and lots of it.
There are treatments available to kill the grubs, we call them leatherjackets, and they are the grub of what we call Daddy Long Legs and infestation can devastate the look of a lawn, if you don't like chemicals, encourage birds onto your lawn, especially crows, they search out the leatherjackets, and do a pretty good job of getting rid of them !
There are treatments available to kill the grubs, we call them leatherjackets, and they are the grub of what we call Daddy Long Legs and infestation can devastate the look of a lawn, if you don't like chemicals, encourage birds onto your lawn, especially crows, they search out the leatherjackets, and do a pretty good job of getting rid of them !
When we first moved into our new home we noticed a few brown spots in our backyard as well. I figured it was just because we weren't watering the lawn enough. We live in central Florida!! So we started watering more and the spots got bigger. I was so worried because our lawn in really beautiful and I saw $$ signs at the thought of replacing it.
My husband finally called someone out to take a look at it and it was a fungus. Yuck! We were actually making it worse with over watering it. I'm not sure what they actually applied to the lawn to fix it but it worked and cleared it up in no time. I would suggest having someone take a look at it and point you in the right direction. ")
My husband finally called someone out to take a look at it and it was a fungus. Yuck! We were actually making it worse with over watering it. I'm not sure what they actually applied to the lawn to fix it but it worked and cleared it up in no time. I would suggest having someone take a look at it and point you in the right direction. ")
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Dogs are notorius for creating yellow or brown spots on your lawn. As mentioned in an earlier post,,, lots and lots of water on the spot and as soon as you possibly see a dog peeing. It washes away the acid and dilutes it so it does not cause so much damage. Grubs are a big problem, too. Sometimes you can get nemotoads to add to your soil and they will destroy the grubs, but you have to do it before the spots appear,,, like a preventative.
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As a cheap preventative and cure, horticultural cornmeal works great. Horticultural cornmeal is whole ground cornmeal like you can get at the grocery store only much cheaper. Regular cornmeal is call enriched cornmeal, which is a misnomer, because the richness has been removed. Horticultural cornmeal has the ability to grow a beneficial fungi named Trichoderma which destroys harmful fungi like Takol and Brownspot.. Also using too much nitrogen is a cause for brownspot