Another Year and the Same Brown Spots

Well summer is right around the corner.  Lawns have looked great the past few months and now that temperatures are rising we see the arrival of the ugly brown spots in our lawns.  Many jump to the conclusion that they have a fungus.  This is not very likely.  Our weather has been awesome for growing things and I do not even consider summer diseases like brown patch, pythium, or southern blight until we hit the mid 90s and night time temperatures stay above 70°F.  Okay, we had 1 day in the 90s, but that is not enough to explain the spots.

I start troubleshooting problem lawns with my soil probe.  I am looking for proper soil moisture levels in the top 4-6 inches first before I start point fingers at diseases or insects.  You can try our screwdriver test yourself.  Take a 6 inch or longer screwdriver that is preferably stout and try pushing it into the ground in both the good and ugly areas.  You will find that water stressed soils will not let you penetrate more than a few inches without excessive effort.  Good areas should allow you to push the blade in 4-6 inches with moderate effort.  If you or the screwdriver disappear into the soil below it just may be a little bit too wet.

That brings me back to the point that you may have a water coverage problem or that you just are not watering enough.  Unless you are moving hoses around the yard, those of us with a sprinkler system generally do not move our sprinkler lines and heads around.  This explains why brown spots show up in the same spots each year.  Check your sprinkler coverage by placing out cups around the yard to monitor the level of irrigation various parts receive.  Clean or replace heads that have poor patterns.  Consider upgrading to a more efficient irrigation head like the  MP Rotators.  Hire a reputable irrigation specialist.

I or one of our technicians would be more than happy to check out your concerns, but start with the screwdriver test and let us know what you found out.  By the way, diseases and insect problems are heading this way starting with grubs in May, followed by lawn diseases in June, July, and August.  I’ll cover those in the next few weeks.