What is causing my lawn to have large dead spots?

ASK THE HORT AGENT

Question What is causing my lawn to have large dead spots?

Answer The possibilities are nearly endless. People want to hear answers like vengeful neighbor, UFO, ex-wife, hurricane, or contaminated batch of fertilizer. A weird, but simple answer would greatly satisfy most homeowners. In reality, the answers can be complicated, yet mundane.

Homeowners located east and south of Raleigh mostly grow warm season grasses. These grasses include Bermuda, centipede, St. Augustine and zoysia. Centipede is by far the most popular, accounting for 80% of all warm season grasses grown.

All grasses have multiple factors which affect their overall health. Weather is a factor that cannot be controlled. Extremely dry, wet, cold or hot conditions can cause serious turf problems. Sometimes the conditions don’t have to be extreme. They merely have to be well timed.

The warm, moist weather experienced throughout the southeast this spring caused grasses like centipede to grow well. The past 3 weeks have been hot and dry enough to reverse the growth pattern. Hit-n-miss thunderstorms have been more miss than hit.

Now that a culprit has been identified, the detective work gets more complicated. The degree of turf damage (size of dead spots) depends on many combinations of variables. Factors like soil type, slope orientation, shade, moisture, fertility, root competition and mowing height all contribute to either help or hurt a lawn.

Homeowners can control the variables which have the most impact on turf health - cultural practices (mowing heights, date & rate of fertilization, irrigation, etc...). Irrigation is a cultural practice that can keep grass from dying. When used improperly, it can also cause other problems like disease and economic woes. The “large dead areas” can exist in a lawn which is irrigated.

Proper maintenance can also minimize other pests which contribute stress to the lawn. These secondary problems include nematodes, grub worms and fairy rings.

The same concept applies to fescue, which is a cool season grass. Maintenance will have major impact on fungal diseases like brown patch during the summer. Whether the impact is helpful or harmful depends on maintenance procedures.

Here is the great news. It is just as easy to do it right as it is to do it wrong. Check out this website for the specific lawn maintenance calendar you need http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/hortinternet/lawn.html

If you don’t have internet access, then call my office at 893-7533 or email me at gpierce@harnett.org.

While I don’t think UFOs have been tinkering with my lawn, I do suspect they are experimenting with my left shoulder. How else can I explain my shoulder pain which seems worse in the mornings?

Gary L. Pierce

Horticulture Extension Agent