Brown spot in lawn

[shcisamax]

We have developed a large irregular shaped and scattered patch in our lawn. Completely dead. I ruled out cutting it too short because it would be a solid form. I was told zoysia doesn't get fungus. Any ideas what it might be and how to treat it?

[Wandatime]

I saw painters pour paint out onto the sand of the house being built across the street. This was before the sod was put down. I mentioned it to my builder and he said it happens with some subcontractors and you can't tell until the grass dies. He said sometimes when you pull up the grass you can smell the mineral spirits.

[shcisamax]

Interesting but our house has been here for two years and the lawn has been fine so it is something "new".

[Lovey2]

Our Zoysia had fungus. Brown spots all across the front of the lawn. 2 treatments with a fungus spray from Home Depot and its gone.

[villages07]

I noticed something similar in our 8 year old lawn. Massey guy said it is called zoysia summer patch ... Sounded like some type of fungus. He applied a treatment and came back to recheck a week later. It seems to be recovering now.

[Happydaz]

Zoysia can definitely get fungal diseases. With all the rain we have had you can get various fungal diseases in the lawn. A more ominous fungal disease in Zoysia grass is "brown patch" and this can kill off large patches of the lawn. This can require large areas of a lawn to need replacement sod. Check with a knowledgeable lawn expert.

[784caroline]

I had a situation on my grass where a smal portionof the lawn went to "Hay" . caled Zoyzia lawn and they told me that this sections was probably stressed and the iron from the fertilizer caused it to turn brown because it was stressed from lack of water....it was not dead. I had to rake it up and water tha small section and now you can see small green portions of lawn comming through. Why it turned that way who knows...but it has always been a stressed part of the lawn.

[gomoho]

I am seeing a lot of this around The Villages currently. I remember the same situation either last summer or the summer before. We have it and the guy from Deans tried to tell us it was too much water, not enough water, poor mowing or whatever. We are no longer under contract with them so there really isn't much I can do at this point with that nonsense.

[kittygilchrist]

Sumter County Extension Office ? Solutions for Your Life - UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (http://sumter.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort-MG/plant_clinics.shtml)

You can guess or you can find out for sure. On Monday between 9 AM and 3 PM master gardeners hold a free plant clinic at the Sumter Annex on 466 & Morse Boulevard.

Take pictures of your grass, noting whether your irrigation system is reaching that area of grass, and if it is too dry or too wet, cut a sample of the grass and take it with you to the plant clinic. If they are unable to determine from looking at the grass whether you have a pest or a fungus or an irrigation problem, you can pay a fee to have the grass sent to University of Florida for analysis.

Treating a problem first requires identifying and diagnosing what the problem actually is.

[Villager Dude]

Sumter County Extension Office ? Solutions for Your Life - UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (http://sumter.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort-MG/plant_clinics.shtml)

You can guess or you can find out for sure. On Monday between 9 AM and 3 PM master gardeners hold a free plant clinic at the Sumter Annex on 466 & Morse Boulevard.

Take pictures of your grass, noting whether your irrigation system is reaching that area of grass, and if it is too dry or too wet, cut a sample of the grass and take it with you to the plant clinic. If they are unable to determine from looking at the grass whether you have a pest or a fungus or an irrigation problem, you can pay a fee to have the grass sent to University of Florida for analysis.

Treating a problem first requires identifying and diagnosing what the problem actually is.

Check to make sure it is not a low spot in your yard. Could be were water puddles and could be causing root rot. Also puddles of water cause the roots to stay near the surface and will cause grass to burn up if there is a dry spell as the roots do not go deep enough to seek moisture.

[shcisamax]

Thank you all for your kind responses.

[jrandall]

Could be caused by Mole Crickets.

[jblum315]

Probably mole crickets. Easily fixed.

[Lovey2]

Sorry I was so short yesterday...in a hurry. Here's our story. My husband was out watering, AGAIN, because we had some brown spots on the lawn. A lawn service went by and told him it was a fungus, and just watering won't help and was probably causing the problem. Apparently here (as opposed to SWFL where we lived prior) it is preferred to water when the sun will get to the lawn and dry some of it out, rather than it sit. The dirt (clay) does not absorb as well. I looked "Zoysia grass fungus" up on line and got pictures of exactly what our grass looked like...brown patch. Then we went to Home Depot and bought a spray that required 2 applications, 14 days apart, and it appears to be gone. My husband has taken to hand watering those spots and running the sprinklers for only 6 minutes at a time. Of course, now it's raining more frequently, so he just turns the sprinklers on manually when it needs it. The garden people (most) at Home Depot are very knowledgable and can usually help, and don't try to upsell you, like some of the lawn services may. I'd bring them a picture and go from there. P.S. If it mole crickets, usually you will see those ugly little crickets on your driveway, or in your sprinkler head donut holes.

[shcisamax]

Lovey2: Was the brown patch irregular in shape and not solid?
I don't think it is mole crickets...at least I haven't seen anything living other than worms in the driveway.

[Lovey2]

Yes, it was. Often, there was a little spot of green in the middle. Lemme see if hubby still has the container in the garage. It was something you connect to the hose and spray. It was relatively inexpensive also...under $20. And forget those little wormy centipede things. You cannot spray for them.

[Lovey2]

Got it! "Bayer advanced...fungus control for lawns". Blue bottle. Worked great for us. Also...true or not, I don't know, but that random lawn service also told us it can easily be transferred from lawn to lawn by feet, mower, etc. I stopped a service from walking and dragging their equipment to and from my neighbor's homes on either side of us, since they did both and not ours. They were nice about it and kinda agreed. My excuse was I didn't wanna get it on their lawns. Good luck. These lawns are a little harder to handle than what we're used to. I guess we'll get it eventually.

[Lovey2]

https://www.google.com/search?q=zoysia+lawn+fungus&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pDi9U9rZJdOgsQSKnIDQCg&ved=0CFwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=947

Fungus pictures...let's see if this works. I'm a computer dope!

[kittygilchrist]

Sorry I was so short yesterday...in a hurry. Here's our story. My husband was out watering, AGAIN, because we had some brown spots on the lawn. A lawn service went by and told him it was a fungus, and just watering won't help and was probably causing the problem. Apparently here (as opposed to SWFL where we lived prior) it is preferred to water when the sun will get to the lawn and dry some of it out, rather than it sit. The dirt (clay) does not absorb as well. I looked "Zoysia grass fungus" up on line and got pictures of exactly what our grass looked like...brown patch. Then we went to Home Depot and bought a spray that required 2 applications, 14 days apart, and it appears to be gone. My husband has taken to hand watering those spots and running the sprinklers for only 6 minutes at a time. Of course, now it's raining more frequently, so he just turns the sprinklers on manually when it needs it. The garden people (most) at Home Depot are very knowledgable and can usually help, and don't try to upsell you, like some of the lawn services may. I'd bring them a picture and go from there. P.S. If it mole crickets, usually you will see those ugly little crickets on your driveway, or in your sprinkler head donut holes.

Lovey, it sounds like you hit the nail on the head, by determining that the grass was being overwatered, which makes it susceptible to fungus. Most of us would assume that Brown grass needed to be watered, and make the problem worse.

[Lovey2]

Thanks, Kitty. Believe me, we were on our way to making it worse. Now it even feels thicker and looks nice and green. We'll see how long that lasts.... :)

[rubicon]

Another suggestion for determining if those damaged lawn spots are a result of active critters, irrespective of what type lawn was installed is by taking a can fill it with some water and set it level to the ground. if there are critters about you will find them floating in the can

[Lovey2]

Another suggestion for determining if those damaged lawn spots are a result of active critters, irrespective of what type lawn was installed is by taking a can fill it with some water and set it level to the ground. if there are critters about you will find them floating in the can

Exactly!! why you often find them in the sprinkler donut holes... :).. great suggestion