Unsightly brown patches on lawn

Hi, new member and new gardener.

First spring and summer in new house and the lawn has developed really unsightly brown patches.

The development was an old factory so the soil isn’t great. I’ve tried to water the grass given the extended period of dry weather but in recent weeks after trying to remove moss the patches shown on the photo have appeared.

Does any one have any advice on how to rectify this?

All advice greatly appreciated.

 

Hello @Shgs8 and welcome to Gardeners Corner.
You will probably get lots of good advice on here from ''lawn'' experts. Afraid I`m not an expert, but here is my two penn'orth... firstly, whereabouts in the country are you?
I know it has been very dry here in the Southeast recently, and the grass here is suffering from lack of rain - I`ve got 4 acres of it to look after (a camping site)
At the moment, I simply wait for the rain.
The good news is that grass is really very tough, and hard to kill, and you say you have already raked it to remove the patches of moss? The other thing you can do now is spike it to let in some air...... then I`d wait for the rain if I were you, and don`t be tempted to cut it too short.

 

Hello
Are these patches related to the position of the moss you raked out?
Have you used any type of chemical on the grass?
With all the his dry and hot weather when you rake or use any type of mechanical means to scarify it will lead to the grass plant being stressed out.
If the top soil content is low then the root system tends to be shallow and so any work done on the turf tends to show up quickly.
How much water have you applied and when?

 

Hi I’m based in Scotland.

Not all of the areas that are brown are areas that were raked to remove moss.

I probably didn’t put as much water on as I should have. And I think I’ve cut it too short.

I’ve bought an areator but was going to wait until end of summer before trying it but should I perhaps give it a go now?

 

Thanks.
Did you happen to see any type of growth on the grass, perhaps a white look or what looks like a spider web. These are seen early morning before the sun dries it off.
Do you have pets?
Did the areas start in small sized areas then joined up?
Have you used any type of fertiliser or weed killer on the lawn?

 

No pets so it’s not urine stains.

I’ve been using lawn fertiliser, westerlands or something it’s called.

I’ve not noticed any spider web looking colouring.

All advice and input is greatly appreciated.

 

Just a garden fork would have done that job, and you won`t do any harm giving it a prod now.
I don`t think fertiliser will do anything now but harm - just wait for some rain and don`t cut it so short.
Can you see any little holes where the patches are?

 

Thanks.

We certainly have some rain now. It’s non stop. So I’ll give it a prod and see what happens.

Was going to give it a prod and then try the miracle grow soluble lawn feed. But I’ll give it a prod first leave it for a while and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

Wish we had some rain down here - the garden needs it.
I have been wondering if you might have some cranefly lava (leather jacket) problems there - it is that time of year.

 

Should I dig up one of the brown patches and see if I have that crane fly?

 

You can lift one section and look but I’ve my doubts it’s crane.
Granular feed is a no at the moment.
Liquid feed is fine but it would be nice to know what’s going on. It could be a case there’s one or more diseases.
Normally if the ground is poor and there’s a thatch, compact, low N and moss issue feeding a lawn can show Dollar Spot. It starts with a small Webb on the grass and is often missed as you think it’s a webb.
Identifying a lawn disease over the internet can be very hard and in many cases you have more than one which again is often missed.
Trouble is you could apply a liquid feed and continue to water in but it’s no cure. The good news is most lawn diseases that are common will not kill off the grass but can make them look unsightly.
Common one round here is red thread and while it’s not at a time you would expect this it can show its head if conditions like warm and damp conditions set in. This spreads and can make the lawn look awful.
How did you apply the fertiliser?
Did it scorch at any stage ie turned black?

Have to ask again but have you applied a weed killer in a liquid form to the lawn?
Ive seen it done many a time and normally it’s the incorrect weed killer.

Think back when you first noticed an issue, was the problem small patches and they joined together?

 

I haven’t applied a separate weed killer. The feed I applied was a Westland 3 in 1 aftercut feed.

I applied it using a box specifically designed to output the granular feed as you paced the garden.

I’m at a loss as it’s come on all of a sudden.

 

If when you applied the fertiliser you saw black patches it’s scorched the lawn, very easy to spot and means you applied too much. Grass goes brown after the nice black look. This happens very quickly. If you added fertiliser say a week ago and this developed that’s your answer.

Diseases normally creeps in and you can spot them as they develop. You mention it just came out of the blue and all of a sudden. Not a diseases then.

Grubs when they chew away turn the grass yellow to brown but this happens slowly and not an overnight thing.

The only other thing for such a sudden and complete kill is a chemical has been applied to the lawn.