Lawn and Landscape Blog

Brown spots on your lawn can be a frustrating experience. Even when you think you’ve done everything to ensure a lush, green lawn, suddenly a brown spot appears.

There are many possible reasons why you may be seeing brown spots on your lawn. Let’s review a few potential causes and the best remedies to keep your lawn looking bright and green.

Human and Animal Damage

It’s very easy for both humans and pets to cause damage to the lawn. Some common causes include:

Animal Urine – Dogs are the most likely culprits, but large birds, cats, and other animals can cause urine stains as well. You can figure out if your brown spots are caused by animals by checking to see if the spots are yellow with bright green around the edge, indicating diluted nitrogen found in the urine, which acts as a fertilizer.

To avoid these issues, try to make sure your pet is well-hydrated can make their urine less toxic, and you can also train your animals to do their business in a different area of the yard.

Dull Mower Blades – Dull blades tear your grass and cause damage as they pull the blades away from the root system.

To avoid this problem, sharpen your mower blades in the fall and spring, and check them after mowing to make sure the mower is cutting your grass evenly.

Chemicals – Gasoline, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides can cause dead spots if spilled.

To avoid this problem, make sure you always pour any chemicals, fuels and sprays on your driveway or on a patio stone, not on your lawn, and always carefully follow the directions.

Poor Growing Conditions

In some cases, the conditions in your yard may be unfavorable for grass to grow. Some of these issues can include:

Poor Soil – Soil quality can vary between different areas in your lawn, and patches of poor soil can cause brown patches.

To avoid this problem, take a screwdriver and push it into the soil. If it goes in easily, your soil is likely compacted and needs to be aerated.

Erosion – Water tends to run off in slopes, often taking grass seeds and young shoots with it.

To avoid this problem, aerate your lawn to increase water absorption. If you’re dealing with a steep slope, consider building terraces or planting ground cover.

Roots – Large trees or shrubs nearby can be a drain on resources for grass, causing the surrounding area to look patchy.

To avoid this problem, consider mulching or naturalizing areas under trees and shrubs instead of trying to get grass to grow in an area will you’ll always have an issue.

Drought – A healthy lawn requires an inch of water a week, which can come from rainfall or irrigation. A dry spot can become compounded by drought damage.

To avoid this problem, make sure your lawn is watered evenly.

Lawn Diseases and Pests

If none of the previous suggestions above have worked, then it might be time to move on to more serious measures against pests and disease.

Thatch – Thatch is a buildup of decaying grass which chokes out healthy grass.

To avoid this problem, remove the thatch by raking your lawn if it’s more than ½” thick.

Grubs – Grubs are common late-season problem, and can be identified when your sod pulls back from the ground like a carpet.

To avoid this problem, check for fat, white, curved worms beneath your sod. Contact us for pest control applications to eliminate the grubs from your yard.

Fungal Diseases – Fungal diseases can become common during the midsummer months, when the temperature is hot and humid.

To avoid this problem, aerate your lawn and make sure your grass gets as much sunlight as possible. If it persists, contact our lawn care services to help get this under control.

If you need help identifying the causes of brown spots in your yard or solutions on how to fix them, contact the lawn care services team at Gabris Landscaping.