My lawn looks like it's dying

[blackthumb]

I think you guys might remember me. :) I posted last week or 2 weeks ago (i forget so easily) about my newly sodded lawn and how concerned I was about the shrooms and dying patches.


well, those dying patches are everywhere now and big patches. I think about 30% of my yard is dead, the shroom are still there and more of them now and it's not looking good.

I have not watered it at all in a week because it's been raining so much but in the last 2 days we've had zero rain so i went back there to take a look and see if it needed to be watered. I am just shocked and disappointed by what I saw.

large dry, dead patches of grass everywhere. large patches all over just dead. I stuck my finger in the ground to guage it's moistness and it was moist but on top it looks tried out so I watered both zones back there for 20-30 minutes each.

the live parts of the lawn is pretty tall and should we mow it now?

I'm about ready to call in a lawn maintenance person for advice but first I want to see what advice I can get here.

where do I take soil samples? how do I do it? I will do anythign right now.

any advice really is welcome PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me save my lawn! I don't want to have to call in a pro to help me because I've come so far DIY'ing it and saving so much doe.

does it need fertilizer now? should I cut out those dead parts? should I still water it even tho the ground is moist but the grass looks dry? Should I throw in the towel and call a professional?

help!

[Neal Wolbert]

How 'bout a picture or two? Nea'

[Green Pastures]

Fungus?

Stop watering.......

Raise your mower up to it's highest setting........

Just some guesses.....

[WINGNUT]

Sounds like brown patch to me. We're getting a lot of that here. Since you are in Florida and have a high humidity, without seeing it, brown patch is what it sounds like.

[blackthumb]

I will try my best to get pictures on here tonight. (my internet connection at home keeps dying - we have repair tech coming out next week but i'm at work now)

I may not be able to get the pics out.

How do you treat brown patch?

The weather down here has been extremely hot (90's) and rainy. Is there something I can use like fungicide with something to help brown patch.

I'm desperate.

[blackthumb]

i did a little research right now on brown patch and it says that it's a winter disease and I saw pictures of it. it doesn't look like brown patch to me. What my lawn has is scattered patches in no particular shape ranging from 6"x6" to 2'x2' all over the place.

no visible white cob web thingies and no visible bugs, nothing visible, just dead, brown dried out patches.

I found this
scotts product (http://www.scotts.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=productGuide.productDetails&partnerId=99999&poeSiteId=10926&bpaging=no&bskiplayout=no&ncategoryproductlistlen=4&strcategoryid=23831&strproductid=101492&dsvs=60EB324E-65BF-EFF8-03EE-B90998E7F8C2,x,x&CFID=3344520&CFTOKEN=57821881)

has anybody used something like this?

[blackthumb]

green pastures, it's never been mowed yet. We only put it down 3 weeks ago. And we wonder if we should mow it this weekend. should we?

thanks

[blackthumb]

sorry i keep posting over and over but I saw a picture just now of a lawn where the guy's large female lab's urine created patches. that's what it looks like except that the holes are wider and all over... more prominent in the area closest to all our tall trees where there is more shade.
'
link to thread with pic (http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39404&highlight=brown+patch)

we have 2 small dogs (1 femail jrt, 1 male terrier mix) could they be causing damage too? and with their poop? we have not been scooping their poop.

this is last post, i promise :)
thanks!

[ProMo]

If the grass rooted (should be)mow it at your highest setting. If it looks diseased bag the clippings until it is diagnosed so it isnt spread further. Your best bet is to dig up a piece of the sod that has some life in it and take it to your conty extension office, also get a bucket and get a hand shovel of dirt from different areas and mix it up and put some in a plastic bag so they can check ph

call the Extension Service at 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.

[blackthumb]

Promo, what's the area code of those numbers?

I will do exactly as you said on monday first thing. I'll ask my husband to mow it tomorrow and bag the clippings.

Thanks so much for the suggestion!

[ProMo]

that was the palm beach ext number area code is 561

[Critical Care]

By the way, dog urine (an acid) acts like fertilizer and is a bit like dumping too much fertilizer upon spots within the lawn. It will burn the grass within the center of these spots but on the outside of the burnt area the grass will turn dark green. The dark green area received the optimal amount of fertilizer, inside was excessive, and outside the dark green area not enough.

Have you searched the Internet for "turf disease pictures"? Also, this UFL extension service page may be of interest to you, especially if you can use a good digital camera.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_DDIS1

#4 Pertains to turf diseases.

[dvmcmrhp52]

It sure sounds fungal to me,I'd really get someone to look at it if you don't get anywhere with the numbers you have called.
When I say get someone to look at it I mean someone with experience in true lawncare not just lawn maintenance.

[Avery]

Call in some help. How much have you saved if you lose the lawn?

[blackthumb]

Promo, I called them and the lady says that they have kits. I'll need to go pick it up, then send the sample to the university.

Anybody know if there are kits I can just buy and test it for myself? I really don't want to drive all teh way to west palm for a kit and then have to wait for results in the mail before taking action. Besides, my daughter is not feeling well and probably won't do too well on a long drive up to west palm today.

I'm inclined to use an anti fungal on the lawn today before doing anything else. Would it hurt to do this if there it turns out that that there is no fungus after all?

It stormed heavily last night, so I'm sure things are soaked bac there again. I've seen many lawns down here looking the same way as ours. :/

Avery, I think I will do that if things get worse. I'll give it a week or so but still want to use the antifungal.

Ah, and I wanted to ask one other thing.

Yesterday, my husband mowed but forgot to use the bag for teh clippings. we raked up what we could but since it is cut so finely what we ended up pully up was dead grass. Is it a good idea to rake it regularly now to get rid of some of this dead grass? it seemed to unclog the sod a bit. and open the ground up to the air a bit more.

thanks!

[blackthumb]

oh, and I haven't been able to post a picture because our internet connection at home has been broken for 4 days now. Hopefully it will be fixed today. I'll post pictures as soon as possible, though. (i'm at work, can't do it from here)

[blackthumb]

(PHOTOS OF MY DETERIORATING YARD) (http://gallery.littledeath.net/main.php/view/lawn/trouble/lawn-problem/)

[Avery]

I think it is too late blackthumb. If you called me or anyone else in my area to fix that mess we would tell you good luck...you are on your own.

[blackthumb]

ooof.. that hurts.

[blackthumb]

- decided to call chemlawn for their free lawn assesment thingy but that will take 5 days :(
- daughter is doing better so we're going to pick up that kit in west palm today (figured even if the results come too late, it will help our next resodding attempt)
- pulled up some grass from the ground. Noticed the roots are very firmly grown into the ground (even the dead parts) and also noticed strange looking worms all over the place.

I'm not giving up yet. It aint over till the last blade breathes. :) I'll resod, plug, whatever to get it back even if I have to tear out half the yard.

thanks so far for all the help. I really really really appreciate all of it. Even the "you're doomed" ones.

[blaze347]

What kind of strange looking worms? See if you can take a picture of the worm and post it in the album.

If they are white and curled up you have grubs, but these feed on the roots and the grass would pull up easily. So my guess is that you have tropical sod webworms (Florida) or regular sod webworms. You definately have an insect problem, maybe not a fungus problem. If it were me, I would go to a local co-op or a bigbox store and buy some liquid insect killer for grubs,sod webworms, and armyworms. Let me know if this helps.

[blackthumb]

they are a few millimeters long about the length of a thumb tack and they curl up. some a little bigger than others (guess the little one are babies). I've searched all over the net to identify them but I can't find a good insect/worm db online.

they look like teeny tiny waxworms but with see through skin. their insides are sortof a neon green/blue color. very odd.

i'll take photo today.

[blackthumb]

well, I'm throwing in the towel (sortof) and handed over care of the lawn to a professional company who's a chain in south florida (but not chemlawn)

I called them at 3:30, they dispatched someone out within 30 minutes and the guy came out a little while ago. He said it was bad but not the worst he had ever seen especially thinks there's hope because of the new grass growing in the middle of the field of death. It will take a bit of time especially with the weather we have been having but thinks they can salvage it. And according to him this time of the year it seems everybody has the same problems with lawn down here..

He said it looked like chinch bug damage and also fungus problem (black spots on the blades of grass) I described the worms I saw this morning (couldn't find any easily right then) and he told me what they were but I can't remember what he said, something "sod worm" something something who knows.

They'll be spraying tomorrow with something called atrizine/lontrel and mancozeb (sp?) and then applying that a second time couple weeks later and monthly after that.

I can't help but wonder if they'd just be sucking my money and not helping it at all but at this point I don't give a damn. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, then I certainly couldn't do a better attempt than them.

The birds won't leave my yard. it seems like every bird in the city is in my yard eating something out of the grass. Can you believe one of them built a nest on the ground.?

I'll give ya'll updates on the situation as the weeks pass only because I figure someone would be interested to see how this turns out. LOL.

wish me and my lawn luck.

[blackthumb]

oh, and... both extension offices closest to me close before I could make it out there... so this is why I threw in the towel. I didn't think the lawn could wait another week of non action.

[dvmcmrhp52]

I think you made the right decision.
Good luck and do let us know.

[NickN]

Hi blackthumb,
Your lawn problem sounds like "Ring spot" which can grow quite large if left unchecked.
....and it sounds like you have an insect problem,possibly sod web worms since you said you're haveing some trouble finding them now.They tend to feed at night and stay in their cocoons during the day,in sunny areas.
Have you seen alot of moths around lately?Sod webworms grow into moths as adults and then lay their eggs in your lawn.
Most all insects can be controlled using Acephate,either powder or liquid.One exception is mole crickets,which live in tunnels under your lawn.
Hope all goes well and be sure you let us know what happens.

[blackthumb]

you know.. I have been wondering about that but never heard anybody say it. We have had an insect problem that you would not believe around here. moths, flies, gnats, mosquitos. it's just terrible.

also I have seen a green powdery substande in the lawn near the roots too and I thought that was probably just rott but now that i think about it, I realize that rott is not green. lol!

I'm confident that the chems this lawn co. will be using will help with all of that.

they will be coming this evening to spray it. and their doing all of our lawn not just the damaged back. we have a pretty big front lawn too.

[NickN]

The green powdery substance is the sod webworm excrement.
The "sod moth" has a tubular snout extending from the head and its wings wrap around the body.
Sod moths can be seen flying out of the grass while mowing.
I think you've found the problem.The solution is a simple one.Sounds like you should be sod webworm free.
Take care

[lawnguy26]

If it was sod webworms you would easily see the chewed grass blades. since you've mentioned nothing of chewed grass blades I'd rule out sod webworms. How much sun a day does lawn get. What type of St. Augustine is it. Looks to me like you tried to plant St. Augustine in the shade during the rainy season which is a disastor waiting to happen. Why the lontrel/atrazine treatment are you having problems with weeds. If they're applying Mancozeb I'm assuming you have a heavy leaf spot fungus on the lawn. Looks like you need a Potash treatment and a slow release granular fert. put down and then replace areas that don't recover in the Fall.

[lawnguy26]

If it's chinchbugs than an insectide needs to be applied and with the extensive damage sustained you should easily be able to find active chinchbugs in the lawn. Could also be pythium root rot. Common in new sod planted in shade. Check the root system and see if the tips of the roots are grey in color. If it is pythium then lawn needs to be treated with Subdue.