Help with lawn!

[jmejiaa]

First time home owner, trying to keep a decent looking lawn. It was starting to look pretty good but then we got some really hot weather and I think that started to ruin it. I've been trying to water more often and user fertilizer but I need to figure out how to fix the brown spots now.

Around November, I applied the scotts winter fertilizer. I applied it again around December. It started looking pretty good once it started to warm up, but now it has brown patches. We bought a new mower as we were using an old one that wasn't doing a good job, I also started applying the scotts turf builder fertilizer .

It looks OK where it's actually green.. What can I do about the green spots?








Help!!

[Smallaxe]

Too much NPK can be a problem... Look at the soil under the sod/turf, at least 3" deep and tell us what that looks like... look at it under the brown spots and under the green spots...

[Duekster]

Dig around the edge of one of those brown spots where it is green and look for Grubs.

[Duekster]

It looks like the ground is cracked open in some places too but hard to tell.

[habiem]

I'd second the recommendation to check for grubs. And yes, be careful with the fertilizer. Too much can cause serious damage and encourage thick thatch growth which will cause you more headaches down the road as the water won't be able to get into the ground.

When you water, how long are you watering each area? And what area are you in? What type of soil is it? Clay, sandy, etc.

For what it's worth, I typically do what I call a 'modified-organic' approach. I use chemicals when necessary -- for example, to deal with grubs or other issues that organic approaches have been unsuccessful for me in the past. Other than that, I use organic fertilizers (my favorite is soybean meal) as I've found they do a better job of keeping my lawn thick and green. They also are very beneficial for the soil vs the chemicals that can dry out your soil. Also, it's hard to put on too much of the organic stuff, whereas too much of the chemical stuff can burn the lawn.

Good luck with the lawn!