How to Get a Dead Spot on Your Lawn to Grow Grass
Before you try to get grass to grow on that dead spot, do a little detective work to determine what caused it. Without a diagnosis, you might get the grass to grow again, but the dead spot will quickly return. Remedying the problem might simply require changes in how you care for your lawn, or it could require reseeding or laying down sod. To avoid future problems with dead spots, water your lawn regularly and don't cut your grass too short. A healthy lawn has few problems. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Straight-edged spade
- Hand cultivator
- Bagged topsoil
- Peat moss
- Utility knife
- Sod
- Grass seed repair mixture
- Hoe
Instructions
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Diagnose a Dead Spot of Grass
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Water the dead spot deeply if you know that gasoline or dog urine caused the dead area. This process leaches out the gas and urine. After watering, carefully rake away the dead grass. Water the area daily, and if the grass doesn't show signs of returning in two to three weeks, reseed or patch the sod. Always do maintenance on your mower in an area other than the grass.
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Apply a nitrogen fertilizer if rust, a fungal disease, created the dead area. This disease appears mainly in blue grass or rye grass. You can recognize rust by the yellowish to brownish-red grass blades, and small reddish pustules on the older blades. To guard against the disease, water and mow more frequently.
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Check for yellow patches along with dark green spots in the lawn. This condition indicates an uneven fertilizer application. The dark green area received the correct amount of fertilizer and the yellow area didn't get enough. Dig up the dead spots and water the area thoroughly. You may need to reseed or resod if the grass doesn't grow back in a few weeks.
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Remove both ends of a can and sink it into the ground near the dead spot and fill it with water to diagnose chinch bugs. If insects with 1/4-inch-long, gray-black bodies float to the surface, chinch bugs are the problem. Chinch bugs cause yellowish-brown spots in the turf by sucking the juice out of each blade of grass. They most often appear in St. Augustine and zoysia grasses but can appear in blue grass and creeping bent grass. Water the area thoroughly to reduce the spread of the insect and apply chlorpyrifos or diazinon.
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Inspect your lawn at night to see if buff-colored moths are skimming the surface of the grass. Moths could indicate sod webworms, moth larvae, as the problem. Sod webworms look like hairless gray caterpillars and eat the grass which results in small dead patches of lawn. The patches appear in spring and grow larger in summer. To confirm your suspicion, mix 1 tbsp. liquid dishwashing detergent to 1 gallon water. Soak an area of grass near the dead spots with this solution to see if larvae come to the surface. More than 15 larvae in a square yard requires treatment. You can treat the area with chlorpyrifos or diazinon for a quick solution. For a less toxic solution, try cultural methods: Avoid over-watering or over-fertilizing and maintain a regular dethatching and aeration schedule.
Repair a Dead Spot of Grass
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Cut out a patch of the dead grass with a sharp knife. If you see 1/4-inch worm-like bugs with brown heads and white bodies, your lawn might be infested with white grubs. White grubs are the larvae of different kinds of beetles and June bugs. When exposed, white grubs curl up into a C shape. They eat the roots of the grass, and you can sometimes lift up a complete patch of dead grass. Remove a patch or turn and dig into the soil. More than one grub per square foot suggests an infestation and requires treatment. You can purchase a grub control product at your local garden nursery.
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Inspect the dead patch of turf for small circular patches of dark green grass surrounded by dead or light-colored grass. If present, a fungal disease called fairy ring lives in your lawn. Fairy ring typically occurs in soil high in organic matter. Aerate the ground and apply a nitrogen fertilizer for lawn care and keep the area wet for three to five days.
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Reseed the dead spot in the spring or fall. For a large dead spot, mow any grass that remains with the lowest setting on the lawnmower. Loosen the soil with a hoe or rake. Apply a high phosphorous fertilizer by raking it into the ground. Read the label on the grass seed to determine how much to apply for each square foot. Spread the seed and cover it with 1/4 inch of herbicide-free mulch or grass clippings. Water the reseeded spot three to four times a day until the seedlings are firmly established. Once the new grass reaches 3 to 4 inches tall, set your mower to a medium or high setting and mow.
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Patch the dead spot on your lawn with sod. Start by removing all the affected grass and soil to a depth of 2 inches with the straight-edged spade. Loosen the soil surface using the hand cultivator. Mix together 4 parts topsoil to 1 part peat moss and layer it over the area to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. With the utility knife, cut the sod to fit the area. Water the sod each day for three weeks and avoid walking on it until it's well established.
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Tips & Warnings
To avoid dead spots in your lawn, call the local extension office or garden nursery in your area and ask what the best grass is for your region.
To avoid accidents, always read labels on all lawn products and follow the directions.
References
Resources
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