Brown
Patches and bare areas on lawns.
There
are several causes of brown patches on lawns and other bare
areas on the lawn,
some are outlined below...
Bitch Scorch -
Brown patches
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Lady Dogs - bitches are a common
cause of brown patches on lawns - especially in hot dry weather. The light brown
patches
are roughly circular and about 20 - 30
cms across. There is no remedy for this, other than to keep your
bitch off the lawn. Where patching has occurred, then water the area well, to
help soak in the urine. The grass sometimes recovers, but will normally require
patching with turf or re-seeding. Water the urine out of the area first. |
Scalping with the
Mower Brown patches - Bare areas
If the brown patches are more like
bare soil, then you are probably ‘scalping’ it with a poorly
adjusted lawn mower ( you are simply scalping the humps off an
uneven lawn.) Raise the height of the mower blades in the
short term - we all cut grass too short anyway - and
top dress the hollows with fine soil.
Top
Dressing lawns
Leather Jackets
If they are small brown patches of a few cms across,
it could be the larvae of the Daddy Longlegs Crane Fly. The grubs
- known as ‘Leather jackets’ - eat away at the grass roots
until they are ready to surface in the late summer as Crane Flies.
It is difficult to realize that the chunky grubs, turn into the
slender bodies of the adult flies. I wonder what the secret is!
The chemicals that
work, are not available ! So, you can water the lawn
in the evening, cover the area with a plastic sheet,
remove it the following day, and sweep off the
offending grubs, which will now be on the surface.
Here's an Email response we got by trying this !!!!
I'm still putting plastic on the grass ,I can't sweep the grass because it was ripping it up too much turf, so I'm using tweezers. I've got hundreds out so far.
Overfeeding -
Brown Patches (One added thought.. I assume that you have not
applied a lawn feed/weedkiller too generously or without due care!
If you have overlapped with the spreader, or applied unevenly by hand, then dark
green stripes or patches may appear. They may also be scorched brown. Water the
area generously, and all should be well within a few weeks.
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