Lawn doctor, yard shrink, grass therapist – whatever the name, we’re here to help!
A man’s best friend, yes, but not always a lawn’s best friend. Small brown patches of grass can be caused by… how do we say it… a pooch mistaking your grass for a fire hydrant. If your dog or neighbor’s dog favors the same area day after day, characteristic dead grass patches will occur. Typically a bit of nitrogen is good for grass, but at higher levels it can cause the lawn to burn.
Solution:
The fix? Either saturate and dilute the spot with water and let it recover, or break out the dog treats and train Fido to use a less visible bathroom.
We’ve all seen a green lawn that suffers from a bad case of the brown chickenpox. If this is your yard, and fast-appearing, fast-spreading dead spots are the symptoms, the diagnosis might be a fungus disease. Some similar turf issues can be credited to bacteria, but fungi most often takes the cake. Spores, produced by the fungi, are always part of your lawn’s soil, but when they sense any weakness, they head straight for the turf.
Solution:
The best bet for a lawn cure is to detect early, as the different types of fungus disease are easier to differentiate. Then you can adjust cultural practices like watering, fertilizing, and aerating. But, as always, preventative care is the most important. Maintain a healthy lawn all year round. MOWZ wants to be part of the solution.
This is one shady problem…literally. Grass has a hard time growing properly in shade covered areas. Moss, however, likes the dark. Moss alone won’t kill your grass, but its growing conditions can stop your lawn from looking its best.
Solution:
Acidic soil may be a reason for moss and thin grass, but if your soil’s pH is okay (see here for testing pH), let the sun shine by pruning trees or shrubs away. If shade is inevitable, try some perennials or a shade-loving groundcover like hosta, dichondra, vinca, or star jasmine.
A recent invasion of flying beetles around your yard and corresponding brown spots may point towards some creepy crawly lawn grubs. These are white, wormy critters in their larvae stage, eventually molting into flying, hard-shelled adults. Now is the perfect time to take action as summer draws to an end. These grubs usually do their worst to unsuspecting lawns in the fall, as they eat your grass from the roots up.
Solution:
To be sure the grubs are really the bad guys, dig up a slice of dirt near a brown patch and see if you can catch them eating in action. Depending on health of the lawn, 10+ larvae per square foot is a common measure to begin treatment. To prevent, you could attempt to pick the beetles off by hand as the first trailblazers arrive in the late summer. The best time for this is early mornings, when the beetles are slowest. The grubs thrive in moist soil, so if they’re a problem, let your lawn dry thoroughly between waterings. Replace shallow waterings with deep, infrequent ones to discourage beetles from thinking your lawn is the perfect place to raise kids.
Problem:
An unruly yard.
Solution:
A MOWZ on demand lawn mowing service.
Sources
http://www.planetnatural.co/organic-lawn-care-101/problems/
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20401911_20811137,00.html
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/05/how-to-fix-the-5-most-common-lawn-problems/index.html