If your grass is turning brown despite watering, it's possible that you may have a problem with disease, caused by microscopic living organisms. These include bacteria, fungi, and nematodes, among others.
What looks dead should be green again by late spring or early summer. Lawns in cooler climates are a little different. Cool-season grasses may turn brown and look dead in summer if they're forced into dormancy due to heat and drought.
Rake Matted Grass
The best time to rake dead spots is when your lawn is starting to turn green again around mid-April. This way, you can target areas of your lawn that are actually impacted. Raking right after winter will be less targeted as most of the grass will still be brown, regardless of if it is dead or healthy.
If the plants pull out from the ground easily, they're probably dead. If the roots hold fast when pulled, the plants are dormant. You will also see the difference when you start to water or when rain returns as moisture will revive brown grass. However, it will not bring dead grass plants back to life.
As the heat starts to put stress on your lawn you may notice full brown blades of grass or grass with brown tips. They may have begun to curl.
This may seem like a no brainer, but watering grass during extreme heat is the single most important thing you can do to keep it alive. We recommend watering daily with heat like this, but please be sure to abide by local regulations for water usage in your state. It also matters what time of day you water your lawn.
The most common times are when the host (turfgrass) is under stress. Examples of environmental stress are excessively wet or dry weather and exceptionally hot or unseasonably cool temperatures. In addition to being a reaction to environmental changes, lawn diseases can also be signals of soil problems.
When summer sizzles, a lawn can easily fizzle, trading lush green for crispy brown shades. The causes of brown grass vary. Insect feeding, drought stress, soil compaction, or other factors can combine with heat to damage grass. In this weakened state, a lawn is more susceptible to attack by weeds and insects.
Harsh Weather
Just like any other plant, your grass needs sunlight and moisture in order to grow. The harsh temperatures of summer can wear down your lawn, drying out healthy grass, and causing it to turn brown. The hot temperatures and lack of moisture means your lawn isn't getting the nutrients it needs to thrive.
Best Ways To Plant Grass Seed Over Old Grass
Definitely yes! Hand-sowing is the simplest method if you only need to cover a few spots. Take a handful of seeds and spread them over the dead patch, or better yet, involve your kids and introduce them to some basic gardening chores.
Once temperatures reach 77 degrees, it becomes too hot for root growth, and root growth ceases. When temperatures reach 90 degrees, it becomes too hot for shoot growth and the grasses stop growing and begin to fall dormant, with the surface grass turning a brown hue.
Between irrigation and natural rainfall, your grass should receive between 1 and 1.5 inches of water each week during the summer. Water deeply every other day for the best results. Your turf should receive about 1/3 an inch of water every two days in order to maintain deeper roots, thus helping protect against drought.
If it's 70-80 degrees outside try watering 2-3 times a week. During the spring your lawn will be fairly easy to manage so you don't have to water all the time. In the blazing summer, when temperatures are between 90-100+, try watering 3-4 times a week.
During a heat wave—a period of abnormally hot weather that lasts longer than 2 days—it's recommended that you do not mow your lawn.
It's Noticeably Wilting
One of the earliest and most obvious signs of dehydration in grass is wilting, when blades begin to curl over instead of standing up straight. If you don't take action right away, you will soon see the grass start to change color (which we discuss in more detail below).
Taller grass grows deeper roots, and deeper roots can reach moisture that's further down in the soil. Stressed-out lawns aren't growing, so feeding them won't help much. Instead feed before the hot, dry weather arrives. Once the weather cools down and rain returns, feed again to help your lawn recover quicker.
Start by raking dead grass spots to loosen the soil and remove the expired blades. Lightly rake the healthy areas to get rid of dying grass and aerate the soil for root stimulation. Once you have the land prepared, take a rotary seed spreader and lay down new grass seed over the dead spots.
There are a variety of reasons your lawn may develop Brown patch, including high heat and humidity, excessive nitrogen, moisture, poor soil damage, too much thatch, and compacted soil. In some cases, you can't prevent your lawn from developing Brown thatch—after all, you can't control the weather.
The best time of day to water a lawn is early morning, between 4:00 and 8:00 a.m. The cooler temperatures and minimal wind allow water to soak deeply into the soil without much evaporation. Also, during this window, there's not as much demand for water on municipal systems, which can impact pressure.
As a general rule, grass clippings of an inch or less in length can be left on your lawn where they will filter down to the soil surface and decompose quickly. Remove longer clippings because they can shade or smother grass beneath causing lawn damage. Don't throw out bagged grass clippings as yard waste.