Question
I live in Houston, Texas and it has been very dry lately. The area of my lawn that doesn't receive shade is slowing turning brown in different sections of the grass.  I thought I might have a fungus so I treated it with "F" Stop granules.  It has been a month and I don't see any improvements.  I don't have an irrigation system installed and water manually.  It's hard to water everyday but I have increased my watering time to 30 minutes daily mostly due to the lack of rain. The grass is in desperate need of water as the blades look limp at the end of the day when I walk on them due to the heat of the west sun.  Are the brown patches caused by possible fungus or heat and lack of rain?  There are parts of the grass that the soil is very dry and hard, which leads me to beleive that I need to aerate the lawn as well.  I am very frustrated and I spend 3 hours almost every night watering.  I have lived at this house for only a year and wonder if the PH balance is also off.  Please help me w/some suggestions.  Thanks so much!

Answer
Turf grass problems aren't really my area but I'll tell you what I can.
It sounds like you just need a lot of water right now. I would water till the ground can't take any more. In the area which is the worst, give 1 hour of water then wait 2 hours then another 1/2hour. This should saturate the soil. If the ground won't accept this much without runoff. Do 1/2 hour intervals with 1 hour wait periods.
The problem is, without any rain the turf has no reserve of water. The only way to "bring it back to life" is to load the soil with water as if it rained. Right now, the turf is in survival mode. It isn't trying to grow or stay green. It's just trying to stay alive. The only way to revive is to trick it into thinking it rained and it has a reserve of water under it.
Maybe one of those battery operated hose timers would help relieve you of some of the time you spend watering.

Matt