Question
First and foremost just wanted to thank you for your time..I live in northern NJ and don't have a huge lawn bout 600 square feet of lawn...I have been using Agway sun and shade for the lawn this past spring as well as starter fertilizer by Scott and lime..about late may my lawn was fantastic. green and weed free.. one week during may, we had continuos rain.. To no avail, I got impatient and cut my lawn not thinking of the consequences clumps formed and I conducting a rookie mistake raked the clumps off ripping the new sprouts out... After a week I started to notice my lawn started to turn brown in certain spots and it has been driving me crazy...After bout two weeks, my lawn started to show signs of brown spots everywhere... I decided to thrown more starter fertilizer and lime...I'm thinking I might have burned some of the lawn..anyhow, I was so disgusted that I ripped up all the dead brown lawn, and replaced it with soil, peatmoss and new seeds..While ripping up the soil I noticed Sod web worms...    Sorry for the long story, but my question is Do you think my lawn turned brown from the webworms, the glassy cutworms, grubs, or me carelessly cutting the lawn in the rain??  Can I also use ironite to turn these brown patches back green??? Also I noticed large roots under my front lawn..Can this steal nutrients from my lawn causing it to turn brown?? I have no compaction and no kids running on my lawn as well as no pets...I also areate...I'm confused and dumbfounded, Can you please help...Thanking you in advance..

Answer
Hi Eddie,

Well, you have given me a whole bunch of different possibilities as to what could be wrong with the lawn, and without actually looking at the grass, I'd be hard pressed to give you a solid answer. Here's a few points I'd be able to make though.

1) Ironite won't turn brown grass green. It will simply darken up the green color that is already there.

2) If the blades are sharp, cutting the lawn in the rain shouldn't be a huge problem as long as the clumps are carefully removed. If you raked too vigorously, then some damage could have been done.

3) The continuation of brown patches sounds like some sort of issue with either grubs or possibly a mild disease like Red Thread, which is made worse by excessive water. Since you didn't leave the clumps on the lawn, I'd be inclined to make an educated guess that the problem was Red Thread.

4) Are you 100% it was Sod Webworms? I only ask because many professionals I know have a very hard time indentifying those. They are truly tiny and hard to see unless you know what you are looking for. Proper identification of pests is critical to deciding the next steps. I just want to make sure you are really taking the time to get the identification correct before proceeding.

5) The roots can present a problem, definitely. While you are in renovation mode, you might want to consider putting down another inch or 2 of topsoil in order to give the grass more room to grow above the roots.

That's about all I have. I wish I could give you a solid diagnosis, but without looking at it, I'd just have to say that it sounds like Red Thread, and that Red Thread usually grows out on its own with fertilizer and regular mowing.

Good luck my friend!

-C.J. Brown
www.TheLawnCoach.com