Question
I live in Colorado and my lawn has dead spots and its spreading. There is no green area in the center.  It starts to turn yellow and then dies.  Then it moves to another area.  Please help...

Answer
Try spot seeding to fix the spots.  Make sure you remove the dead brown Grass before you do this, then scratch the Soil surface and sprinkle Seed with a mixture of rich Soil and Humus.  This is still a good time of year to do this.

That said, you want to keep this from happening again.  You have not mentioned your Grass type -- if you are growing Kentucky Bluegrass, you should know that a Fungus called Necrotic Ringspot (previously called Fusarium Blight) is considered the biggest problem for Kentucky bluegrass in your region, although it will also attack other turfgrasses.  Symptoms appear in Lawns that are established, as early as 2 or 3 years after seed or sod go down.  Straw-colored patches pop up here and there after a period of wet, cold weather, until the Fungus, usually Ophiosphaerella (aka Leptosphaeria), becomes a perennial problem that you suddenly realize you're watching every year.  The U.S. Golf Assn puts photos of Ophiosphaerella damage to Bermudagrass roots on its website:

www.usga.org/turf/green_section_record/2004/march_april/identification.html

Now, before you start reaching for the Fungicide, let me tell you one of my favorite gardener's Fables.

A gardener was talking to his wise neighbor about the local landscaper, who was working nearby that day.

The gardener pointed out that the landscaper's first customer that morning had a terrible Lawn Fungus problem.  And the landscaper had mowed this person's Lawn.  Then he went to the next Lawn.  And the next Lawn.  All day long.

He asked, Was the landscaper spreading Fungus on ALL the lawns?

Because every time he mowed someone's grass, the lawnmower he'd used on the first customer, who had the lawn Fungus, and was carrying all the Fungus spores on its blades, would spread the Fungus all over the next Lawn.  So he asked his wise neighbor, Do you think the landscaper is giving ALL his customers the Lawn Fungus today?

And the wise neighbor told him:  No.

Then he drew for his neighbor a picture of a three-legged stool.  And he explained the meaning of his picture.

Recalls the gardener: 'The seat of the stool is the disease, which is a Fungus,' he began. 'The seat has to have three legs.

'One leg is the host plant, the Lawn.

'Another leg is the Fungus spores.  They are present all of the time in the Soil.

'The third leg is the environment around the Lawn.  If any of the three legs is not present, the stool falls.  And there is no disease.'

He continued:

'Two legs: the Grass and the Fungus, are permanently present.  They can not be changed.  The third leg, the environment, CAN be changed to keep the Fungus out.'

Or the Lawn can be made Fungus-friendly.

Julie, when you have wet towels, you hang them up to dry, right?

Why is that?

Because if you leave them wet and dark for too long, those towels will
get Mildew all over them, right?

And why do they get Mildew?

Do you spray Mildew-killer all around the house all the time?  Does
Mildew attack when you stop spraying?

Of course not.

But some companies would warn you that if you don't pour Fungicides all over your Grass, if you don't keep it pure and cleansed with their products, your Grass will get sick.  They make it sound like you're not taking care of it.  Like you don't have what it takes to have a Lawn.

If they told you the same thing about Mildew on your towels, you'd laugh.

It is unnecessary to put Fungus Killer on Grass.  Because Fungus is always out there.  Just like Mildew.  Both are just waiting for the right opportunity.

And that opportunity comes along when you kill things that keep Fungus in check.

When nights get cool, and dark, and the Grass is wet long enough, and the Fungus is right there.  Boom!  The grass gets yellow, red, brown, slimy, streaky, strawcolored, or dusty white.  Disaster strikes.  Fungus has attacked.  Necrotic Ring Spot has arrived.

Oddly, one of the best ways to cause an eruption of Fungus is to FERTILIZE your Lawn.

Because chemical Nitrogen fertilizer jolts cell division into overdrive, like a Thermos of hot black coffee.  These cells are soft and weak.  They have no time to rebuild and recover.  These are just the kind of soft, savory tissue Fungus spores love to plant themselves and grow.  Too much, too soon.

Several Fungal diseases, including Necrotic Ring Spot, have been treated with Soil amendments that encourage growth of microbes that are hostile to Fungus.  Theory is, there are controls in the Soil that keep Fungus spores from attacking your favorite garden plants, until you do something to tilt the Soil in favor of the Fungus -- which you do when you apply chemical fertilizers.

Skeptical?  Here's part of the Abstract to one study in 1994 at Michigan State University, 'Irrigation Frequency and Fertilizer Type Influence Necrotic Ring Spot of Kentucky Bluegrass':

'Organic and synthetic fertilizers were evaluated under three irrigation regimes (daily, twice weekly, and rain only) for management of Necrotic Ring Spot (Leptosphaeria korrae Walker & Smith) of Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.).  Disease severity varied due to fertilizer and irrigation treatments.  After 2 years of treatments, daily irrigation reduced disease incidence as compared to twice-weekly irrigation, while organic fertilizer, as a Feathermeal-Bonemeal-Soybeanmeal mixture ... reduced disease incidence as compared to Urea fertilizer...'

You can access it at the website of the American Society for Horticultural Science:

hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/9/1028?ijkey=0b69c21eddb3834bed880b4d77cfad4e2b9a9a4b&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Researchers tested Ringer 'Lawn Restore' (the feather-bone-soymeal 9-4-4 biostimulant) and Sustane 'Sustane' (a 5-2-4 turkey manure amendment) plus a synthetic slow-release Nitrogen fertilizer, 'Nitroform', a 38-0-0 formula made by Nitroform Corp, and 0-0-2 Humic Acids based 'Bio Grounds Keeper' by the eponymous company based in Bloomington, Minn.  Healthiest, most disease free plots were watered at high noon daily -- which means they were REALLY watered, not sprinkled, and the water dried off the leaves by sunset.  By watering mid-day, they provided some relief from the intense Sun and heat.  Top plots were also treated with Ringer's Lawn Restore.

You can purchase Lawn Restore online from Planet Natural:

www.planetnatural.com/site/ringer-lawn-restore.html

or Saferbrand:

www.saferbrand.com/instructions/lawnrestore.asp

Thanks for writing.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER