Question
My front lawn has common bermuda and is about 20 years old.  I use a lawn care service fertilization and weed control.  This year I have small, but numerous brown spots-dead grass- and the condition is worsening.  What do I need to do?

Answer
Hi Bruce;
First mistake is hiring a chemical weed and fertilizing company.
Chemicals dont solve problems, they CREATE them.
After battling weeds, lawn diseases, and unwanted insects for over 40 years, and never having more than an ok, lawn, i finally gor smart and switched to organics.
I don't HAVE fungus, disease, unwanted insects or bare spots etc to deal with.
For every unwanted insect you can get in your lawn, there are hundreds of beneficial ones that feed on the unwanted ones. thew chemiclas kill the beneficial ones too.
Rich soil does not have fungus etc in it. the beneficial microbes anbd nourishment in the soil keeps them out of your lawn.
Fertilizers DO NOT enrich the soil, except organic fertilizers.
I don't even use organic fetilizers.
for 8 years, I have used nothing but sugar on my lawn.
I put down 1 pound per 250 sq. ft. each spring and fall.
I have no weeds. Weeds like poor soil, and will not thrive and live in rich soil.
You could put down the sugar now. you can actually put it down anytime.
some other good things to put on your lawn is lava sand, and alfalfa meal.
I have just learned of these this year, and i scattered alfalfa meal on my front lawn last month. I see some improvement.
My lawn is so thick, green and lush, that a very little improbement is all I can even hope for. It is alread in almost optimal good condition.
Buy, I made alfalfa tea and fed my roses with it, and they sprouted so much new growth, you can hardly see the stems, and canes, and the leaves and roses . whe they open are much larger.
the new leaves on the bushes are about 50% larger than the older leaves before they were watered with the  alfalfa tea.
It has greatly improved my indoor plants too.
You can make alfalfa tea and water with, or use as a spray to foliar feed. You can use it on the grass, veggies or flowers and shrubs, or you can just throw the alfalfa meal down on the ground and water it in.
I susect the browning areas ( especially if they are more like round spots that spread) is brown patch fungus.
To correct that, disolve baking soda in water and spray down the area, or the whole lawn, in case other area are already infected and just not showing yet. It can't hurt healthy grass, but baking soda is a much better fungicide that any of the chemicals ones I ever used.
Be sure you saturate the area well.
Rake out the dead grass, and spray. That should do it.
I spray my roses and shrubs and plants that are subject to fungus, each spring when new growth appears, and again after our rainy season is over.
I live in Borth Texas, so one rainy season is all I have to worry about. No matter how much ir rains( if only it would) later in the summer, it is hot enough here to kill out any fungus that tries to start up, EXCEPT in those lawns on a chemical care program.
When I used chemicals, I had to spray my roses etc, once a month, and still got black spot fungus and powdery mildew, and brown patch.
Since i have been on the organic program, the only places i see these problems are in other yards.
If you want more information about organics, write me, i am vert happy to share.
Oh, my asthma is 90% or more better since I don't use those chemicals, and I spwnd only a pittance compared to what i used to spend, and less than 10 % of the time working in the lawn, and have the best lawn I have ever had.
Charlotte