Question
I have just moved into a new house, and I have a 3' x 3' dead spot (brown/yellow).  I decided to replace it with new sod (I extend a flower bed) and it seemed to do fine for a few weeks, then the same spot went dead again.  the rest of the lawn looks great execpt for this spot, do I try again with new sod? What can I do to make sure it doesn't die again?

Thanks in advance

Answer
I wish I could give you a slam-dunk answer, Mike. A very large dog?  

The good money's on a fungus or insects -- maybe grubs.  

My crystal ball tells me that all over America, gardeners who use chemicals are calling lawn services and typing emails to Master Gardeners about the brown spots in their lawns caused by FUNGUS.

The timing is perfect for "Spring Dead-Spot Disease", "Brown Patch" and other funguses.  It is one of the most prevalent problems suffered by Eastern Seaboard turfgrasses.  

Further guesswork will be less certain because you did not give any details of your grass or where you live.  Do you have Bermuda grass?  Check the illustrations at the North Carolina State College of Agriculture to see Dead-Spot Disease sounds anything like your problem: www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/Turfgrass/Turf004/Turf004.html.

Dead-Spot Disease attacks mainly Bermuda grass, around late May and early June.  Lawns and golf courses are weakened by un-natural chemicals applied by trusting people who believe the TV commercials starring healthy, happy families with a beautiful house, green grass everywhere.  Their goal is to get innocent people to pour as many fungicides, weedkillers, bugkillers and other bad things as possible, as often as possible, on the grass around their house.

Applying more Fungicide will just line the pockets of the chemical company that makes it.  Your lawn is sick and you should take it easy with the chemicals.  

Healthy grass never gets sick.  

So if you are the Bermuda-grasslover who has adoringly mowed, fertilized and weed-killered/grub-killered etc your Bermuda lawn, STOP!!!!!

Treatment consists of stopping all fertilizer applications and mowing at the proper height for Bermuda Grass, raising the height a half inch in September will provide more leaf surface for the grass and help it recover.

People who pour chemicals on their grass have thatch problems that often end with fungus attacks.  Healthy lawns do not have thatch buildup because microbes and earthworms are living in the soil; they consume thatch and convert it into compost.  

In un-healthy lawns, all the earthworms and microbes are dead.  

Fungicides, Grub killer and Weedkillers, even something as simple as "Weed And Feed", do more damage.  

Aerate your soil to bring in oxygen and oxygen-loving bacteria.  Put in new Bermudagrass plugs to fill in the yellow areas.

Brownpatch, Bermudagrass Decline and Take-All Patch hit St. Augustinegrass and Bermuda Grass, sometimes in spring, other times it can hit you in the autumn.  Other maladies hit Kentucky Bluegrass and Zoysia.

The boom in Fungus Disease runs fall through spring during periods of high humidity and moderate temps.  Grass leaves yellow and die, then they turn brown --  symptoms similar to yours.  Affected patches can be very large.

BUT...

Is grubs your problem?  

Checking under the yellowed turf is a waste of time -- the grubs have already killed that grass.  Instead, look under part of the area nearby that is still green and healthy.  Grubs live underground and dine on grass roots.  If microbes in the soil have been wiped out by chemicals, the Grubs grow out of control.  And you have a grub problem.  There should be only a few Grubs under your patch.  DON'T BUY GRUB KILLER that you see in the store -- that's just ANOTHER CHEMICAL that will do more harm than good.

These funguses thrive in alkaline soil.  Bermuda grass is tolerant of lower pH; reducing the pH is part of a good long term treatment plan.

You can buy good bacteria and good fungus to attack Grubs.  Go to Gardens Alive and check their cure for lawn Grubs.  Remember, this won't work if you put down Grub Killer.  It'll just be one chemical after another.

A good course of action: Take a soil sample and send it to your local cooperative extension - I can't tell you who that is because you did not tell me where you live but they're all over the place.  Test specifically for Potassium and see what else they see.  To get an accurate sample:

1. All tools for this exercise must be free of rust.  Don't use anything made of galvanized metal, which is coated with zinc.

2. Remove soil from under the surface of your damaged sod.  The sample should be 6 inches deep.

3. Break the soil up and mix it.

4. Put the soil sample into a container for mailing and send it out to the lab as they specify.

Still not sure? Check www.redwoodbarn.com/brownlawn.html for one grass gardener's desperate cry for help.  If you can, give me your zip code -- at least I'll have an idea what your weather and usual grass is.  And if you know the grass, all the better.  I'd like to know about it!