Question
Well, we got thru the Midwest drought
pretty well, but the front lawn is still
about 20% this ugly brown. It looks like
dead hay in large and small spots, but a
few shoots of green are starting to get through.
I've been watering it all for weeks, lots, everyday or
every other day. The grass in patches
still sleeps (or something). The water
has helped 80% of the lawn, which looked
like a total desert back in July. --But that
20% of brown.... How can I wake it up? The
water does little for the brown, but the
little mushrooms love the H20 and are growing like crazy.
Any ideas on this one? Can you help?

Thanks --Max/Chicago

Answer
Hi Max;
Stop watering every day or every other day, that is why the mushrooms. You have a fungus. Too little sun and/or too much dampness makes fungii grow.
Buildres sometimes put the little bit of topsoil they put down, on top of pieces of scrap woor, and that rots over time and gets a fungus in the soil, or a tree trunk dis, and gets a fungus in it. The mushrooms will grow up from the soil.
You don't say what kind of grass you have, but most grasses need at least 5-6 hours of sun on it every day.
If there is too much shade for the grass to gerow, you need to prune out some tree ot shrub branches out to thin the trees and shrubs and get more sun on the grass.
o kill a fungus you use a fungicide. I don't use any chemicals on my lawn. For fungus, powdery mildew and other forms of fungus, I use baking powder disolved in water.
I cannot find out what amount of baking soda per gallon, so I use about 1/2 cup per gallon of water. That works.
I spray all my suscepteble plants with that.
You could mix up enough baking soda and water to soak the area with the mushrooms. You want it soaked to at least 6 inches. Rake up all the mushrooms and throw them away, then soak the ground and grass there.
If the mushrooms come back, it is probably a piece of wood that is buried or a decayed root. You need to dig down and remove the cause. THEN saturate the area.
Deep watering establishes a deep root system that helps protect against heat, cold, and drought damage.
Shallow watering makes the roots come close to the surface to get water, they are exposed to heat or cold or drought, and they die. Then they trap bits of leaves, grass clippings and other debris, and that form,s a tight, waterproff pad that water, fertilizer, anything you put down will not get through to the roots.
That is thatch. If you get that, there is nothing to do but laborously rake it up. One heck of a big job !!
I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches, and water again when the top 2 inches of soil are dry.
Charlotte