brown streaks in grass

thayern – posted 02 June 2005 08:58

Last week I noticed patches of grass in full sun areas looked as if they needed water. After I mowed, we had a good rain. Then, brownish rust streaks appeared in a pattern consistent with the mower tracks in that section. At first I thought it was dead grass clippings, but upon examining it more closely, I found that grass is dying in those streaks. Any ideas?

cking – posted 03 June 2005 08:46

sounds like a fungus – has it been especially wet where you live?

thayern – posted 03 June 2005 12:29

Thanks for your reply. As a matter of fact, it has been quite dry here. Water restrictions allow me to water only once a week, but after I mowed, we had a nice soaking rain. I live on a hill where the soil is pure sand, so we rarely have too much water.

cking – posted 03 June 2005 12:44

The sand/hill/dry weather/water restrictions should pretty much eliminate the fungus theory. Have you tried to lift the turf to see if anything is eating the roots?

cohiba – posted 03 June 2005 16:05

thayern,

You may have mowed when the turf was under drought stress. This is very dangerous for the turf. Usually the turf may look gray or blueish in color. Mowing under those conditions will harm the turf further. I have seen lawns looking good and the homeowner mows over a “Localized Dry Spot” or LDS for short. The best thing I can say is stop mowing until you get full recovery. This can be done with a pitch fork, wetting agents and water. First, take a pitch fork and poke as many holes as you can over the area. Next apply large amounts of water, but very slowly, over the area. If its on a slope you may try to put bags of ice on the slope above the spots and let the water from the melting ice cover the area and fill the holes. Next, once you have some water in the soil, use granular or liquid wetting agents to help the water infiltrate the ground. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of getting wetting agents mix some Dawn dishwashing liquid with some anti gas medicine and try that. Point is you want the soap to disperse the water but not have the soap bubbles. And remember take it slow and baby the turf. No fertilizers, or herbicides. the natural process will be to have weeds come in where the turf has thinned. If you have to, hand pull the weeds and spare the herbicides.

Good luck……………………….