Nothing could be more depressing than watching your once-green grass turn into a crusty brown dry lawn. Pests, illness, inadequate prep and installing procedures, incorrect watering and nutrition, or the wrong variety of grass for the area are all reasons why your lawn could die. The first and perhaps the most essential step in recovering a dying lawn and winding up with a lovely carpet of healthy green grass is determining what triggered it to die. A brown front lawn is an eyesore that diverts attention from the aesthetic appeal of your house. Use this approach to help restore your grass’s lush gleam if it’s failing to deal with the summer heat.
Determine If Your Grass Dead Or Dormant
It’s crucial to figure out if your grass is truly dead or merely dormant since it determines what your next steps should be. If it’s salvageable, repairing it rather than restarting to sow your grass again will save you money, energy, and a lot of effort. If not, there’s no harm done.
Use these tests to determine whether your lawn is dead or dormant.
Perform the Tug Test.
If you’ve ever chosen your own Christmas tree, you’ve undoubtedly done a “tug test” to see if it was fresh or not. The same is true with grass, where dying blades can simply be pulled out due to their lack of roots, but dormant grass will resist uprooting and need more effort.
Patterns and Patches Should Be Sought Out.
If your grass is dormant, it will most likely be uniform throughout the entire lawn because the problem is most likely due to the temperature or water issues. If you have uneven areas of dead spots on lawn, it’s likely that another issue, such as pests, pesticides, dogs, or other external causes, is to blame. The only exception is the grass that has been dry as a result of irrigation issues that have limited the amount of water available in a certain region. Always make sure it’s well hydrated first.
Attempt to Water It
Watering your lawn is arguably one of the most obvious yet most effective methods to test if you have dry grass, with so many lawns becoming dormant due to dryness from temperatures fluctuating every day. If the grass is dormant, the application of water will cause it to awaken and begin growing anew, resulting in the restoration of green grass within a few days. If you give it water and it still doesn’t seem to come to life, it’s probably dead.
Causes of Grass Dying
- Not much preparation and a poor installation of the grass: Preparation of the space and installing new grass is much more than simply spreading the seeds or putting sod over it, and if done poorly, the seeds and sod will not grow properly and will ultimately die.
- Watering, fertilizing, and trimming the grass at the correct height for the grass are all important cultural behaviours for maintaining your lawn to be green and happy. These are referred to as “cultural practices” in the turfgrass business. Any of these, if not done appropriately, can lead to the death of your grassy territory.
- The type of grass: Make sure the grass you’re planting is resilient in your environment and can thrive in the light and climate conditions in your yard. Planting grass that likes a sunny position in the shadow, or utilizing grass that isn’t resilient in your region, can eventually kill it.
- Diseases and Pests: Turfgrass is affected by a variety of pests and diseases, which cause it to become weaker and maybe die. You can gather a sample of the infected grass to a nearby garden store for testing, or you can call your Sodding grass Canada. Before installing fresh grass in the region, you must first treat the insect or disease issue.
Tips for How to Revive Dead Grass
You may now begin the process of reviving your dead lawn once you’ve eliminated all probable causes for its death and remedied any issues that may have arisen. This may be a do-it-yourself project, particularly if you have dead patches in otherwise healthy grass. You can also employ a lawn maintenance specialist like us at Sodding Canada to replace a whole lawn if you’re facing the possibility of having to do so.
- Step One- Prepare the Area
On how to fix dead grass, the first and most important step in recovering a dead lawn is to properly prepare the area. Proper site preparation is the most critical stage in getting the area ready for fresh grass seed or sod. First, use a nonselective herbicide to get rid of the existing weeds and old grass. Start spraying a herbicide like glyphosate over weedy or grassy sections of the lawn for grass patch repair. Make sure the herbicide covers all parts of the plants and make sure to keep the children and dogs away from the lawn until it dries, which usually takes a couple of hours. Most of the herbicides can withstand any rain after two hours, but that depends on the brand used. When applying the herbicide to the area, do it on a bright, warm day with no wind and no chance of rain. Give the herbicide a week to thoroughly eliminate the undesirable plants. - Step Two – Get Rid of Thatch
If you’re simply trying to revive a part of a brown lawn, remove the dead grass and dark spots from the green areas that are still alive. Thatch is a layer of decaying plant matter that forms on the soil’s surface. A little bit of brown here and it is unavoidable and beneficial. - Step 3-Prepare the Soil
Tilling the soil, which helps aerate it, is the next crucial step in recovering a dying grass. The soil must be tilled to a depth of 5 to 6 inches, with all existing plants included. If you aren’t dealing with a whole yard of dying, tall grass, you may just till it down and into the soil once it has died, since there is no need to rake it away. If the construction from when your home was being built has left your soil deficient in nutrition or you want to improve the fertility of your current soil, apply a 4- to 6-inch layer of organic compost over the surface and till it in while integrating the dead plants. The addition of organic elements to clay soil reduces its bulkiness while increasing its water-holding capacity. - Step 4- Fertilize and test the soil
A soil test is recommended to evaluate the quantity of phosphorus in the soil, which helps your turfgrass establish strong roots. Spread the phosphorus uniformly throughout the site after you have the test results and the amount of phosphorus necessary if any. For individuals who don’t want to wait for a soil test before planting, lawn starter fertilizers may be found at your local plant nursery and mixed into the soil. Their formulations are intended to aid in the healthy growth of freshly planted grass. - Step 5- Plant seed or sod
Seed: If you aren’t using sod to revive the dead sections of the lawn, it’s time to sow grass seed after evaluating the soil and providing the required fertilizer. If you’re seeding a patchy lawn, you can lower the required amount of fresh seed by the proportion of healthy lawn that’s still growing. Spread the grass seed uniformly across the prepared area, ensuring that the seed is in touch with the soil. Apply a thin layer of dirt over the grass seed once you’ve put the proper amount of grass seed.
Sod: If you’re laying down sod to revive a brown lawn, you can use whole sod pieces to fill up big areas. However, if you’re repairing an area, you may use sprigs or plugs to fill up the gaps. When putting sod, make sure the pieces are tightly pressed together and that the root portion is in strong contact with the soil. If using sprigs or plugs to fix the region, use a hand trowel to dig deep into the soil to enclose the root portion, then compact the dirt around it. - Step 6- Roll the area
It’s crucial to roll the area after you’ve planted grass seeds or sod, regardless of whether you used grass seeds or sod. Rolling assists with the development by ensuring excellent sod-to-soil contact. Lawn rollers are available for rent at several home equipment rental businesses. - Step 7 – Grass maintenance
Turn on the sprinklers in the surrounding area after seeding and rolling to keep the soil wet but not waterlogged as the new lawn establishes itself. For the following two to three weeks, you’ll need to water the growing grass every day. For the first week or two, you may need to water multiple times each day. Reduce the frequency of watering while gradually increasing the amount of water supplied. Deep watering is preferable to light watering because it allows the grass to establish deeper roots.
By tugging on the sod, you can detect if the roots have begun to connect themselves to the earth. If the sod continues to pull up, the roots have not yet established themselves in the soil. The roots have taken hold in the earth if you can’t pull the sod up.
– Reduce the amount of foot traffic in the region.
– Avoid causing ruts in the lawn or damaging the growing grass by using lawn or heavy equipment across the area.
– Avoid mowing the lawn too soon.
How to Avoid Dead Grass in the Future
To keep the grass that is a few inches long, mow once or twice a week.
Throughout the fall, fertilize every couple of weeks. Fertilize your grass once during the spring and once in the fall in the first year.
Every couple of years, aerate and dethatch the soil to allow it to breathe.
Dogs should not be allowed in the yard. Some dogs have acidic urine, which causes grass to die. After your pets have relieved themselves, dilute the area with water if you have no other option.
FAQs:
Watering your grass isn’t an exact science, but you mustn’t overwater or underwater it. Underwatering causes dormant grass while overwatering can flood the yard, having a negative effect by reducing soil oxygen supply. Water your grass every other day, either early in the morning or after dinner. Because the mornings are usually colder, the water can be absorbed before it dries in the sunlight. Watering in the early evening ensures that your grass receives some sunshine while also allowing it to dry before it becomes fully dark. In terms of amount, rain or manual watering should provide your grass with roughly an inch of water each week. Stick a knife or other instrument into the soil to test the moisture level, and if it is wet 6-8 inches deep, your grass is appropriately watered.
Patches of dead or dormant grass in the otherwise healthy lawn indicate that something other than the weather is preventing it from growing. In rare circumstances, a sprinkler head may be damaged, preventing the area from being adequately watered. It might also be infested with pests that are wreaking havoc on the soil and vegetation, necessitating treatment. Finally, it might be the consequence of overfertilizing a specific region or overuse of weed killer, both of which can harm the grass.
Many chemical fertilizers are acceptable to use on your lawn as long as children and animals are kept away from it until it has been absorbed.
The fertilizer may be blown by the wind, and if consumed in high numbers, it can be hazardous. It should be completely safe to walk or play on once it has been absorbed into the soil naturally or with the aid of irrigation. Just make sure you don’t fertilize too much or you’ll wind up doing more damage than good!
At Sodding Canada, we are experts at bringing back dead and dry grass back to life or even completely installing a new one. We are professional’s in this industry and can help your lawn looking fresh and lush immediately. Contact us for a great and healthy looking lawn for your home or place of work!