My Lawn Needs Some Advice...

miden851

miden851

Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
4,959
Location
GA
...from you people!

Big HELLO the BITOG Community!

As we turn into Spring and Summer season and after the Winter hibernation, my bermuda showed up these spots; I have a theory what is it and where is coming from but I want to hear your opinion as well

We currently have/had a lawn maintenance local company that does fertilizer and weed control; We hired them just last year and my bermuda has never experienced condition as is before; I called them yesterday and showed them images and they were upselling immediately other services, saying its a fungus. Naturally, I let their services down

I plan to work some magics :D hopefully over the weekend but first I was wondering what would some of you suggest doing it in the situation by looking at the images

Thank y'all for the valuable input!

IMG_1756.webp


IMG_1759.webp
IMG_1760.webp
IMG_1764.webp
 
Could be a lot of things.

How long has the rest of the lawn been greened up?

What does an individual blade of grass look like - are they completely dead, or only brown on the outer edges

what does the ground on the dead patches feel like? Is its soft or spongy, or hard as a rock?

Did your service fertilize in the fall or already this spring, or do some other treatment?

You been watering it regularly?

Seems pretty early in the year for a fungus but it could be. Possibly they scorched it in the fall applying something, or its too dry?
 
I had spots like that one time that I treated for grubs. They just kept getting worse, so I called a lawn guy. He came out and within two minutes showed me the problem. It was a tiny little insect, who's name I don't remember and had never heard of, that you could see hundreds of when he pulled a hand full of sod and shook it over a piece of white paper. He treated them and the problem went away.
 
wwillson said:
That's what was killing my grass.
Click to expand...
I would think chinch bugs too

The OP doesn’t say where he lives, but I think it’s too early for grubs to do that type of damage. Plus the circular pattern would align more with chinch bugs
Either way if he looks up to check online, it’s a pretty simple procedure and insecticides are readily available

I don’t think I would be able to completely rule out fungus but it’s easier to check for the bugs first

Bermuda grass is prone to issues, I got tired of all the chemicals.
My last house I simply bought zoysia plugs and generally spaced them maybe a pattern of 5 feet apart and over period of three years or maybe four it completely overtook the Bermuda grass and ended up with a gorgeous zoysia grass lawn that everybody in the community commented about.

I bought the trays of 3 in.² plugs from a place in Florida and had them shipped to my house.

This used to be Bermuda grass lawn completely taken over by the zoysia plugs that I put in.
Photo was taken, in the scorching hot middle of a South Carolina summer
IMG_7721.webp
 
Last edited:
SC Maintenance said:
Could be a lot of things.

How long has the rest of the lawn been greened up?

What does an individual blade of grass look like - are they completely dead, or only brown on the outer edges

what does the ground on the dead patches feel like? Is its soft or spongy, or hard as a rock?

Did your service fertilize in the fall or already this spring, or do some other treatment?

You been watering it regularly?

Seems pretty early in the year for a fungus but it could be. Possibly they scorched it in the fall applying something, or its too dry?
Click to expand...
Lawn company told me via images I supplied its a fungus; my neighbor to the right, i've noticed few very same spots just like on mine, while neighbor to my left have no issues just yet

i'm located in SE, specifically North Georgia and we had a ton of rain this year. Fungus grows in hot, muggy areas such as mine here

Lawn company we hired last year and after very first application i've seen no improvement but about three mild scorched spots that later on turned out for worse, adding of course many more to this year. You barley can see a problem while bermuda hibernates over Winter. They treated my lawn 8 times, every 6 weeks treated for something that fits their schedule and diagnostics. They use a truck that has a tank with the solution on it and with the extended hose, they spray it evenly pretty much; Then, another guy uses a pump on his back as he sprays certain areas individually and this is where the problem shows up in my opinion. He focuses on a few spots and oversprays it to the point of damaging the bermuda roots in my opinion

luckily, bermuda is very forgiving and i plan to move my lawn this weekend, maybe apply a 10-10-10 to my whole yard, then use some enriched humus soil and place it on all damaged spots so that bermuda can penetrate added soil
 
alarmguy said:
I would think chinch bugs too

The OP doesn’t say where he lives, but I think it’s too early for grubs to do that type of damage. Plus the circular pattern would align more with chinch bugs
Either way if he looks up to check online, it’s a pretty simple procedure and insecticides are readily available

I don’t think I would be able to completely rule out fungus but it’s easier to check for the bugs first

Bermuda grass is prone to issues, I got tired of all the chemicals.
My last house I simply bought zoysia plugs and generally spaced them maybe a pattern of 5 feet apart and over period of three years or maybe four it completely overtook the Bermuda grass and ended up with a gorgeous zoysia grass lawn that everybody in the community commented about.

I bought the trays of 3 in.² plugs from a place in Florida and had them shipped to my house.

This used to be Bermuda grass lawn completely taken over by the zoysia plugs that I put in.
Photo was taken, in the scorching hot middle of a South Carolina summer
View attachment 218605
Click to expand...


Thinking the same as well.
 
miden851 said:
Lawn company told me via images I supplied its a fungus; my neighbor to the right, i've noticed few very same spots just like on mine, while neighbor to my left have no issues just yet

i'm located in SE, specifically North Georgia and we had a ton of rain this year. Fungus grows in hot, muggy areas such as mine here

Lawn company we hired last year and after very first application i've seen no improvement but about three mild scorched spots that later on turned out for worse, adding of course many more to this year. You barley can see a problem while bermuda hibernates over Winter. They treated my lawn 8 times, every 6 weeks treated for something that fits their schedule and diagnostics. They use a truck that has a tank with the solution on it and with the extended hose, they spray it evenly pretty much; Then, another guy uses a pump on his back as he sprays certain areas individually and this is where the problem shows up in my opinion. He focuses on a few spots and oversprays it to the point of damaging the bermuda roots in my opinion

luckily, bermuda is very forgiving and i plan to move my lawn this weekend, maybe apply a 10-10-10 to my whole yard, then use some enriched humus soil and place it on all damaged spots so that bermuda can penetrate added soil
Click to expand...
Could be fungus, but it hasn't been all that hot and muggy in N. Georgia yet - relatively speaking. I live near Charleston - so I understand hot and muggy. Fungus often leaves traces of green in the blade instead of completely killing it where yours looks dead?

Could be over water as well?

We grow Centipede here - in some ways similar to Bermuda. There both essentially weeds and don't tolerate a lot of herbicides very well, so I wonder if they oversprayed something?

Getting help from your local extension might be worth the effort.
 
SC Maintenance said:
Could be fungus, but it hasn't been all that hot and muggy in N. Georgia yet - relatively speaking. I live near Charleston - so I understand hot and muggy. Fungus often leaves traces of green in the blade instead of completely killing it where yours looks dead?

Could be over water as well?

We grow Centipede here - in some ways similar to Bermuda. There both essentially weeds and don't tolerate a lot of herbicides very well, so I wonder if they oversprayed something?

Getting help from your local extension might be worth the effort.
Click to expand...
I could be wrong by looking at the opinions of others here, but I think they overly focused and over sprayed on several spots, that's where I stand; I need help from the lawn care company for 90% of lawn maintenance, just leave 10% for me, I am OK with that
 
Dig a few inches down in a affected area, see what you expose. Grubs are usually just a inch or 2 below the surface. I had that problem and was stunned to find several/many in a affected area.
 
Maybe start with some general maintenance looks like it could use detaching, core aeration and then a good healthy fertilizer. Make the healthy grass grow into the dead spots.
 
Chinch bugs - which makes me think of Carl Spackler, Assistant Greenskeeper at Bushwood Country Club.

If you know, you know…

Wait, found it on YouTube



“you know, chinch bugs, and, you know, Manganese…”
 
Last edited:
I would say either grubs or thatch buildup. Either way treat it with a grub and insect killer and get one of those electric thatchers that are like a power rake and rake it down to the dirt. Reseed and you are good to go.
 
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