March 8, 2021

How To Save Your Lawn From Dead And Dormant Spots

Luscious green grass makes a beautiful addition to your home. However, sometimes being a proud lawn owner can be a little stressful. This is particularly true when brown spots seemingly appear overnight.

These patches suggest that your turf is either dead and, therefore, not coming back, or perhaps dormant, a natural protection mechanism to withstand extreme weather changes. 

Differentiating between dead and inactive patches can be hard work. So, with this in mind, here are four easy ways to understand and improve what is happening with your yard. 

Four tips for lawn maintenance 

Achieving a perfectly manicured and vibrant yard can seem like hard work. Throw in the fact that greenery might die or become dormant at any time and can create a lot of green waste, this just makes it seem downright stressful. However, with these four easy tips, enjoying your garden has never been easier. 

1. Pull out the grass 

This may seem counterintuitive. However, this simple action can tell you a whole lot. By pulling out a small handful with little to no resistance, you know that the greenery has unfortunately died.

This can be fixed by taking steps to regrow the area. You can replace the fallen lawn by seeding, sodding, or installing a new type of landscaping material such as mulch, rocks, or groundcover. 

To seed, start by mowing the space shorter than usual so the seeds can reach the ground better. A helpful trick is to add soil amendments to give the seeds a healthy environment to grow in. 

When sodding, you’ll need to remove the fallen grass and prep the soil before laying the new sod. It’s important to note that both processes require constant water and feed so that the new turf may enjoy healthy growth. 

2. Check for patterns

When distinguishing perished from inactive grass, it’s essential to look for patterns. Is the entire surface area discoloured, or are there distinct patches?

If the whole space is the same brown colour, the greenery is most likely lying dormant to protect itself from the effects of scorching summers or cold winters.

However, if there are circles of brown land only here and there, it’s more likely that the spots indicate death. Before replanting, make sure that pests and diseases haven’t taken over.

By thoroughly checking the garden, you can ensure that external forces or pets aren’t at work. This will save newly laid lawns from suffering the same fate as their predecessors.

3. Note the weather conditions 

The temperature and weather conditions will greatly impact the appearance of lawns. For example, cool-season grasses will rest during prolonged periods of heat. Meanwhile, warm-season grasses will rest during the winter months. 

The turf is still alive and will become green when the correct temperature returns. For those looking to enjoy green grassland year-round, regardless of temperature, consider planting a mixture of cool and warm-season grasses. 

4. Implement a watering schedule 

Dry conditions and heat stress can cause issues to many types of grassland, causing them to appear inactive. However, this can lead to perished grassland if the proper steps aren’t taken. Making it hard to tell if the lawn is still alive. 

Following a consistent watering schedule, you can better understand the difference between the two states. Watering will help ‘sleeping’ grasses thrive and enjoy a vibrant colour. Alternatively, watering won’t be able to save the brown patches. 

Luscious lawns, year-round

Gardens are something to be proud of. Many people go to great lengths to care for their front yards and backyards. Sometimes though, garden maintenance can be a little tricky. 

Instead of playing a guessing game and over watering or over fertilising certain sections, follow the above four simple steps to see if the yard has perished or is simply going through a period of inactivity as a self-defence mechanism.

Being able to tell the difference between the two and thus going through the right treatment program will save you time and money and ultimately result in healthy, luscious lawns year-round. 

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