Fliparagon
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 12:14 pm

Brown spots in St. Augustine

Hi all,

We need help with our lawn!

Late last year (November), we had St. Augustine sod planted. We followed our landscaper's instructions with initial care (I.e., frequent and long watering, minimal foot traffic, etc.) for the first month. After the initial care, the lawn was fine up until a month ago when brown spots began appearing. At first, they were small and in isolated areas of the lawn. But after they began growing and spreading, we brought a sample and photos to our local nursery for advice. They suspected a fungus infection and advised us to cut back watering to twice a week for twenty minutes and to apply a fungicide. That was a month ago. The brown spots are still spreading and we're concerned that our grass is dying.

Additional environmental background:

We're in Southern California about 20 minutes from the coast. Temperatures are moderate.

Any assistance, suggestions or help would be appreciated.
Attachments
IMG_4025.jpeg
IMG_4024.jpeg
IMG_4023.jpeg

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It does not look typically like a fungal problem. Fairy rings are the ones I am most used to and they are more circular and spread in an outward pattern.

Your ground does not look even. The blades look to be different heights. Are you scalping?
You should set your mower blade so that it does not cut off more than 1/3 of the blade at a time and you should mow in two directions. And the wheel should overlap the previous row so you don't have a strip of uncut grass.

Make sure the lawn mower is serviced annually and the blades are sharp.

If the lawn is uneven, you can top dress and fill in the low spots or cut the very high ones. You will have to be careful not to change the slope of the lawn. You still want it to slope away from the foundation and the swale needs to be maintained.



Return to “Lawn Care”