1/2 of my lawn is dying

[Greenhousesalsa]

Hi:
We live in the White Mountains of Arizona. 7000ft altitude.
We have been fighting with our lawn since we put it in 2006.Finally got a good start with 45 bags of Amend and a fence to keep out bunnies!
Starting a little last year, we noticed a circlular brown out on the east and west ends. Our Orkin guy said it looked like grub worms. I tested for them by digging up patches. None to be found. Treated it anyway.
This year, the brown out has extended the full length of the yard. No amount of water helped, although we did see a slight improvement during our short-lived rainy season.
Now....here is our idea....the brown out is a straight line, running right along the leach lines from our septic tank. The leach line is 4-5 feet below. The grass on the downhill side of the leach line is what is browning out...could what is leaching out of these lines (ick) be making our grass brown out and die?
We talked to a landscaper who told us to aerate, mulch and replant. We did, and the new grass in those areas did the same thing.
Any ideas how to fix, or just kill out the grass and put in rock or something?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are baffled.

[gumbo2176]

You've sure made a case for what is leaching out of the lines from your septic tank being the culprit. Do you use any chemicals in your septic tank to help with the breakdown of waste material? If so, maybe that could be causing the problem, but you sure don't want a stopped up septic system either.

Never having to deal with a septic system, I really have no clue, but I do find the problem you are having interesting and something I'd like to know more about. The wife and I want to move out of our city home into a more rural environment in a couple more years and a septic system will be in our future in all likelihood.

[Greenhousesalsa]

No chemicals. Plumber told us not to use when we moved in, so never have.
Not sure if it is the culprit or not, but sure seems odd that the die out or brown out is a straight line right through the middle of the lawn, where the leach lines would be.
Good luck on your move to the country, when you do it. We made the move from the Phoenix area 16 years ago and never looked back. 115 degree summer temps, vs 85,was a no-brained!

[gumbo2176]

No chemicals. Plumber told us not to use when we moved in, so never have.
Not sure if it is the culprit or not, but sure seems odd that the die out or brown out is a straight line right through the middle of the lawn, where the leach lines would be.
Good luck on your move to the country, when you do it. We made the move from the Phoenix area 16 years ago and never looked back. 115 degree summer temps, vs 85,was a no-brained!

The wife and I are looking into buying her late father's property outright from her siblings who really have no interest in it. The property is 2 tracts of land, one almost 7 acres and the other 10 acres, but they are not attached to each other even though they are only a couple hundred feet apart.

There is a septic system already on the smaller of the two properties, along with 2 houses that are more like camps and about a 450 sq. ft. building that acted as a workshop that her dad used. Unfortunately, the 2 houses have been boarded up for years and time has taken its toll on them between roof leaks, rodents and being closed up in our hot and humid climate in Louisiana with mold growth starting to get a foothold when I opened them up earlier this year.

Ideally, I'd like to get one of the 2 houses in livable shape and build a new house on the property for us to live in----but we are keeping our options open and may just sell the house we're in and buy a move-in ready house with some acreage and not have the job of building a home. A lot of that will largely depend on how I hold up until she can retire. I'm going to be 65 in another month and am in good health and very active physically, but that can change pretty quickly as we age.