Onealj3
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 11:34 pm

A lot of bare/dead spots in lawn

We just bought our home in the fall and I have noticed a lot of bare or dead spots. I’ve raked out a lot of the dead stuff/old leafs. I put down some Scott’s starter lawn seed and fertilizer but any other solutions as to how to fix this?
We live in Cincinnati Ohio
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MoonShadows
Senior Member
Posts: 149
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:50 am
Location: Stroudsburg, PA - Zone 6a

Welcome to the forum. Hard to tell from your picture, but I expect you either need to dethatch your lawn or you may have grubs. Try digging into the brown spots to the root area and see if you have grubs, If not, then it probably just needs to be dethatched and reseeded.

Onealj3
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 11:34 pm

Do I need to rent a thatcher? Or can I just use a heavy rake? If it is not a grub problem would you recommend EZ seed?

imafan26
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Posts: 13947
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

You can rent a dethatcher or if the yard is small you can buy a dethatching rake. I would also get an aerator. I use a foot coring aerator, but there are also aerator machines that can aerate a large area. The aerating shoes don't do a very good good job, they are not going that deep and they just poke holes in the soil and does not leave room to add top dresssing or fertilizer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4byQHwCMJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi-gKccD5m4

Where I live we usually plant grass and do not seed. Lawn maintenance requires aerating, dethatching, topdressing and feeding twice a year. It keeps the thatch down and lets the water and nutrients in. Core aerating allows the compost in the top dressing to get into the holes and give the roots somewhere to go. It helps to reduce compaction in a lawn that will be kept for 20 years or more.



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