Battling brown spots in your lawn?

Believe it or not, but pouring more water onto your lawn may not be the best way to keep it green. A little detective work may be needed to make sure your lawn stays healthy, and green, all summer long.

First, more water means shallow roots which weakens the grass (requiring even more water.) Most brown spots are due to misaligned sprinkler heads. For proper coverage, the spray from each sprinkler should reach all the way to the other sprinkler head. Keep in mind, most lawns go dormant and brown during the heat of summer. More water doesn’t help, just cooler weather.

Another tip, keep your mowing height at 2 or 3 inches. Leaving your lawn higher reduces transpiration (evaporation from the plant surfaces). Plus, make sure the mower blades are sharp. Dull blades create rough cuts which will cause grass blades to brown and make them more susceptible to disease.

Finally, grab a handful of the brown grass and give it a steady pull. If the grass is firmly rooted, that points to lawn burn from pet urine. If the whole bunch of grass pulls up, roots and all, you may be dealing with a disease or bug problem.