Depending on the time of year, your lawn can have brown turf grass spots for many reasons. Brown turf grass patches commonly found in the spring could be due to salt damage over the winter months, lack of moisture, seasonal fungus, insect damage or other external circumstances.
In eastern Iowa most lawns consist of bluegrass or fescue turf. Each species of grass may be affected by disease or external circumstances differently due to the physical make up of the plant. For the purposes of this blog we will be referring to bluegrass and fescue grass species in our recommendations.
Some brown turf grass spots will naturally recover and some may require seeding or sodding. The first step in any lawn repair should be to properly identify what exactly caused the damage. Most chemical burns will turn the grass white or light yellow in color. If you try to hand pull a small amount of grass up with your finger tips you will experience some strong resistance. Counter to that if you are experiencing a fungus the grass blades will tend to tear easily. Most chemical damage will kill the entire grass plant. Most fungus will have a partial discoloration of the grass-blade.
Determine why you have brown turf grass spots.
Once you have determined what the cause of the discoloration is, you can now begin to either treat the plant or replace it. It is possible for your lawn to be experiencing more than one problem at a time. Proper identification will minimize wasted time and wasted money. For example you can have urine burn from a dog at the same time you have Necrotic Ring Spot. Some of the damage may be similar in appearance but treatment for urine burn is completely different from that of Necrotic Ring Spot. You are dealing with a fungus versus a burn. Proper examination of the grass blades can help you identify the problem instead of jumping to conclusions.