Round brown spots on grass blade

13 years ago

My grass has been dying a slow death over the last few years. Every years I do something I think will help only to watch the grass a little weaker the next year. The most immediate problem is a widespread browning. Upon closer inspection, there are tiny round brown spots. Some blade tips are brown and others are green.

I tried searching for "mold" and "brown spots" in this forum but many lack pictures for me to identify. What do I have?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:120352}}

Comments (6)

madymo3d
Original Author
13 years ago
{{gwi:120352}}
madymo3d
Original Author
13 years ago
Okay I did more searching on google and here. I think it's rust. 3 years in this house, this is the first time I've seen rust. I'm not big on lawns so I tend to neglect them and let nature take its course. I fertilize irregularly, water irregularly, and cut irregularly. I do follow a few rules like not cutting too short and mulch cut. This year I went around with Round Up spot treating weeds. Inevitably, small areas of grass around the weed also got affected. With lots of weeds, my lawn turned into patches of dead brown grass. Overall I just ended up with a weak lawn.
Alph
13 years ago
If nothing, you have to fertilize, i think rain will provide enough water for sustaining the lawn.

I was watering my lawn 3x a week and ran up close to $600 in water bill and my lawn was turning brown with dollar spots already visible. I quickly bought 10-10-10 fertilizer and then a high nitrogen fertilizer 2 weeks later. Lucky that I caught it in early september when lawn was growing and it has recovered for the most part.
madymo3d
Original Author
13 years ago
Okay, I was afraid it's too late to fertilize so I was planning on dormant seeding later this year, put down starter fertilizer with pre-emergent, then worry about it next spring. But you think I should go ahead and fertilize, keep watering and get it healthy before first frost? Temp swing has been wild lately. 65 one week then 45 the next.

The water bill is one reason I'm not big on lawn care. I have better places to spend $600 than to put spread it on the ground and cut it down...
kevingalaxy
13 years ago
Hey i had the same thing during the summer. It is rust and i had it on the front and back lawns. I added scotts turfbuilder because i knew i hadnt fertilized in a while and it worked great, the rust disappeared and the grass started to grow a nice thick green. i didnt do anythign else. I would add soem fertilizer and just let the grass grow for the remaining weeks before the cold kicks in. you can also dormant seed just before the first snow fall. By next spring it should be ok. Good luck.
dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
Seems to me rust is one of the ugly-but-harmless diseases. If that is what I'm thinking of you could spray it with soapy water and be done with it.