lawn burnt from the sun
 

I am a first time home buyer and everything is new to me especially the lawn care. NEW JERSEY HOME... When I first moved in (feb 09) the grass was nice and full and green. It has been great till about middle of july. In june we had rain 20 days out of the month which was nice for my lawn. and then I started watering it with my sprinkler system at 18 min per zone. I started getting brown spots and i though it was fungus from all the rain and the soggyness specially the humidity. It wasnt grubs. I spread down some fungus control. and now we are 3 weeks after the fungus spreading and every time i cut the grass you can really notice the brown spots even more and im not cutting it short at all. cutting it on setting number 5 which i believe is 3 inches high.

I was thinking about getting a rain gauge and seeing how much water my lawn is getting when i water it, I heard 1 inch of water per week is good. Maybe my 18 min per zone isnt enough. maybe watering it at 5 am isn't good also. like i said im new and i would like to get some info on how to get my burn spots better. If i would guess i would have to say go heavy on the watering. please help. thanks!

Fabian

There are many things that can cause brown spots on your lawn. Your mower could be leaking gas or oil, female dog urine burns grass, over watering, over fertilizing, etc. Unless it is freshly laid sod you shouldn't water your grass at least not very frequently as this encourages the root system to stay shallow.

Its not my mower leaking. Its new and I just checked it. over watering i dont think so because i feel like it isnt getting watered enough, in june it was over watered and it was fine, now its dry all the time and aug its brown. over fertilizing no, because i haven't added any fertilizer since april (just fungus now in july). i have no pets and my nearest neighboor is about 4 blocks away. so i dont think its dogs either, i believe it would be the sun but not sure, we did have 3 weeks of like almost 90 degrees here and humidity also

You got me then, hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you.

Do you have any pictures?
My grass has turned somewhat brown too
There is a type of grass that does turn brown in the late summer (thru winter?)

I never water my lawn, only when planting grass seed
I've been here almost 6 years now

And now it is August. You obviously have a cool season lawn. Do you happen to know what it is? Fescue, bluegrass? You had 20 days of rain in June. How about in July?

How about chinch bugs or army worms? How did you decide it was a fungus? You may have been correct but your post suggests that you were just taking a guess.

How were you getting soggyness at 18 minutes of watering? Were you doing this every day? By the way, there is nothing wrong with watering at 5:00 am. What you want to avoid is the lawn being wet for extended periods.

I would water very well one time just in case it is actually too dry at the roots. Then let it dry out thoroughly. If you have a fungus, one more watering is not likely to cause much more damage. Most fungi will disappear when the area dries up.

I'm in Jersey too, and I feel your pain. This summer my lawn stayed green and lush longer than it ever has. This I attribute to the unusual amount of rain we had in June. But since then it's steadily browned, as it always does later in the summer, especially on the sunny side of the yard. I don't water at all any more -- I used to, to try to fight the browning, but it never had any effect. As has been suggested, it may just be that you have a cool-season variety and there's not much you'll be able to do about it. That's the conclusion I've reached about my own lawn, FWIW. Hopefully yours will green up again in the fall, as mine does.

Do you bag your clipping or mulch? I cut my lawn on the highest setting, and mulch the clippings. I don't water at all, ever ( we have a well that is underproducing) and my lawn stays much greener than most of my neighbors, who all bag their clippings

What about your water?? Is it possible there is something in your water?? Is it softened water??

My first thought too. My neighbor has a fescue lawn that dies every summer when mine is green, and his is beautiful and lush while mine is brown. Once cooler weather returns, your lawn will probably return to its former glory. (btw, watering a lawn during its off season encourages weeds imho)

Your point?