Not everyone aspires for a Versailles-like garden, but most will take landscaping tips for healthy, green grass. At Hittle Landscaping, we often have questions from Indianapolis home and business owners about brown patches in lawns and green spaces.
In general, when it’s unable to receive water or nutrients from the soil, grass goes brown. Let’s review the usual suspects which cause brown grass.
Landscaping Tips for Brown Grass – Weeds
Unfortunately, most weeds survive a battle of the fittest against your grass. Weeds can be ridiculously hardy and frankly, bullies in your lawn, taking the bulk of hydration and food from the grass.
There are two landscaping tips to control weeds from taking over your lawn. First, hire a professional lawn company to tailor a regular lawn maintenance and treatment plan. Second, you may apply a pre-emergent herbicide before the weeds germinate in spring. It depends on the scale of your property and how you want to spend your time.
Landscaping Tips for Brown Grass – Rogue Sprinklers
If you notice brown patches during heat waves despite appropriate sprinkler use, it could be a misalignment of sprinklers. If you use manual sprinklers, it’s possible they miss some areas.
If you have a sprinkler system, a head could have become damaged or needs adjustment. Most can be easily fixed with a screwdriver.
If you think a sprinkler head is damaged, it may need to replaced or repaired as part of regular irrigation system maintenance.
Landscaping Tips for Brown Grass – Dormancy, Drought and Heat
It’s common for turf grasses to enter a dormant phase during times of low water and high heat. This is natural and typically not a cause for alarm. Most grasses revive once the weather changes and lower temps and precipitation return.
You can sustain most lawns through drought dormancy with half an inch of water every two to three weeks during the drought period. To increase the green, water an inch once each week.
Otherwise, the lawn will green on its own once the weather cools down a bit and it has some good rain. Some golf courses now use gigantic fans to cool the turfgrass and lower the soil temperature.
This method also addresses areas of high humidity where the green suffers from insufficient airflow and pockets where the grass never fully dries.
Landscaping Tips for Brown Grass – Bugs
There are a couple insects generally to blame for brown patches: grubs and chinch bugs. Grubs are the whitish larvae of Japanese Beetles which eat turf roots and damage the grass.
Before the grass turns brown, much like the drought appearance, the grass is weak when tugged. It’s best to eliminate grubs before they turn into adults. They proliferate quickly and the adults easily decimate whole plants in the garden, especially roses and fruit-bearing varieties.
Landscaping tips include the introduction of a bacteria to the soil which causes “milky spore” disease in the grubs.
As the grubs die, their bodies decompose and further spread the bacteria, which helps prevent new generations. Milky spore does not harm pets, birds or “good” insects like ladybugs.
Chinch bugs range in color from orange, brown or black with white markings, depending on life stage. They remove the moisture from lawns like tiny shop vacs. Even worse, they inject a poison into the grass which prevents water movement and hastens the death of the grass. Lawns look wilted before they turn yellow and brown.
Our landscaping tips include thatch removal and steady water intake as a prevention. We discourage most insecticides because of the chemical runoff into our water table and how it affects beneficial bugs and birds.
Concerned About Brown Grass? Call Hittle Landscaping for a Professional Landscape Design
When you use a professional landscape design and architecture company like Hittle Landscaping, we bring more than 40 years of expertise. With thoughtful landscaping, lighting and design we can create something extraordinary for you.
For example, there are grass varieties more resistant to grubs, which are common in Indiana. Call us for a complimentary consultation on a whole property landscape design. We can update your grounds to match your interests and pursuits.
Is less lawn more practical for you? Would you like to replace a section of lawn with an herb or rock garden with a water feature? Perhaps you’d like your own putting green. The sky’s the limit when you engage professionals.
Locally-owned and operated, Hittle Landscaping applies our trademark attention to detail to any challenge. To explore design ideas for your property, call today for a free consultation with a professional landscape designer.
