What's Wrong With My Lawn?

Written By Andrew Kenley

A Homeowner's Diagnostic Guide

You might find it surprising coming from a company that sells treatments, but most lawn problems have nothing to do with treatments. Growing a healthy lawn starts with proper watering, mowing, thatch management, and shade mitigation.

The good news is that all four are within your control, and none of them require a product. However, you will need to physically inspect your lawn, as appearances can be deceiving.

The instinct to reach for something new to spray or spread is understandable, but even when issues are diagnosed correctly, treatments often address only symptoms, while the real cause is much simpler.

Start with Four Questions

  • Is there a distinct shape or pattern? Is the damage showing up as circles, arches, irregular blobs, straight lines, or no clear edge at all?

    Shape rules out more causes than almost anything else.

    • Circles and arches point to diseases such as Fairy Ring or Large Patch.

    • Straight lines point toward mowing equipment, foot traffic, chemical burn, or an object left on the lawn.

    • A wedge, crescent, pie-shaped section, or sharply defined corner often points toward irrigation coverage rather.

      • Run the irrigation zone and actually watch every sprinkler.

      • For an even better test, place several straight-sided containers throughout the zone and run it for the duration. Compare the amount of water collected in each container.

        You may be surprised how different the results are.

    • Drought is easily diagnosed through touch. Whether it is a lack of coverage, frequency, or volume, your soil holds the answer.

      • Use a shovel or any soil probe to expose and observe the soil's condition at a depth of 3-4 inches. If it crumbles, feels warm or dusty, it needs more water.

      • Remember, brown leaf tissue will not turn green again. Once leaf tissue dies, no amount of water will save it.

    • Overwatering is just as easy to identify. If the soil feels muddy and saturated days after a rain or between irrigation cycles, too much water could be the problem.

    • You can test for grub damage by grabbing a handful of grass and pulling steadily.

      • If it lifts free with almost no resistance, the problem is at the roots or crown (think grubs or root rot), not the fungus.

    • During Summer, from July to September, 90% of lawn issues are due to insufficient watering.

      • The remaining 10% are almost always due to poor mowing habits or shade.

    • During Spring and Fall, from March to May and from October to November, it is slightly more complicated.

      • 35% of lawn issues are due to OVERwatering or disease.

      • 25% are due to excessive thatch and improper mowing.

      • 25% are due to residual winter damage.

      • 15% are due to pests

    • During dormancy, from December to February, 90% of lawn damage is caused by unaddressed drainage issues, such as water pooling and foot traffic on wet grass.

      • The remaining 10% is caused by winter itself via snow/ice.

  • A helpful way to monitor spread is to take weekly photos of the issues from the same angle for comparison.

    • An advancing edge indicates that something is still happening.

    • A static edge with green creeping in from the sides usually means the damage already happened and you're watching recovery, not decline.

      • Remember, grass recovers slowly and will only show significant improvements during peak season from June to August. Outside of those months, recovery moves at a snail’s pace.

The 3 Pillars of Success

These three things are the foundation on which we can build amazing results. However, failing to properly address any of these pillars will, at best, undermine results.

We’ve seen too many homeowners waste time and money on the wrong treatments, chasing symptoms and improper diagnoses, only to watch their lawn continue to decline.

  • Water is the #1 factor for plant health, and it is not even close. Too much and roots rot and disease runs rampant. Too little, and nutrients become useless, microbial life dies off, and the soil becomes inhospitable to plant life. 

  • Mowing habits and thatch buildup go hand in hand, and together they're behind far more "my lawn isn't doing well" situations than any pest or disease. 

    Signs of Mowing Troubles: 

    • Parallel lines or ruts repeating along your usual mowing path. 

      • Mowing equipment can cause compaction and unwanted stress. 

      • Change directions every time you mow using “Around the Clock Mowing.” 12 to 6, 2 to 8, 4 to 10, etc.

      • Riding mowers should NEVER be used on areas that are too small to allow directional changes. A rule of thumb: areas 4,000 sq. ft. or less = NO RIDERS

    • Grass blades with ragged, shredded, whitish tips indicate the mower blade is dull, exacerbating even the slightest signs of disease and drought.

      • Sharpen blades every 12 to 15 mows

      • NEVER use a line trimmer to “mow” unless absolutely necessary. Line trimmers only tear the grass, so minimizing their use is highly recommended.

      • Mowing when the grass is wet, even from morning dew, can cause even the sharpest blades to tear the grass. The same is true for drought-stressed grass.

    • Scalped, brown patches or discolored patterns right after a mow are usually signs you aren’t mowing often enough. 

      • If you mow weekly, without fail, you might need to raise your mower deck or do some leveling with sand to keep your mower from scalping uneven terrain.

      • Bermuda: 2.5 to 3 inches 

      • Zoysia: 2.5 to 4 inches

      • St. Augustine: 4 to 6 inches

    Thatch is the layer of dead material that builds up between the soil and the green canopy. Zoysia tends to develop thatch naturally and requires regular attention. Dethatching well-fertilized Zoysia every couple of years is basically mandatory maintenance. 

    Signs of a Thatch Problem: 

    • Slow Spring Green-Up

    • Disease and Pest issues persist despite treatments.

    • Grass appears matted or laid over after a heavy rain

    Related reading: 

  • ALL warm-season grasses are FULL sun plants with varying degrees of shade tolerance.

    Shade limits how dense your lawn can get, no matter how much food or water you provide.

    Shade can be sneaky. Remember, trees grow; their canopies expand and fill in, resulting in a gradual loss of sun over time. It can happen so slowly that it feels like nothing has changed; meanwhile, your grass has lost an hour of sun over the past 5 years.

    Even if it isn’t shady enough to outright kill the grass, a lack of sun can act as a damage multiplier, making every small stress harder on the plant. Borderline sun conditions weaken plants, making them more susceptible to pests, diseases, drought, foot traffic, and other stresses, and can drastically slow recovery. 

    Sun needs, by grass type: 

    • Bermuda: 6 to 8 hours (dappled light through trees doesn't count) 

    • Zoysia: 4+ hours, tolerates partial shade reasonably well

    • St. Augustine: 4 hours; the most shade-tolerant warm-season option, though still not a true shade grass 

    Related reading: 

Advanced Diagnostics

Pests, disease, and fertility issues are less common but can do real harm. If you’ve checked all the boxes and properly addressed the 3 pillars of success, we recommend consulting a professional with a strong reputation for diagnostics.

There are hundreds of confounding variables and nuances that can lead to misdiagnoses, resulting in wasted time and money on the wrong treatments and continued decline.

At Natural State Horticare, we pride ourselves on our diagnostic expertise. We are not the typical treatment company. We are here to help provide horticultural assistance from A-Z, even when the solutions don’t pad the bottom line.

Andrew Kenley
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