Are you observing worrisome indicators in your lawn? If you’re detecting signs of compromised grass, it’s important to conduct a comprehensive lawn inspection and address the issue proactively before it gets worse.
Problems like suspicious holes and patchy growth are actually pretty common amongst lawns. The good news is that these problems are manageable and preventable using a few handy tips and tricks.
In this blog, we will explore the twelve most common problems that lawns experience. We will also highlight how to spot the root cause and manage these problems. Read on!
12 Most Common Lawn Problems and Their Solution
Listed below are the twelve most common lawn problems that need more than just weed and feed to resolve. Keep a look out for the following sigs and symptoms to fix the problems as soon as they arise.
- Patchy Slopes
It is important to understand that grasses cannot grow on a slope. One of the reasons is that slopes create problems for the grasses to root properly. If you have inclined areas in your landscaping in Oakville, keep the following points in mind to ensure the grass is able to grow on inclines:
- Ensure that the grass you get is well suited for the weather conditions and type of soil. This will ensure that it stays healthy.
- Creating steps in the incline will help prevent runoff and soil erosion, helping the grass to take root properly.
- Uneven Growth
Uneven growth of grass occurs when there are shady spots in your garden and the type of grass you have chosen isn’t very shade tolerant. If this happens, you can take the following steps to help the grass grow fully:
- If the shade is caused by the presence of trees or foliage over the soil, prune it regularly to allow the sunlight to filter through to the grass.
- If the shade is more of a permanent feature of your landscape, you should look for a shade-tolerant grass variety. This will enable it to stay green.
- Weeds
Because of the presence of nutrients and optimal growth conditions, it is easy for weeds to show up in your lawn from time to time. It also happens when the grass isn’t well tended-to, therefore you should build healthy lawn care habits:
- Mow your lawn regularly with a sharp blade.
- Use the right kind of weed and feed for lawns, which is suitable for the season, type of soil, and grass variety.
- Irrigate according to necessity instead of according to schedule. This will help prevent another type of common lawn problem (overwatering).
- Bald Spots
Bald patches or bare patches on your lawn are not just unsightly but also invite weeds and other types of infestations to occur. They may occur due to pressure on that part of the lawn, heavy foot traffic, or other problems. You can take the following steps:
- Dig the bald spot, including several inches of the area around it.
- Till the area lightly to prepare the ground for the next step.
- Add topsoil to the tilled area. You can also use specialized products that help fix bald patches.
- Plant the grass.
- Rusts
Is your lawn looking reddish-brown, maybe yellowish-orange? It could indicate the presence of a disease called rust. This disease leaves a powdery residue on your lawn. Common causes are overwatering, underwatering, or lack of essential nutrients like nitrogen. You can practice good lawn care habits to ensure this problem doesn’t persist:
- Fertilize the grass properly using proper weed & feed.
- Aerate your lawn on an annual basis. This ensures grass health all year round.
- Prevent underwatering or overwatering of your lawn.
- Mow your lawn regularly to prevent the growth of disease-causing parasites on the grass.
- Light Rings
Light rings are also called fairy rings or necrotic rings. This is a circular, ring-shaped patch in your lawn that may be yellowish or lighter in color compared to the grass around it. It could be because of lawn infections. The best way to deal with this common lawn trouble is to follow the steps below:
- Dig up the entire area that the ring covers and a few inches around it.
- Till the soil underneath, and top it up with high-quality topsoil.
- Plant the grass seed in this area.
- Moss
Moss is one of the most common problems that occur in lawns that experience too much shade. Overwatering and under-fertilization may also lead to moss problems in your lawn. You can use the following strategies to deal with moss:
- Decrease the amount of shade on your lawn by pruning the trees regularly.
- Aerate and dethatch your lawn to encourage better circulation of oxygen.
- Avoid overwatering at all costs. Soggy conditions are optimal for moss to grow; therefore, it is crucial to monitor your lawn’s water requirements.
- Thinning
Thinning grass is often an indicator of two key problems:
- The soil isn’t healthy enough to support the growth of the grass. As a result, the grass thins out and slowly disappears.
- You have probably selected the wrong type of grass for the climate, soil type, and lawn use, which is causing it to thin out.
To fix this problem, you need to test the pH and nutrient condition of your soil before proceeding to the plantation. Once you have the readings, soil treatment is in order to replenish the necessary nutrients required for healthy grass growth.
- Holes in The Soil
Have you been noticing holes in the lawn? If you don’t have pets that are allowed to roam free on the lawn, there may be other intruders digging up your lawn. Moles, raccoons, and other diggers could potentially dig up a network of tunnels underneath your grass, making the soil unsuitable to sustain anything. You can take the following measures to prevent this:
- Inspect your lawn every week to check for holes or signs of intruders (anthills, termites, etc.)
- Peel a patch of grass to reveal the soil in the concerned area to look for grubs, worms, or other potential problems.
- Pet Damage
Lawn owners with pets frequently face problems like trampled grass, digging, and dead grass caused by pet urination.
Dogs and cats have urine with high nitrogen content, which is harmful to the grass. It can burn the grass and turn it brown. You can either fence off your lawns to keep pets away or treat your lawn for the damage caused. The method is similar – you need to dig up the affected area and apply high-quality topsoil to it. You can reseed this area and fertilize it to enable grass regrowth.
- Fungus
Fungus is a common lawn problem, but it is extremely difficult to identify because the signs and symptoms do not show up early. You may see unexplained but rapidly growing dead grass spots. The best that you can do at this point is to treat the dead grass rather than work on the cause.
- Sprinkle a suitable fungicide on your lawn and let it take effect.
- Remove the dead grass and reseed the bald patches with a more suitable type of grass.
- Ensure that you don’t overwater your lawn, as it encourages fungal growth.
- Compacted Soil
Compacted soil can suffocate your grass and prevent healthy growth. It commonly happens when there is too much foot traffic on the grass. It may also occur due to snow load. It may lead to the thinning of your turf, a yellowing lawn, and the appearance of weeds.
You can take the following steps to avoid compaction:
- Make sure you aerate your lawn annually to help better circulation of air, water, and nutrients.
- Introduce soil organisms like earthworms that help aerate the soil naturally.
- Reduce the foot traffic on your lawn to allow the grass to recover.
Dependable Lawn: Keep Your Lawn in Top-Notch Condition All Year Round
Lawns are an excellent addition to have in your homes or offices – but they need a little tending to. It is common for lawns to run into some problems like soil compaction or grass thinning once in a while. Adopting best practices to care for your lawn helps you avoid most of the troubles that could damage your lush grass.
Most of the problems that occur on lawns are mostly because of bad fertilization habits, overwatering, or underwatering. Making proper irrigation and lawn preparation schedules is enough to avoid these problems.
Dependable Lawn provides one of the best landscaping Oakville services to ensure your lawn stays problem-free around the year. Using the long years of experience in lawn care in Okaville, Dependable Lawn helps you identify not just the problems in your lawn but also educate you on how to prevent them from happening.
Contact Dependable Lawn today for a consultation!