Last year, around August, several largish patches of my front yard turned brown and died. By largish, I mean roughly the size of a bathroom to small bedroom. I didn’t think much of it, because we were going through a hot dry spell, and I assumed that was the cause.
This spring, when the snow melted, I was left with big patches of bare dirt, and spent a fair amount of time reseeding and watering it all. New grass popped up in due course, and it looked fine. Yay! Problem solved.
Except here we are around the same time of year, and the exact same patches are dying again. The boundaries of the patches are identical. This year it’s been cool and wet, so I don’t think it’s the weather. A friend suggested it might be some kind of beetle larva, so I put down some pesticide a couple of weeks ago on one patch, but so far I’m not seeing any difference between the treated and untreated patches.
Any suggestions? I’m in Vermont, which is probably relevant.
My purely uneducated guess is Japanese beetle larva. I’ve had a similar problem off and on. Much smaller plots than you describe though.
Someone suggested Milky spore. Didn’t do much that I could see so I’ve been using the commercial grub killer. It’s one of those things that may be working but how would I know? I only think about the problem when the brown spots appear.
We do have a septic tank in the front, but it’s not under the dead spots. In fact, the grass over the septic field is extra lush. It grows about twice as fast as the rest of the lawn.
Well, sounds like you don’t have a problem from that direction then! Everything working as intended
Install a drain pipe out to the dead spots to share the love? Nah, I’m just kidding. Hope you figure it out - I don’t have anything else to offer as that was the extent of my experience.
