# What's wrong with my lawn? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791 "2013-09-13T19:45:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/1 "2013-09-13T19:45:09Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/2 "2013-09-13T19:47:02Z")
> [@](#): > > **What’s wrong with my lawn?** You forgot to have it paved over with green-tinted asphalt. Sorry, couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/3 "2013-09-13T20:09:11Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/4 "2013-09-13T20:13:40Z")
When was the last time you aerated the soil? Given that it’s in the same location, that makes me think it’s a problem with the soil, not the grass. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/5 "2013-09-13T20:24:29Z")
Do you have any underground tanks in the yard? Septic tank, oil tank? My father’s grass died in this way when he had some trouble with the septic tank in the backyard. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/6 "2013-09-13T20:49:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/7 "2013-09-13T20:59:41Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/8 "2013-09-13T21:02:09Z")
I don’t know your area or grass type but Brown Patch tends to reappear in the exact same place year after year. What kind of grass is it? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-lawn/668791/9 "2013-09-13T23:23:07Z")
Uhh…green? When it’s not brown, that is.