Quote:
Originally Posted by bosstones
Yeah, that's sod webworm. I had that in a few areas in the front last fall. The white-ish moths that 'jump' up when the grass is disturbed and the patches of brown, dead grass (from the larvae eating the roots) are tell tale signs.
It's kinda sad that despite all the yard care research...you don't necessarily learn about these things until you've experienced it firsthand and have to fix it. lol
I'm thinking of ditching our lawn care company and taking full control now. After raking the back yard (almost 22k sq ft), I don't think the areas will fill in like they say they will w/o intervention. In the many bare spots, I don't see signs of new growth.  They also want to put 30-0-4 fert down but I think the grass is still in a root dev phase coming out of dormancy. I don't care as much for the lush green right now as I do the grass doing it's natural 'thang' (which is rooting at this time of year). |
I remember the first time I saw moths flying out of the grass I was like "wtf is that?" but yes the worms they leave behind is what starts to eat away at the roots of the grass causing those brown patches.
DITCH the lawn care service and DIY! you'll save money and it's not that hard to do. to me all they really do is band aid the situation just to get you thinking they know what they're doing. that 30-0-4 is crazy high nitrogen and yeah that will get the grass to grow crazy but not really fix the problem. that's why most Lawn Youtubers will preach about not pushing too much nitrogen early spring as you want the grass to develop good root depth before top. have you looked into the NEXT Products? I use RGS and Humic12. really good stuff! as far as the bare spots depending on the grass you have some grasses don't fill in bare spots as many grasses don't have I think they're called rhizomes? so you're better off just buying some grass seeds that match what you have already and overseed that area with some good soil to seed contact. but you will have to keep watering them for whatever germination period for those seed types.