What causes brown patches/spots in my lawn?

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There are a number of diseases and other issues that could cause brown patches to appear in your lawn or whole areas of grass to turn brown. Diseases often require fungicide for treatment, but proper lawn care via appropriate watering, fertilizing, and dethatching can go a long way in prevention and improving the health of your lawn. Click on the links below to explore different issues you could be experiencing:

• Drought or dryness. Ensure proper watering practices, as watering too rarely or too frequently could affect the health of your grass.
• Excessive thatch. If your lawn thatch is 1 inch deep or more, you might consider dethatching.
• Brown patch, a fungal disease. These patches can be several feet large.
• Fusarium patch, a fungal disease. These brown patches are usually less than 8 inches big, but patches can connect to cover larger areas. Often they are pinkish or reddish. 
• Dollar spot, a fungal disease. These brown spots tend to be the smallest, the size of a silver dollar.
• Necrotic ring spot, a fungal disease. These light green, yellow, or brown patches tend to have fairly healthy grass at the center.
• Fairy rings, a fungal disease. Fairy rings are famous for being circles of mushrooms that pop up in your yard, but some versions instead manifest as a large circle (or semicircle) of brown grass. They can be up to 15 feet across, or even larger in some cases.
• Improper soil nutrition. Adding too much or too little fertilizer can leave your lawn in poor health and more susceptible to fungal diseases. Get your annual soil test and follow SoilKit's recommendations to stay on track!

Click here to read the full blog post on this topic.