Bare patches can appear in our lawns for many different reasons. Whatever the cause may be we now want to repair these bare or dead patches in our lawns to bring them back to full health again. In this article I’ll go through a number of reasons why a lawn may have bare patches and then look at possible solutions which may be of help. It would obviously be impossible to cover every possible cause for such conditions, but these are some common causes and solutions.
The lead photo was the very first sign of lawn disease appearing in a large corner block of Sir Walter lawn, soon the entire lawn would be devastated by disease, with large diseased bare patches appearing everywhere and most of the lawn turning a permanent colour of golden yellow. I have many other photos of the same diseased lawns appearing across this website.
Lawn Disease
Lawn disease is a major cause for concern in home lawns and Australia seems to have an abundance of it right now, and it’s only getting worse it seems. There are different types of lawn diseases which can all present themselves in different ways, and one way is that tiny patches begin to appear in a lawn, which then spread to make very large patches of bare soil and no lawn in them.
In such cases the entire lawn needs to be treated for disease, which is never an easy task, and where many different aspects of lawn repair need to work together to overcome such a disease outbreak. These normally include regular application of lawn fertiliser, repeat applications of a suitable fungicide, lawn aeration if suitable or required for the lawn soil condition, de-thatching can also help with Couch lawns with disease, and changing watering practices to water less often and more deeply and to only water lawns in the morning.
Many things work together to stamp out lawn disease, and curing the disease in the entirety of the lawn is really the only way that any bare patches will repair themselves, as well as the overall rest of the lawn also improving in quality. However this is not an easy task, it requires a lot of effort and costs and repeated applications of fungicides. Professional treatments can be a better option, but they are expensive and their long term results can be hit and miss too.
Lawn In Poor Condition
Lawns which have been neglected or poorly treated or poorly managed over a long period of time, particularly when there has been a lack of regular lawn watering involved, can also develop bare patches in the lawn in certain areas, as well as the overall lawn being in likewise poor health too.
In almost all cases there is no need to rip out or replace the lawn with new, which would be an incredible waste of money. Instead we should first look to repair and restore the lawn, particularly if the lawn was laid in the past few decades, as the lawn is most likely a decent and improved lawn type.
Beginning with a regular and ongoing fertiliser program, accompanied by regular watering, while tackling the removal of weeds, and addressing possible lawn disease if that’s an issue, will all work together to help restore our lawn and any dead patches it may have.
Shade
Shade is a major killer of lawns, the two just do not mix well together at all, though some lawn varieties are better suited to partial shade than others. Couch and Kikuyu lawns perform worst in shade and will die out in shaded areas with speed. Zoysia has a better shade tolerance and will withstand and continue to thrive in a little more shade than Couch or Kikuyu might tolerate. By far, Buffalo has the highest shade tolerance of all warm season lawn types and will continue to grow better in moderate shade conditions than all other lawn varieties.
With these things in mind as a primer, what type of lawn do we have that is being killed off by shade? Knowing our lawn type will give us knowledge to know what to do next. For example, if we have Couch growing as a lawn and it is dying in partial shaded areas, and if we cannot remove that shade which is causing the problems, then if we are considering planting a new lawn then we must choose a more shade tolerant lawn type, or to plant a garden bed in that area instead.
We would also then know that if we have a shade intolerant lawn type which is growing in heavy shade and which is thin, sparse, and has bare patches, that there would be no real solution if we couldn’t remove whatever is causing the shade.
If however we can remove any shade causing sun obstacle, then lawn repair for any dead patches in the lawn, and for lawn which is generally in poor condition in these areas, would be simple enough by applying some fertiliser, and to keep up with regular lawn mowing and watering.
the more shade - the more vulnerable a lawn becomes to all types of problems and damage
Worn Patches
Worn out areas of lawn will only really recover properly when we stop doing whatever it is that is wearing out the areas of turf which are in question. This may mean to stop driving our car onto the verge lawn, or to block the children from riding their bikes on a particular area of lawn affected, or to install a pathway through the lawn area which is taking the most amount of foot traffic.
Once we have stopped whatever activity that is causing the damage, we can then look at repair.
The lawn may repair just fine on its own with no need for us to intervene with any other measures. Though if the worn area is large and was done over a long period of time, such as parking a car on a verge lawn for 10 years, we may need to aerate the soil.
The best way to aerate a compacted area of lawn soil would be to lawn core the entire area. This process is done with a lawn coring machine, which will remove plugs of soil and turf from the lawn and soil. This process will greatly help in repairing compacted lawn soils.
Any other repair really only comes down to time waiting for the lawn to repair, and good lawn care practices to bring the lawn back to better overall health, such as applying some fertiliser and maintaining a regular fertilising program during the repair period (per fertiliser manufacturers guidelines), and keeping up with adequate watering and lawn mowing.
Spillage
Another reason why we may have bare patches in our lawn could be due to a spillage of some kind. Either before the lawn went down, or after the lawn was established, something was spilt which then affected the soil underneath the lawn, and so the lawn now finds it difficult or impossible to grow in such a spot. Basically, there is something toxic in the soil, in that particular spot.
In which case our solution is rather simple. To dig out the soil in the affected area, and then to get some more soil from a nearby garden bed in the yard to then fill in the hole. And once again we would apply a little fertiliser, keep up adequate watering for the season, and wait.
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