Why have I got bare patches in my lawn? 

 

Bare patches can appear in your lawn for a number of reasons and it’s important to identify the cause before starting treatment. It can be due to heavy footfall, causing the soil to become compacted, which prevents the grass being able to grow, drought, disease, shade or leaf coverage, insect infestation, the result of pet urine or chemical spillage, for example from a petrol mower. 

 

How can I treat bare patches?

If the cause of bare patches is heavy foot traffic - the initial solution is dealing with the compacted soil through aeration. However it’s worth knowing that constant foot traffic will cause the problem to return and so the solution needs to be ongoing treatment, rather than a one-off fix. 

 

Similarly, if the problem is due to insect infestation, such as chafer grubs or leatherjackets, the grubs need to be eradicated before the bare patch is addressed, as otherwise the patch will just appear in a different area. 

 

Therefore, it is important for your lawn care expert to help identify the reasons for the bare patches and tailor the treatment accordingly. 

 

To repair patches, once the cause has been dealt with, involves loosening up the area through raking or aerating, followed by top soiling and overseeding to allow new grass to grow. As with all overseeding, the area needs to be protected from birds and kept regularly watered to encourage root growth. 

 

Typical issues that cause bare patches include: 

 

Animal urine

Circular patches of yellow or brown grass where a pet or animal such as a fox has relieved itself. This is a particular problem with female animals as their urine tends to be stronger. 

Solution - pour water on the patch each time the animal goes on the lawn and ideally encourage the pet not to go on the lawn, especially first thing in the morning. If the patches are particularly bad, the area will need to be dug out, topsoiled and overseeded to start again. 

 

Chemical spills 

Petrol spills or oil leaks are common ways to kill grass and telltale signs include irregular patterns and lines of dead grass areas. Firstly, we recommend never filling a mower with petrol on the grass itself, and heavily water an area that gets any chemicals on it. If need be, it will need to be dug out out and overseeded to rectify the patches. 

 

Tree roots 

If the grass under a tree canopy is competing for moisture with the tree roots, it can cause bare patches to appear. The solution for this would be to aerate the soil, allowing the roots to spread and improve drainage and irrigation. Similarly, leaves left on the lawn can damage the grass, as it can start to deteriorate without light and cause yellow grass appearing in the autumn. Leaves should be cleared every three or four days to avoid this becoming an issue. 

 

Over fertilisation 

If the fertiliser or nutrients applied to your lawn are not calculated correctly, they can scorch the lawn or leave dead patches. These areas would need to be overseeded, but the best way to avoid this in the first place is to get Hampshire Lawncraft to apply regular weed and feed solutions, which we take pride in measuring out meticulously for your lawn size and condition. 

 

Mower scalping the grass 

Bare patches that appear on raised spots on the lawn are often the result of the mower scalping the grass. A solution to this is to add top soil to even out undulations in the soil and set the mower height to a higher setting so as not to scrape the ground. 

 

Over-mowing in the summer 

If a lawn is over-mowed, particularly in the summer, it loses its ability to retain moisture and the grass can quickly turn yellow after mowing. Water regularly, make sure your mower blades are sharp and only ever mow a third of the height, to help prevent this happening in the first place. 

 

Excessive thatch or moss 

If the lawn feels spongy to walk on and there are some brown patches, there may be an issue with excessive thatch or moss. This can be remedied by scarification and aeration to help the soil absorb the moisture, which is otherwise retained in the thatch. A moss control agent followed by top dressing and overseeding will also help alleviate and remedy the bare patch caused by moss removal. 

 

Soil compaction 

This is particularly common in areas of high footfall (e.g a garden with children or pets playing regularly), and on clay soil. Aeration through hollow or solid tine methods can help alleviate this and loamy top dressing can improve air flow. 

 

Insect infestation

Brown patches found next to fences or in areas of shade or damp are often the result of insect damage, such as chafer grubs and leatherjackets eating the roots of the grass underground. Birds and other animals then cause further damage by pecking the grubs out from the surface. The grubs should be treated with nematodes, and Hampshire Lawncraft can recommend the best solution to use before the infestation gets any worse.

 

If you are worried about bare patches on your lawn, Hampshire Lawncraft experts would be pleased to visit the site and offer their guidance in finding the best treatment for your lawn.