OT: What's up with my yard?

[00Dawg]

I've got Bermuda grass. It was starting to green up as usual, then a few weeks ago, I started to get what's sort-of-dead spots. It's now spreading, but yet it's not fully dead as there are green sprouts in almost every brown area.
I thought maybe it was drought-related (haven't been exactly starved for water, though), so I've been watering daily, plus it's been raining. No noticeable slowing of the spread, and it's happening in low-lying areas as well.
I put down a preemergent back in February, but it listed Bermuda as being okay, and I wouldn't think it would take this long to start really impacting things. All other chemicals are spot treatment stuff, and nothing nearly this widespread.
Notably, the Dallis Grass I've been fighting for two years isn't affected.

View attachment 4134

 

[civildawg88]

Have you fertilized it?

 

[ronpolk]

I'm no expert on this only have personal experiences to draw from. You may want to have someone come out and check to see if you have army ants. I had a similar issue a few years ago and it turned out to be army ants. As for the dallis grass, good luck. The only selective herbicide, that I know of, that kills it is msma.

 

[ShrubDog]

It looks like a bad case of mole crickets.

 

[civildawg88]

Celsius herbicide will kill dallis grass. It was a miracle for my yard

 

[RebChuck]

I'm no expert on this only have personal experiences to draw from. You may want to have someone come out and check to see if you have army ants. I had a similar issue a few years ago and it turned out to be army ants. As for the dallis grass, good luck. The only selective herbicide, that I know of, that kills it is msma.

You meant army worms ? They'll eat a Bermuda yard up. The good news is they croak at the sight of any pesticide.

This doesn't look like the work of army worms. If you have them your grass simply disappears. Literally will be nothing left but the runners with no blades.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

I can't get rid of the damn sticker weeds in my yard...any suggestions for that?

 

[ShrubDog]

Like what kind of sticker weed?

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Probably can spray 2,4-D on it.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

If there were army worms it would look like the ground is moving and there wouldn't be spots like that. It would all be gone.

If it's been cleaned up and fertilized, it could possibly be disease. That can happen after fertilizing and watering.

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

I've got Bermuda grass. It was starting to green up as usual, then a few weeks ago, I started to get what's sort-of-dead spots. It's now spreading, but yet it's not fully dead as there are green sprouts in almost every brown area.
I thought maybe it was drought-related (haven't been exactly starved for water, though), so I've been watering daily, plus it's been raining. No noticeable slowing of the spread, and it's happening in low-lying areas as well.
I put down a preemergent back in February, but it listed Bermuda as being okay, and I wouldn't think it would take this long to start really impacting things. All other chemicals are spot treatment stuff, and nothing nearly this widespread.
Notably, the Dallis Grass I've been fighting for two years isn't affected.

View attachment 4134

what kind of preemergent did you use? I used the Scott's kind and either I had more weeds than I ever thought or that stuff seriously hindered Bermuda coming out of dormancy. I thought it was dead.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Nothing's wrong with your yard. You just need to lower your standards.

 

[RocketDawg]

For what it's worth, I have similar spots in my zoysia lawn, mostly in the back yard. It was fine last year. One of my theories is that during the winter, we had warm "spells" long enough to get the grass to come out of dormancy, then it got hit by a hard freeze. Or, it could be some sort of disease (perhaps fungus?) or insects.

I'll get my lawn guy to take a look at it next time he services the yard.

Not sure what your issue is. Looks like you have total sun in that area, so it's not shade that's causing the problem. Maybe grub worms? You could sprinkle a little Sevin dust on the grass and water it in and see if they come up and die.

 

[3000lbchicken]

Celsius herbicide will kill dallis grass. It was a miracle for my yard

Celsius wont kill it; it will suppress it. It does a good job at suppressing though. Only fallback is it's expensive. Roundup spot spray early if you get some dallisgrass stands and the good-guy grass will fill in.

Bayer came out with a 3-in-1 weed and feed this year that has dicamba (same ingredient as celsius), fertilizer, and crabgrass control. It's been awesome on my yard so far this year. Put it out in March for burmuda lawns and mid april for st. augustine.

 

[ronpolk]

You meant army worms ? They'll eat a Bermuda yard up. The good news is they croak at the sight of any pesticide.

This doesn't look like the work of army worms. If you have them your grass simply disappears. Literally will be nothing left but the runners with no blades.

Yeah that's right. Army worms. I couldn't tell from the picture if the grass was completely gone or not. It was left with some dirt after the worms.

 

[ShrubDog]

What kind of construction do you have going on across the street and is that new asphalt? I have had job sites get contaminates and kill green growth.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

Not using enough Dale's.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

I heard that and went to buy it but the lady at co-op told me to get some stuff called Image. It was high as hell I just wondered if there was anything cheaper to get rid of it.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

not sure. Hard to describe other than they are at ground level under the grass. Almost looks like parsley

 

[turfdawg]

It looks like Dollar Spot disease.
The continued wet conditions are causing the disease to ramp up. You need to get a fungicide called Iprodione( Clearys 3336 ) and spray it on 14 day intervals.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Image has Qinclorac in it. We spray it on rice sometimes and yes it is some high priced stuff.

 

[00Dawg]

Lots of helpful stuff in here.

For starters:
Preemergent was a Scott's one. Don't remember the exact name, but I won't use it again. I ended up with a ton of weeds.
Construction is just residential, and is downhill, plus my yard is affected behind my house as well, which blocks anything that might've been airborne.
I haven't fertilized yet; I'm normally hitting it with the triple iron stuff from Scott's about now, but I've been distracted. Will try to get that in.
For the Dallis grass, I've got Celsius to try, but it very clearly says not to put it on until your yard is entirely greened up.
Dollar Spot disease looks like it might be a winner. Going to check out the more detailed possible symptoms tomorrow.

 

[moturfdog]

Too early for army worms and yes they would have completely destroyed your turf, not just in small spots. Without a clearer pic spring dead spot looks to be the culprit, tougher to over come than dollar spot, which could be responsible, but as stated hard to determine from the pic. A good fert app will help with either of theses issues. Dollar spot is a sign of low nitrogen, and aside from a fungicide treatment aerification along with 1 to 1 1/2# of nitrogen per 1000 ftsq will help fill in and grow over the dead spots, if it is spring dead spot

 

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

If your Bermuda was greening up initially coming out of dormancy and then you noticed brown areas popping up then that's $ spot. Spring Dead Spot would be more pronounced (dead coming out of dormancy) and the spots wouldn't really be connected like what I'm seeing in your picture. Rain or irrigation can move $ spot around and the spots can enlarge...This won't happen with Spring Dead Spot. If you know a local golf course superintendent, take him a six pack of good beer and ask him for a 4oz. rate per 1000 sq. ft. of a contact fungicide (Daconil or a generic Daconil is the most common and one he should have on his shelf). You should be able to back pack this rate using 4oz of the fungicide per 1 gal of water per 1000 sq. ft. Come back the next day and fertilize it like moturf suggested but make sure to use a fertilizer with 50% slow release nitrogen...(sulfur coated or poly coated N). If you can find a fertilizer analysis with a 1:2 or a 1:3 N to K ratio that'd be best. Don't go buy a 13-13-13 at the local co-op or Lowes...you want to grow grass not bale hay. As for Dallas grass, I know superintendents were having good success a few years ago applying 3 apps of the combo MSMA + Drive. Three applications, three weeks apart. 1.4 oz of MSMA per 1000 sq. ft. but I've forgotten the rate for the Drive. Good Luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Digging dog]

Looks like a GOOD THING to me****

 

[BiscuitEater]

It looks like a bad case of mole crickets.

I laughed

 

[Thebhamdawgfan]

If your Bermuda was greening up initially coming out of dormancy and then you noticed brown areas popping up then that's $ spot. Spring Dead Spot would be more pronounced (dead coming out of dormancy) and the spots wouldn't really be connected like what I'm seeing in your picture. Rain or irrigation can move $ spot around and the spots can enlarge...This won't happen with Spring Dead Spot. If you know a local golf course superintendent, take him a six pack of good beer and ask him for a 4oz. rate per 1000 sq. ft. of a contact fungicide (Daconil or a generic Daconil is the most common and one he should have on his shelf). You should be able to back pack this rate using 4oz of the fungicide per 1 gal of water per 1000 sq. ft. Come back the next day and fertilize it like moturf suggested but make sure to use a fertilizer with 50% slow release nitrogen...(sulfur coated or poly coated N). If you can find a fertilizer analysis with a 1:2 or a 1:3 N to K ratio that'd be best. Don't go buy a 13-13-13 at the local co-op or Lowes...you want to grow grass not bale hay. As for Dallas grass, I know superintendents were having good success a few years ago applying 3 apps of the combo MSMA + Drive. Three applications, three weeks apart. 1.4 oz of MSMA per 1000 sq. ft. but I've forgotten the rate for the Drive. Good Luck and let us know how it turns out.

You can get Daconil on amazon.

 

[Wooly17er]

This is what I'm thinking too...looks like spotches of overspray from something that killed the grass.