Often it is clay soil that can dry to rock hardness.
Fix dry dead grass.
If the roots hold fast when pulled the plants are dormant.
Dealing with patches of dry grass in your lawn can be a real challenge.
If a rabbit is the culprit you should see rabbit droppings in and around the area of the dead spot.
You will also see the difference when you start to water or when rain returns as moisture will revive brown grass.
In hot dry weather you ll probably need to dampen the surface once or twice a day unless you re using greenview s seeding success as the product keeps seeds.
One way to determine if grass is dormant or dead is by tugging on the grass plants.
Dead grass can t come back the same way dormant grass can you ll need to start over.
But you can fix a dry hard lawn by amending the soil.
Dog urine can kill grass and will leave circular dead spots.
How to revive a dead lawn.
Grass naturally goes dormant after two to three weeks without water and most lawns can tolerate drought for four to six weeks although they will turn brown.
When the roots can push through the soil there is no water for them to find.
Dry seeds won t germinate very well at all and letting the soil go dry after a new grass plant has broken out of its seed coat may kill it before it has a chance to get going.
Mow often enough so that you remove no more than 1 3 the height of the grass blade at one time.
One of the major problems with dry hard soil is that it will not permit plants to grow well because the roots may not be able to push through the hard soil.
Maintain your lawn year round.
Another culprit for some cases of dead spots is dogs.
They seem to mysteriously show up without warning and quickly wear out their welcome.
However extended periods of hot dry weather may kill the lawn.
Repair these spots now for a lush lawn spring summer and fall.
This simple process requires just a single product and depending upon the number of patches not much of your time.
If the plants pull out from the ground easily they re probably dead.
If the grass is totally dead due to drought there s no way to bring it back.
Rabbits will eat grass down to its bare nubs and kill whole areas before moving on.
Foot traffic and weather extremes like drought and flooding can damage your lawn leading to patches of dead grass.
Determining the reasons why those patches of dead grass are there in the first place will help you figure out a game plan to fix them once and for all.
A third pest that can kill grass is grubs.
Mow when the grass is dry and change the mowing pattern each time you mow to avoid establishing a grain.
