Will a thin layer of top soil smother brown grass?

Hi everyone.

A few weeks ago, a patch of my grass turned brown. Only 1 patch. I didn't know for sure if it was because the Fall is coming, or due to grubs or something else...

I covered the patch with a thin layer of top soil (about 1 inch). After a week or so, I saw some new green shoots coming out from the grass. But it's not all green. So the rest of the brown grass didn't come out.

Now I think of it, I don’t know of the top soil will actually smother the brown grass which may just be in a dormant state…

Will it?

What should I do now? Should I remove the top soil?

Thanks in advance!

Paul

Try over seeding with some seed. Great time of year to do it.

Just rake it in and water it. The grass will always find its' way to the sun. Adding top soil isn't going to fix it unless it was just a spot you didn't have lawn before. To get rid of the grubs or whatever is killing your lawn you might try what I do. Get some lawn insecticide and sprinkle it over, but especially beyond the effected area, because whatever is killing your grass moves on from the dead to to good. Water it in.

That patch may be where the neighbor's dog (or yours) waters every day.

carnuck said:

That patch may be where the neighbor's dog (or yours) waters every day.

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Ah, Great insight Carnuck! It could be a neighbor's dog...

If that's the case, is there any solution? I have heard of this product called Critter Ridder, but I think it's pretty expensive. Is there any cheaper way to discourage animals from getting on my lawn, let alone doing their deeds on there?

Cheers,

Paul

Dog pee is like over fertilizing, turns brown for a while and comes back better than the rest of the lawn.

Dog pee is pretty acidic. Some dog owners swear by keeping a bag of lime nearby to change the ph of the soil when needed.

The photos shown don’t look like pet urine to me. In those cases you have strong grass all but the place that was urinated on and you will still see the grass it will just look dead and yellow. This looks more like poor soil conditions and a dormant grass growing there. Northern grasses are normally not the type that go dormant like the southern grasses where they over seed for the winter if they want green grass with an annual grass. People used to buy plugs and seed of a grass that was marketed as very thick and lush and it was supposed to take over your lawn. It sometimes did expand and it was a type that went dormant.

The idea behind top dressing is good but it should be done a little at a time not enough to bury the grass and seed racked in with the soil and even fertilizer. On golf courses it’s common to top dress the par 3 tees quite often as it fills in the divots. They toss soil around and then drag a chain matt to get it into the low spots.

When I first looked at your photos I assumed they were the before photos but maybe they are showing the results of the grass coming back. In that case it looks like you will be fine given some time. I would still rack in some new seed it’s a good time of year to get some started.

People used to buy plugs and seed of a grass that was marketed as very thick and lush and it was supposed to take over your lawn. It sometimes did expand and it was a type that went dormant.

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Zoysia grass. It goes dormant early and greens up late, but it creates a thick weed-resistant lawn.

slownsteady said:

Zoysia grass. It goes dormant early and greens up late, but it creates a thick weed-resistant lawn.

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That’s the stuff. Around here lawns that put that in look patchy in the fall and winter as it never took over 100%. People think their lawn is dead in spots.

So here's a grass seed question for one of you math-heads out there.

Since Scotts now sells their seed wrapped in a chemical coating, the volume of seed in a bag has dropped to 50%. Assuming that it actually improves the chances of the seed germinating (and growing), how much would it have to improve in order to get better results than a bag containing 100% seed by volume?

We can safely assume that neither brand of seed is going to produce at a rate of 100% (some seed will be wasted / not grow). I can't believe that you get more grass from half the seed.

slownsteady said:

So here's a grass seed question for one of you math-heads out there.

Since Scotts now sells their seed wrapped in a chemical coating, the volume of seed in a bag has dropped to 50%. Assuming that it actually improves the chances of the seed germinating (and growing), how much would it have to improve in order to get better results than a bag containing 100% seed by volume?

We can safely assume that neither brand of seed is going to produce at a rate of 100% (some seed will be wasted / not grow). I can't believe that you get more grass from half the seed.

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Where's Wuzzat when you need hiim?

Anytime you have sevices come out and dig up your grass they just throw some seed down and it always seems to grow.

Well if you got a 50% catch the old way and 100% catch the new way you would get the same result. I have read seed looses 40% if its last years also.

My neighbor just seeded a big area this spring and said he would never buy expensive seed again as he had such an amazing catch with the cheep stuff. I didn't tell him all grass seed mix have some annual rye to catch quick and hold soil and shade the real grass you want. The stuff he bought was about half rye. Those seeds are also about ten times larger than something like bluegrass.


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Feed it with beer, it will come up half cut.

Thanks a lot everyone