The dead spots may be caused by dog urine, lawn insects or one of several lawn diseases. These disease organisms are always present in the soil but are not a problem until the grass becomes stressed. Florida lawn grasses are all warm-season varieties that thrive in hot, humid conditions and typically require direct sunlight and lots of maintenance. Common grasses in Florida are Bahia Grass, St. Augustine Grass, Bermuda Grass, Zoysia Grass and Centipede Grass.
Common Lawn Diseases and Fungus
Brown Patch Disease is caused by a species of Rhizoctonia fungus. It occurs in St Augustine, Bermuda, Bahia, and Centipede lawns and grasses. Brown patch fungus typically begins in a small area of the lawn, but can spread quickly. A first sign of the disease is the yellowing of the foliage.
Grey Leaf Spot Disease can attack St. Augustine grass lawns in early summer. Caused by a fungus, the disease shows up as circular-shaped spots or tan lesions on the blades of grass. If left untreated, a runaway case of grey leaf spotting can take down an entire lawn.
Dollar Spot is caused by a fungus it’s a lawn disease that results in silver / grey spots appearing on your lawn. These spots can vary from 1 to 6 inches in diameter and the spots can also overlap to form larger patches of diseased lawn and can effect and kill the whole of the grass plant including the roots.
Fairy Ring is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow to over 10 meters (33 ft) in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground. These fungi can cause the development of rings or arcs of deep green grass as well as unthrifty or dead grass.
Common Lawn Insects
Chinch Bugs suck out the plant juices through a needle like beak causing internal injury to the grass.
Sod Webworms are the larval stage of a type of moth and may cause damage to most types of grasses
Mole Crickets have proliferated due to having few natural predators as well as having millions of acres of edible turf grass.
White Grubs are actually the larval stage of the June beetle and the masked chafer beetle and feed directly on the roots of turf grass.
Armyworms are the larval stage of moths and feed on almost all tuff grasses.
Identifying exactly what is wrong with your lawn can be difficult and some problems have the same appearance as other unrelated problems. The best and quickest solution is to speak with an experienced and trained person. Have a professional at Swatter Pest Solutions, LLC to come out to physically look at your lawn to get the Best treatment needed.