An area of St. Augustine grass has suddenly turned brown and died. the My dad's lawn has developed the same thing (he lives in the Houston area and I live in DFW). He noticed that it started and progressed rapidly when it got hot and a little dry. In this area of my yard, there is no shade, plenty of water, and plenty of healthy grass around in. There were no signs of fungus or gray spot, and it came on in July. I have had this problem in the same area before and it has grown back over time ( a couple of years). I have seen this problem in other lawns. Its not a completely dead area - there is some healthy grass throughout. What could be the problem?

What makes you think it could not be a fungus such as brown patch? I would try applying horticultural cornmeal at 40#/1000 sq ft. If things don't improve in 3 to 4 weeks, then maybe it is grubs. Nematodes supposedly kill grubs.

I agree. I think you could get away with half the corn meal but that's basically it. In the future apply corn meal at 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet every 90 days to the entire lawn. Do this for a year and you can probably back off to every 120 days, but maybe not.

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David Hall
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Dirt Doctor Lawns Forum