what to do with dead grass in lawn?

Moved in late summer last year so not had much chance to do much lawn care until spring.

Had good growing conditions in the last two months: lots of rain and sun so why do I have so much dead grass in my lawn? Not so much bare patches, just straw coloured dead grass amongst the good grass.

In late spring I applied Mo Bacter as I had lots of moss, later I did spot weed killing, about a month ago I applied Scott's Lawn Builder. All of that (coupled with cutting the grass long) seemed to show a big improvement.

But, despite raking in spring , and again a few weeks after Mo Bacter I seem to have a lot of dead grass. (see pics - I cut the grass short today to get a good look at the extent of the dead grass, normally I leave it much longer).


Any advice?

 

This looks like Red Thread. I’m seeing lots of it about at the moment.
Have a close look at the off colour patches, you are looking for a bright red tip to the blade.

 

I see what you mean when viewed from a distance but close up it just looks like straw.

 

You need to look carefully, if you have just cut the lawn you may have removed the tips. I can see lots of formations appearing.
Normally when you have one disease another is found along side. With Red thread you commonly find Pink patch as well.
Warm, wet weather with poor nutrients are the common cause and it’s contagious and can be transported.

 

Thanks as always for your wisdom!

Long term nitrogen deficiency is probably the reason as the lawn seems to have been neglected and has tricky growing conditions (tree roots/clay soil/shade).

Bayer Garden Lawn Disease Control (£££) seems to be the only product available to deal with it unless you know otherwise?

 

Yes that’s the only domestic one but the chances are while it may help it may well reappear again. The other treatments are not for domestic use and cost of the products are expensive.
I’m seeing it in most lawns I’m cutting at the moment from just a few patches to one that has developed and has taken over a large part of the turfed area. I even spotted it on my companions lawn last week in 2 places so even with all the work put it it’s a problem that occurs.
Applying a fertiliser helps, MO is quite low regards to N so you need a higher one but it will not cure the problem as such and it helps to raise the cut to hide the disease.
It does not normally kill the grass but the area looks poor.

 

Thanks, I applied Scotts lawnbuilder a month or so ago (N:22) which is a slow release so maybe I need to hit it with something stronger (but then you get burst growth...).

Like most things I have learned about lawns it seems likely that maintaining some seasonal TLC every year will help!

 

A good scarify will help. The chances are it’s been in the lawn for a while right back to the previous owners.
The problem is the weather is set to turn hot so it means you can’t go heavy if you scarify but the hot weather will help to tackle the problem.
I would raise the cut, yes you could feed but the damaged grass is there now but keeping it high will help to hide the disease.
It’s worth saying this targets grass types such as fescue and rye which is common on lawns.

 

Thanks much. I think I'll take the slow approach: apply the bayer fungus stuff now, a bit more nitrogen (or a more balanced NPK feed?) later in the summer, and get into the scarifying/top dressing etc. stuff in the autumn and see where I am next spring.

 

That’s the way to do it. The Bayer will help and hopefully the weather will improve.
If you do feed try to add iron Fe into it as that will help to toughen up the grass plant as well as the N.

 

Thank you for the top advice as always.