Repairing Your Lawn

Consumer Question
I live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, GA and have brown spots in my fescue throughout my front yard. I hear that repairing your lawn of dead spots is difficult and takes a lot of work. Is this something I can do or do I need to call a professional lawn care company to come out and fix the problem?
-Ben L.



Expert Answer
Repairing your Fescue lawn of brown spots is a project you can probably do yourself and save some money versus call in a professional. The first step is to determine what caused the brown spots. Are they the result of a lawn disease, heat/summer stress or insects? Once you determine the cause, you can treat the problem. Your local garden center or home improvement retailer should carry products to control most lawn diseases and insects. If the damage is from heat/summer stress then I recommend overseeding your lawn.

The amount of work really depends on the amount of damage in your lawn. If more than 60% of your lawn is damaged, your best solution is to remove the existing lawn and start over. This is a pretty large project and you will need to plan on spending an entire weekend, if not two weekends, to complete. If the amount of damaged area is between 10% - 40%, overseeding your lawn is the best solution. This project typically takes a full day to complete when done correctly. If less than 10% of your lawn is damaged, spot treating is the best solution and usually just takes a few hours and is a pretty simple project.