I live in Colorado and had my lawn in pristine condition. Then we left for vacation for 13 days to visit family. I got back today and it looks dead. I didnt fertilize, I didn't adjust sprinklers, I just had my friend come over and mow it 1 time with my mower. Im devastated. The nice Pic was the day I left. The other Pic is this evening when we got home.
by ABlack585
29 Comments
What kind of grass is it? Just to get a better idea
How was the weather while you were gone?
What do you mean by you didn’t adjust the sprinklers? What was the watering schedule before you left and while you were gone?
Is the sprinkler coverage sufficient? Maybe they need to run longer
It’s been pretty hot the last 2 weeks, high to mid 90s with one day in at 100 degrees, maybe not enough water, it seems to be really green right around the sprinkler heads. I’ve been watering longer on some days because of the heat
Looks like your sprinklers only cover a 3 ft diameter.
You have perfect green islands around your active sprinkler heads. This may be a clue pointing towards watering issue?
YEEEEOUCH!!!
I live in North CO. The last few weeks have been brutally hot. I’ve had to set my sprinklers to run once or twice a day mid day and at 2pm for a 4-5 minutes just to cool the grass down a bit. One part of my grass didn’t get that and it looks like yours. The part I missed is coming back. Just water a bunch and it should return unless it’s dead. Go give it a little tug, if it comes up easy it’s dead if it resists a bit it will come back.
Looks like your grass grew too long without being cut, the sprinklers could not pop up high enough to clear the grass so all the water stayed in the green circle near the heads. If the weather was hot and sunny the grass got too much sun and no water. Probably should have been mowed twice in that time.
Is it armyworm season?. We have them in central OK right now. Just sprayed today cuz they’re eating my bermuda.
I would of been crying 😭 all that hard work 😓
Has brown patch been thrown in the conversation? I feel it’s definitely fungal.
Looks like you have the rotors screwed down too much at the adjustment screw. They are ment to spray in a stream and not a fan. I’ve seen this many times and this can fix the issue. I would also suggest nozzling up in the dry areas. The green ring around the rotors is a dead giveaway. Could also try cycle soak program.
Irrigation, sure. But I would bet that you have a fungus/disease occuring as well.
Poor irrigation coverage. Sprinkler heads aren’t reaching all places sufficiently
“They massacred my boy”
It could be a coverage issue as others have said, but I’d investigate that weird facehugger alien husk in the bottom right of photo 2.
But seriously, either poor sprinkler coverage or fungus or a causal relationship between the two.
Is this a new Reno? Did you seed in the spring? Mine did the same thing when it got hot A/f in NC. The root system wasn’t established enough and the heat took out a lot of the lawn. That and it looks like your sprinklers are not hitting everywhere. Just a guess
The next time I waited until fall and had much better luck
That’s pretty dramatic for 1 week though
Some bad chemical came outta your sprinkler or hot water .
Ain’t got no water on it. Unh hunh.
Almost looks like too much water? Maybe a fungus?
Fungus ? Or a disease ? How’s your soil. Is it compacted clay like ?
Clearly your irrigation system sucks. But aside from that, if your lawn dies back like this after not even two weeks, you’re growing the wrong grass for your climate.
Could be rabbits. They destroyed my lawn this year. I thought my sprinklers weren’t working because the grass turned brown and brittle so fast in these big patches. Look closely and see if there are rabbit poops in the dead areas. Sounds crazy but they will wreck your lawn and there’s a ton in CO.
Were the temperatures and rain rate the same during your trip as they were before you left?
I agree with the other comments that the green rings around your sprinklers are likely a big hint that your irrigation schedule and pattern wasn’t robust enough to handle whatever weather occurred when you were gone.
Don’t beat yourself up, you still have a lot of green left and now you know what to fix!
Looks like crappy sprinkler coverage. You need to do a catch cup test to determine how wildly different each spot gets water.
There is only one variable here that changed and that would more than likely be your grass height. How tall do you normally let the grass get before mowing and how tall was it when your neighbor mowed it for you when you were gone?
UPDATE: My friend who came by to mow said on Wed July 9th the grass looked great it had one small brown by where I have burlap. Bottom left of the gross photo. He said otherwise the yard was “Very nice” so fast forward 6 days here we are.