Spotting brown patches on your lawn? Here’s how to treat them
Phoebe Cornish Senior Lifestyle Reporter and Shania King-Soyza
16:00, 27 Aug 2025
Brown patches on lawns can be saved (Image: Teamjackson via Getty Images)
Preparing your lawn for summer can feel like quite a chore, but the effort doesn’t end once warmer weather arrives. Maintaining a verdant lawn requires ongoing care throughout the sunny season and well into the cooler periods.
Despite your best efforts, issues can still emerge. When you spot brown patches appearing across your grass, it’s a clear indication that some tender loving care is needed, and several factors could be behind this problem.
However, according to gardening specialists, only a handful of likely causes exist as we transition from summer towards autumn, reports the Mirror. It comes as gardeners are being urged to do one thing to help lawns recover from sun damage.
Phil Catron, founder of NaturaLawn of America, explains that during warmer months, it’s typically either drought conditions or excessive rainfall that damages lawns. Speaking to Martha Stewart, he noted that fungal infections frequently develop in “warm, humid weather”, leaving lawns susceptible to diseases that target the root system.
These problems commonly manifest as brown patches across the lawn, with three prevalent diseases responsible for this damage. Brown patch disease creates uneven areas of discoloured grass blades which become increasingly visible when the lawn becomes saturated.
Summer patch, meanwhile, causes grass to perish or thin out, initially appearing yellow before developing into an unsightly brown colour. Finally, there’s Pythium blight, alternatively called “grease spot” or “cottony blight”, which can devastate your lawn during warm, moist conditions. This disease can cause sunken, brownish patches across lawns, accompanied by a slimy film on the grass blades.
Our ChronicleLive Daily newsletter is free. You can sign up to receive it here. It will keep you up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East.
Phil, discussing the most effective treatment, noted that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. However, he encouraged gardeners to consider enhancing air circulation and soil drainage as an excellent initial measure. He cautioned against over-fertilising and recommended the use of fungicides.
A local gardening specialist can identify the type of fungus and suggest the most suitable fungicide. Phil advised: “Keep an eye on lawn conditions and be proactive about addressing any signs of disease to minimise damage and improve recovery chances.”
In instances where brown spots are due to fungus, it’s crucial to address the issue promptly. If left untreated, the infection could kill the grass. Guidance from the Royal Horticultural Society recommends gradually repairing damaged or bare sections of the lawn. Affected areas can be treated with fungicide and then reseeded or patched.
Simply utilise a piece of turf taken from another part of the lawn, or new turf if available. The RHS clarified: “The latter gives instant results, but sowing seed may be easier and cheaper if you have no spare turf to use as a patch.”
It’s possible that non-fungal causes are behind the brown patches on your lawn. Lucie Bradley, a gardening expert from Easy Garden Irrigation, informed David Wilson Homes that cat and dog urine can ruin grass due to its high nitrogen content.
“This can act as a fertiliser in small amounts but can burn when concentrated and create dead patches on the lawn”, Lucie explained. Reseeding and patching areas affected by pet urine is an option, however.
Comments are closed.