Really struggling with the company who currently cuts my lawn. I never had these issues when I cared for it myself but due to work needed to start hiring out. They are what seems like a proper outfit with an owner with a degree in landscaping from a reputable college.
My lawn started out amazing this year. Full and green after it came back from looking like this the previous summer. When it browned everywhere like this last year my landscaper told me it was fungus and I needed to change my watering schedule. I had been watering from 5-7am every other day. This year I changed the watering schedule to avoid fungus, not starting the cycle until 7am when the sun is up.
Fast forward to about two months ago and my landscaper started applying a fungus treatment which he said his training based on specific conditions being met were needed. My lawn has looked like complete garbage since and is only getting worse.
I had huge brown patches one week ago, but after the last cut this Friday there are now also these huge stripes in the lawn. When I sent him this photo he is saying this is caused by drought stress.
I am in the NE. Every other lawn on my street looks gorgeous right now and I am about to change companies. Am I being gaslit about the drought stress? I can get more close up photos – I didn’t think of it last night.
Appreciate the communities advice here.
by Narcissus_n_Goldmund
48 Comments
That looks like fert burn. Fungus doesn’t spread is straight strips!
Yeah this doesn’t look right. I would change your contractor. Also, landscaping degree? Like a degree in horticulture or botany ir is he an arborist or landscape architect or something? Either way, looks like they don’t know what they are doing imo
Definitely landscaper issue. Pattern is not a natural pattern, it’s a pattern from someone moving with a spread or mower.
Also if your fungus began when they started mowing, I’d be asking them their process for disinfecting equipment between sites
It’s heat stress from being mowed too short at high noon.
It almost looks like dull mower blades or mowing too low. If the grass wasn’t kept short it can get ripped out and look like this.
Or could be herbicide burn using too much or the strips is where it overlapped.
Not sure what a landscaping degree is. I am a landscape architect and they didn’t teach anything about lawn care in our program.
Ask your neighbors who their lawn guy is if their lawn looks good. Drop the guy you’ve got, lawn guys are abundant, no need to stick with this guy
No you are being grasslit
But seriously looks like cut too short
he *may* have a “landscaping degree” but what about the seasonal lawn jockeys that are there doing the work ? … or is he the one doing the work too?
Also looks like they mow in the same direction every visit, and the weight of the mower is leaving tracks. I consistently mow customer lawns in different patterns to avoid this.
Sometimes horizontal, sometimes diagonal, etc. Those commercial zero turns are upwards of 800-1000lbs. You can’t roll over the same place every week and not expect problems.
Experienced “professional” needs a checklist to be met to apply an approach.
Dude needs less book time and more dirt time.
Idk which part of the NE you’re in but if it was getting cut low and too hot/dry when it was cut you can certainly get those linear forming tire marks. There’s a consolidated damaged patch by the bed in the corner of the photo where it looks water may drain to. I wonder if you have Pythium blight + heat tracks and possibly even an insect issue? (Less likely) Check the surface of the soil for white and greasy looking spots in the damage, could be Pythium and the fungicide they’re applying depending on what it is won’t help. The tire marks just may need some fert + water, worst case scenario you have an excuse to overseed. As far as watering goes all that matters is you’re done watering by 10, this time of year every 2-3 days ~30 minutes a zone. Areas like devil strips that are real small you can do less you just wanna get the water to the roots
Cut too short. I gave up with my lawn a few years ago, cut it higher and it’s never been so green and full lol..go figure.
Looks like fertilizer burn from a spreader and then no water. I hate those things.
It will re grow. Consider using a backpack spreader as it will cast wider with no lines.
Your landscaper cut it too short. Sorry. But you’re just another number.
You need a new landscaper. Ask the neighbors who they use.
100% manmade issue, the pattern represents a mower or spreader path as several others already stated. Hard to tell if its heat stress from height, fungus being spread in a pattern, or fert burn. Regardless of which it is, all scenarios point to your “qualified” landscaper dude. He needs the boot and you need a new vendor.
It looks.like.they are cutting your grass too short, and if I had to guess, they are doing it during the heat of the day. Tell them to cut at 3 inches and see if the lawn recovers. But I would find a different company either way. They know they are doing this.
Scalped……
It’s cut too short.
For the future, to test whether it’s fungus GO AND TUG IT! It will come out super easily because the fungus will destroy the roots. Dry grass will be hard to pull because the roots will still be intact.
What’s the gaslighting part supposed to be? Reddit uses that word for basically anything, so it’s hard to tell anybody
Uh no, that’s not what gaslighting is. Are you being misled? Maybe.
Is the company trying to purposefully convince you that you’re insane? Highly unlikely.
Muffler burn or maybe leaking gas? Also mowed to short.
The old, we are mowing with an uneven deck and dull blades. Honestly to me the grass looks very dry. I would personally water it everyday until it’s green again.
Just fire him and hire who your neighbors with green lawns are using. Doesn’t matter otherwise.
There are so many things wrong with “what’s left of your lawn”. 😒 …fire the idiot, with all of the excuses, and get someone to “take good care of your lawn”. Looks more like it was over-fertilized, cut too short, and burnt in the daylight sun. And no dark spotting in the dead areas – so I’d be really skeptical there is/was any fungus.
Anyone else in your area have a great lawn, and use a service? Use them. 🙂🤓
Get a new lawn care company.
This is why I quit hiring out certain things. I have just under half acre and push mowing took forever. I went through 5 lawn care companies before I threw in the towel and bought a zero turn. What use to take me over an hour takes me 20-30 min with a lot less effort. I justified the cost and actually enjoy it, little escape.
So I did something similar this year . I assume this company uses some wide tracked mower and what you’re seeing is more than likely stress or chemical burn from the mowers tires. Here are my theories
They mowed a lawn that recently had liquid nitrogen and it transferred to their tires on your lawn, or your lawn was treated with nitrogen and they mowed on a hot day and the tires stressed your grass.
They mowed on a really hot day and the grass was super dry causing stress.
Your lawn did not like the anti fungal they put down.
The tires were very very hot.
Whatever the case I’m pretty sure the common factors was 1. Your lawn was stressed. 2. The tires and weight of mower exasperated the problem.
My suggestions for fix… time, there’s not much you can do now. Maybe try to rake up the dead grass if you can. I would try to push mow at 4”, maybe bag the clippings if you do think you have fungus but I don’t think you do. Water in the morning, I’ve been told to use a tuna can… start timer, turn sprinkler on and when the tuna can fills up that’s when you stop. Record time and do that time for each zone. I think every other day should be fine.
Stop all chemicals for now. Maybe by November if it’s looking better do a weed and feed with no nitrogen content. I wouldn’t use heavy mowers until it recovers. Mow in different directions. When temp drops you can probably lessen watering. In spring do a weed and feed maybe some iron… then do not add anything else to the yard especially when it gets warm. When it gets hot pick up watering in the am. If you use heavy mower, mow in the am if possible the cooler the better.. if you’re in a drought and it’s hot, don’t mow.
These are my 2 cents I’m not formally trained but this has been my experience fighting with at Augustine in NC for past 6 years.
Should be keeping that 3-4” tall for shade and watering the hell out of it if it’s newer sod.
Yes! Get rid of him and have someone cut it much higher. I’ve been doing mine at 4” this year. It looks awesome.
cross post to r/fucklawns a very knowledge subreddit to assist you in your needs
Mine looks the same way because I was an idiot and scalped half my yard when my deck got out of level. I’ll charge less than what he’s charging you to goof up your yard, too.
From the lines it looks like the lawnmower may have bent blades and cut one side too short.
Can you ask a neighbor who has a nice lawn which service they use and maybe consider switching to them? They apparently do a good job (or at least better) than your current company.
Homie scalped your lawn and it died. You can literally see where he turned the zero turn around. Fire him
In my experience, this looks like extremely poor lawn maintenance. Find a more reputable company. If your present company has had 2-3 years and can’t get a grip on it, time to move on. The patterns resemble improper fertilizer application. If I were the one responding to you from this company, that would be the first thing I would look at. From there I would look at cut depth, I would doubt that’s what’s causing this, unless the mower is improperly set with one side lower than the other. If the whole mower were set too low, you wouldn’t have definite green lines and brown lines. Improper watering would not cause these types of patterns either. You should be watering first thing, early morning before 9-10 am, 2-3 times a week aiming for a total of 2-3″ per week. If it takes real force to pull the roots out, then this is a manmade issue! Mold doesn’t grow in uniform lines, it spreads out over irregular areas.
When I was going to school for electronics (after I decided I had enough of working outside, lol! I was actually a landscape foreman on a crew out of Canton, MA for years before I enrolled in the late 1980’s) we had a guy in our class that passed and got his associates for electronics. He was/is a good guy, we are still freinds today. He never worked in the field more than a few months, because even though he did 1 1/2 yrs of learning basic and advanced electronics, he was totally clueless applying this knowledge! He went back to being a cook within a year and has never worked in the field since. Just because some school gave someone a certificate or an actual accredited degree, doesn’t automatically make that person the one you want working for you in that capacity. Too many people pass these courses that can’t handle working in the field. I would dissmiss this landscaper immediately, I wouldn’t allow him any more chances to prove himself, more than likely this guy’ll bitch and complain that the problem has nothing to do with him. He would be wrong. Even if he isn’t directly responsible, after 2-3 yrs, he should’ve figured it out by now. Knowing how to use a lawnmower does not make you a landscaper!!!
Talk to a neighbor who’s lawn is in excellent condition and ask them who they use. Or watch who shows up at their houses and call them.
I don’t think it’s a fungus. It looks like heat stress, too short, and dull blades. You pay them – tell them to sharpen the blades and how tall they should mow it.
When I was in school for my horticulture degree (my state requires a degree to sit for the landscaper license exam), we had a lot of guest speakers who were educated and licensed owners of landscaping companies and I don’t want to make the whole field look bad but.
Most of them basically admitted to us that while they know you’re supposed to mow high, water deep once a week, make sure you diagnose your problems correctly before any chemical treatments, etc; but that’s not what most customers expect or what most landscape company employees will do. We were taught by our instructors how to do things properly and then these dudes would swagger into class once a month and tell us ‘Yeah, but you’ll make more money if you treat people’s lawns once a month even if they don’t need it.’ I’d wager that’s why your poor lawn looks like it does. Why train your employees to do things correctly when you can bill the same for less effort?
Ask him for the MSDS on the fungicide so you can research it. If he refuses to name the compound or provide documentation he would be required to keep on hand for his staff, that is your answer.
My unprofessional guess. Some grub damage, cut too short, fungicide applied unevenly, and drought stress. I cut my lawn when it needs it, tells me, not on someone else’s schedule for $$$. Been there, done that, didn’t work for my lawn.
Even if he was right, nothing is set in stone. They should have noticed that the lawn was not responding well and changed/stopped treatments.
If they use ride on mowers I bet the dummy was riding around on a low pressure tire on one side.
Owner of landscape company here.
These lines are obvious mechanical damage. Drought stress doesnt happen in “perfect” lines. Every landscape company makes mistakes but we need to be honest when we screw up.
I burned a customer’s lawn last year with the wheels on my 21’ mower. It was an extremely hot day in the Seattle area (similar grasses and weather in summer). It made the same kind of lines as your pictures but looks like they are on a riding mower.
I instruct all my customers to water early AM just like your company. This does “reduce” but not stop fungal growth. In fact Red Thread is very common in June and September because of the perfect storm of weather conditions (moisture and warmth). Red Thread is just like the pink mildew youll find in a shower.
Has it been really hot this summer there and are they mowing at the hottest time of day. If you’re willing to give them another chance ask them to mow in the opposite direction and try a different time of day, a cooler time.
The temperatures are getting relatively cooler now. Ask him to give you a free fertilization in return for staying the rest of the year? It may jump back very fast. Then if you’re happy reevaluate for next year?
Best of luck
Wrong subreddit. Go to r/lawnanswers for people that know what they’re talking about
Did you verify his educational credentials? Even if you did, he’s just spinning stories.
Its clear as day the mower did that. Its striped brown.
Number one you are probably overwatering.
Also, looks like the blades are way too low
One time, I got really sick. I had like, some itchy bumps near my waistline and on part of my stomach, and felt HORRIBLE. I went to urgent care and met with this young doctor. He told me he was straight out of med school, but I was in luck! His specialty was bacterial infections. In fact, he wrote his dissertation on bacterial infections, got excellent grades for that, and just all around, and was just the PERFECT doctor for my malady! Said I had a bacterial infection, put me on a regiment of antibiotics, and sent me on my happy way.
Over the next couple of days I got worse. Much worse! Itchy bumps, all over my body, as if the bacteria was taking hold everywhere. Internally, I just felt like I wanted to die. Sick as a dog, no appetite, and could barely move, I *dragged* myself out of bed to go to the ER. They had me sit outside, since there was obviously *something* going on.
So this ER doctor comes in, after a cursory examination and the years of doing this shit for a long time, the words just spilled out of his mouth. “You have chicken pox”. “But, but, this other doctor, who was just PERFECT for his bacterial knowledge, and…”
He held up his hand, as if to say “hush little child” and repeated the same statement, “yeah, you’ve got chicken pox. Well, at least the *bacterial expert* has you on antibiotics. That’ll keep you from getting an infection, so complete those”. Then he gave me some self treatment advice and left.
Bottom line… great schooling doesn’t beat out years of experience. Hire someone who knows what the F they’re doing.
So you don’t know what gaslighting is?