How to revive patchy Buffalo lawn?

[LinL]

My buffalo lawn is not doing well. I’ve neglected it. Lots of bare and dry spots. Areas under shade is doing better. Wondering if it can be revived with lots of love and care or should I start again and returf my lawn? If I can revive it, please let me know what to do. There’s some weeds and there’s a patch of a different type of grass growing in some spots, one with a finer leaf. Thanks

Fine leaf grass

[JacobZ]

Hi @BlakeD,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

When you get heavy rains, do you get water pooling in these areas?

Looking at the lawn, it looks likely that these are low spots where water will pool.

My suggestion, which will benefit your entire lawn, not just the brown spots, is to aerate, top dress and level your lawn.

Have a look at How To Topdress Your Lawn for some guidance.

You'll want to start by aerating the lawn, using a garden fork, lawn aerator or lawn corer. This will break up compacted soil, promote better drainage and get more oxygen into the root layer which will improve the lawn's health.

Once aerated, apply a top dressing mix over the entire lawn, then smooth and level it with a soil spreader. While spreading the soil, it is essential that you ruffle the leaves, so they poke through the soil, and they aren't smothered.

After this, you should apply a lawn fertiliser, water regularly and mow regularly at a consistent height.

You might also like to check out the Lawn section of our D.I.Y. advice pages. There's a wealth of information you can read through for guidance.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

[shovett]

Hello,

My Buffalo lawn has been going great and looking green and lush. Two weeks ago it was green and healthy then it started to go brown. First it was a small patch and then within two weeks it has gotten quite big. What would cause this? The lawn has been looked after and cared for and I am surprised to see this. Photo attached.

Any help would be great.

[EricL]

Hello @shovett 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your buffalo lawn.

There could be a number of reasons why your lawn is turning brown. I suggest having a quick look at this guide - How to detect lawn problems by @Adam_W. Have you changed your watering habits lately? Have you recently fertilized the lawn? Has anyone around the neighbourhood been using herbicide or weed killer? Do you have pets? If you can provide us with a little bit more information, we can try to diagnose the reason why your lawn is turning brown.   

For the meantime, I suggest checking the soil if it is damp. If it is, odds are the lawn is being over watered, and the roots are unable to breath. I suggest holding off on watering and aerating the soil to allow the water to drain away. Aerating also opens up the soil to allowing the plants to absorb excess water and allows the plants to absorb more minerals.

I also suggest having a look at these discussions - Solved: How to revive Buffalo lawn? by @bax and How to repair brown patches on buffalo lawn by @NateZheng. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[shovett]

Hi Eric

Thank you for the reply. Nothing has changed for the grass. I did use the fertiliser that you use with the hose pipe about 3 moths ago. We don't have any pets. No weed killer as far as I know in our area, but it is a back garden so no one can get to it

It seemed to happen after the very hot spell we had then rain.

I regularly use the shoes with the spikes to aerate the lawn as the ground does get hard.

Its odd as the edges of the brown patch still have long grass that needs cutting, but the dead patch doesn't. It's like something has eaten it!!

Thanks again.

[EricL]

Hello @shovett 

Perhaps you might have grub's underneath, I suggest using a shovel and lifting that section of your damaged lawn and see if there are any grubs feasting on the roots of the lawn. If there is, I suggest using Richgro 2L Hose On Lawn Beetle And Grub Killa. But if there are no grubs, I suggest using Lawn Solutions Australia 2L RTU Lawn Rescue.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[shovett]

Hi Eric. Thanks again for the quick reply. What would the grubs look like? 

Cheers Mark

[EricL]

Hi @shovett 

I've placed an image below to give you an idea what they look like.

Eric

[shovett]

can't miss them! thank you

[BlakeD]

 

Hi thanks for getting back to me. Do I topdress over the dead looking patches? Will it regrown the lawn?

[MitchellMc]

If you aerate the area and topdress, there's a good chance the grass will gradually infill it, @BlakeD.

You might like to check for lawn beetle/grub, by mixing some dishwashing detergent with water and applying it liberally around the transition between the brown lawn and the green lawn. If beetles or grubs are present they will come to the surface. You can treat the area with lawn grub killer.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell