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There are many reasons your lawn turns brown. Drought, disease, bugs, chemical burn and broken sprinklers can all be part of the equation.
During the hottest parts of the year, lack of water can be a huge culprit. Some homeowners are confused as to why their lawn still has brown spots when they are striving to water according to recommended guidelines.
If the majority of your lawn is green but you have areas that are dry, checking your sprinkler system should be your first step in diagnosing the problem.
Why check your sprinkler system first?
If you have problems with your irrigation system, you are going to have brown spots. A properly laid out irrigation system should deliver the same amount of water to each area of your lawn. If you have broken, sunken, tilted, clogged or misaligned sprinkler heads, the amount of water one area of your lawn is receiving will be different from the amount another area is receiving. This would cause one area of your lawn to be over-watered while another is under-watered.
Here are five common problems that you can fix as a homeowner to eliminate dry spots in your lawn:
1. Broken heads
Sprinkler heads can break for a number of reasons including mowers, vehicles and ice. To fix a broken head, carefully dig around the head until you reach the pipe it is connected to. Gently unscrew the head and take it to the sprinkler store to buy a matching replacement. Avoid letting soil fall into the exposed opening on the pipe.
2. Tilted heads
Heads tilt from the soil settling or pressure from above, whether it be mowers or foot traffic that push the head to one side or the other. To fix this, simply dig down around the sprinkler head and pack soil around it until it is straight.
3. Sunken heads
Sprinkler heads sink primarily for the same reasons that cause them to tilt: settling soil and pressure from above. To fix this issue, dig around the head until you come to the pipe it is attached to. Carefully dig under the pipe and pack soil underneath to raise the head up. Make sure the top of the sprinkler head is level with the soil, not the top of the grass blades.
4. Clogged nozzles
Sprinklers often get debris in them over time. If you live in a home that has secondary water, you're more likely to have debris than someone who irrigates with culinary water. To fix this issue, you can either unscrew the nozzle and clean it with clean water or simply replace the nozzle.
5. Misaligned or wrong heads
When checking your sprinkling system you may find that some of the heads are pointing in the wrong direction and are irrigating areas that don't need water. Fixing this issue will depend on the type of sprinkler head you have. If you have a popup sprinkler, gently grab the riser and twist it until it points in the right direction. If you have a rotor or an adjustable head, you will need to turn the screw on top of the head to achieve the correct watering pattern.
Once you have made these corrections and your irrigation system is operating efficiently, proper irrigation shouldn’t be an issue.
Additional recommendations include:
- Putting down a half an inch of water each time you irrigate.
- Waiting a certain number of days between watering (highly dependent on what type of soil you have).
- Making sure to increase the days between watering as the weather cools down and turning your sprinklers off when it rains.
