Zoysia can be a plant-it-forgetful grass, but if your alleged “maintenance-Free” lawn becomes brown it may be annoying. Fortunately, zoysia just turns brown for a few reasons and turf will recover entirely through the right management or treatment. Are you worried about why is zoysia grass turning brown and cannot dig out the reason? Don’t worry! We are here for you.
Zoysia is a very flexible and drought-tolerant easy-care and warm-seasonal grass that is common for many lawns. Yet zoysia grass problems occur – most frequently because of zoysia diseases like brown patches and some other problems like winter kill, rust, ching bugs, dormancy.
Moreover, Zoysia Grass is relatively protected from most pesticides and viruses, it doesn’t have its faults. The accumulation of root, which is induced by undecomposed organic material is a major problem with zoysia grass. This accumulation is just above the ground.
Why is Zoysia grass turning brown?
People often wonder about zoysia grass, how to treat zoysia grass diseases, how to treat zoysia grass brown patch, how to solve zoysia fungus problem, how to prevent zoysia grass from turning yellow, how to find zoysia patch treatment, how to repair zoysia grass, why is my lawn turning brown in spots? I am here today with all the answers.
Why is zoysia turning brown, then? Your zoysia lawn can become brown for four common reasons:
1. Chinch bugs
2. Dormancy
3. Brown Patch
4. Winter kill
5. Rust
These problems are simple to find and treat and your lawn can recover completely with careful maintenance.
Let’s dig out more about the reasons for which Zoysia grass turns brown. I will also inform what you have to do to revive your zoysia lawn.
1. Chinch Bugs
The most prevalent plagues of a zoysia lawn are chinch bugs. They are perhaps the most often used pests since they correlate with drought and therefore can be blamed for dormancy.
Dry dormancy and chinch bug damage can be distinguished more reliably by observing the trends of brown parts in your lawn.
How do the Chinch Bugs Damage Zoysia?
Chinch bugs will infiltrate one side of your lawn and eventually penetrate deeper. You’ll see little bugs in the black and red root system as you pick up a tuft of grass. Because of the damage, the roots can quickly pull up.
But on the other hand, drought will first affect the driest region of your lawn and spread gradually to other regions. If you dig them out, the roots will stay high and white, as well as the grass can be green when irrigated.
How to get rid of bugs?
Without chemical interference, chinch bugs are almost difficult to handle. Spray with just an insecticide to target chinch bugs at the very next sign of invasion. Every two weeks you will then have to spray before bugs are being used to monitor new populations.
Chinch Bugs are generally kept under control by beneficial bugs, so no protective insecticides will have to be sprayed. However, in times of drought, beneficial insects die or hide, leaving bugs to wander the lawn free.
By constantly irrigated and continuously improving the soil every season, you can avoid chinch bug infestations by airing and topdressing. This will provide zoysia with a solid base to help rootscombat harmful damage.
You can have a bug or grubs hunting infestation if your lawn dies in brown during dryness, but you would not notice chinky bugs. Try to do so carefully and keep your eyes on that.
2. Dormancy
The zoysia lawn might turn into a brown one or go dormant for two reasons: steady temperatures of less than 55 degrees or more than 6 days of dry weather or low humidity.
It’s not harmful to dormancy. Grasses are scheduled to dormant in extreme weather conditions. They will withstand intense wet, cold or dry conditions by stopping the active development.
Dormancy in Cold Weather
Zoysia is a herb for warm seasons that falls dormant while the temperature is very low or colder. If your whole lawn turns brown in the middle of the winter, the activity may be stopped in winter because of the usual reaction.
Any pieces of your lawn can go dormant ahead of others.
- The lawn of the north side might go brown before the lawn of the south side of your house.
- Or, in full sun until the grass under trees can go dormant.
In just a couple of weeks, the whole lawn should be asleep. There could be a root concern when you find long brown spots in a green lawn otherwise.
Dormancy in dry weather
Zoysia is unbelievably resistant to heat and drought. It has a powerful and deep root system that allows it to maintain humidity and nutrients in the season.
After a week of mild, dry weather Zoysia goes dormant. Any homeowners mistake drought resistance with the capability to remain green without perfect moisture.That’s not the situation.
Drought is overcome by Zoysia’s swift shutdown of aggressive growth and resource conservation. The field will revert to a rich, green carpet as rain falls into the turf.
If in the heat of summer the grass becomes orange, irrigate.
It should be 5″-1″ in the morning. 5″-1.” You can have an underlying concern if that does not return within a few days with its green hue.
3. Brown Patch
The most prominent condition plaguing zoysia is the brown spot. Brown patch is indeed a fungal disease that develops when it is hot and humid.
The brown patch is marked with a brown ring surrounding a green grass patch. The fungus begins little, but that can take over the whole lawn easily.
This can spread by droplets of water and is thus more prevalent in wet climates or the evening irrigated gardens.
How to solve brown patches?
Humidity doesn’t please Zoysia. Watering the day after the dew is dry is one of the easiest means of preventing brown patches. The tendency of the fungus to disperse can be therefore removed.
The over-fertilization can promote brown patches so that during the rainy season, try to prevent zoysia lawn fertilization. If you have difficult soils such as clay, try a natural lawn fertilizer.
Zoysia can withstand low fertility so that you can fully prevent fertilization while aerating and topdressing every season. The hygiene and drainage capability of the lawn will increase, which also helps to avoid brown patches.
You will have to add a fungicide if you cannot clear a brown patch by changing the irrigation schedule.
Moreover, rust and brown leaf spots are less common diseases affecting zoysia lawns. With proper care methods and fertile soil, both are easily avoided.
Zoysia is a type of grass that spreads quickly and can be difficult to control. It’s important for the health of your lawn, so you’ll want to keep tabs on its spread as best you can! You may have brown spots from time-to-time while it grows in abundance; however, this won’t impact how fast zoysia will grow or cover your yard without proper care.
4. Winter Kill
Cold temperatures are not accepted by Zoysia. You can suffer occasional winter kills if you have a zoysia lawn in the northern part of the transition region.
Fortunately, this is easy to find, and with good summer treatment, your lawn should be able to bounce back.
However, you would want to consider replacing the zoysia lawn with cooler, resistant grass if you live in an environment that is regularly cold winters.
The top layer of leafy growth is affected by cold damage which leaves it dry and brown coloured when it comes out of slumber.
You can see fresh green shoots from brown grass patches that just never emerge from dormancy intermittently.
Winter kill normally affects shaded or lower lawns than sunny or sloping lawn areas. Cold weather and steady water can bathe in low places and winter loss can be balanced.
This will stimulate new growth and the lawn will regenerate, depending on the injury, after a couple of weeks or months.
How to solve winter kill?
If your lawn is mild to moderate in winter, then fertilize to promote new development, core aerate and topdress. This process will cause roots and crowns to fill up new runners and bring nutrients and oxygen into the soil to encourage energetic growth.
Extreme winter murder can involve removing dead grass with zoysia plugs and replanting bare patches of sprigs. Purchase Zoysia plugs that can expand or be freely replaced.
Winter killing is the only treatment. With adequate time and careful care, Zoysia will revive itself.
With adequate time and careful care, Zoysia will revive properly itself. If winter killing is a yearly epidemic, consider planting another, harder type of grass.
5. Rust
Grass rust occurs often in wet, humid environments. This zoysia disease is shown on the zoysia grass as an orange, powdery material. Apart from using adequate fungicides for its care, after or after moulding and careful disposal of the grass cuttings may need to be retrieved to avoid further dissemination of this grass rust.
While zoysia grass conditions are few, when you see zoysia dying in the lawn you would never hurt to investigate the most common grass problems.
Bottom Line
Zoysia lawns are unbelievably resilient and will remedy much of the time, adequately irrigated.
A proper maintenance plan must be followed and a safe top-soil layer must be established by air and tapering to avoid the degradation of heavy grass in any lawn. Hope you got a very clear idea about why and when is Zoysia grass turning brown and how to prevent that properly.