Unexplained problems in the lawn can be a huge source of frustration. If your lawn has turned yellow or brown (or seems to be struggling in some other way), you might even be wondering: Is my lawn dead?

To the average, untrained person looking at a lawn, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a lawn that is struggling, dead, or just dormant.  Dormancy is a natural protection mechanism that grass will go through every year to withstand weather changes.People often ask us how to revive dying grass, but sometimes the lawn isn’t even dead.

In this article, we will provide tips on how to know whether a lawn is still alive and also discuss how to revive a struggling lawn.

We will cover:

How Do You Know if Grass is Dead?
Dormant Grass vs. Dead Grass: What’s The Difference
Will Watering Bring Back Dead Grass?
How to Revive a Lawn Full of Weeds?
Choosing Lawn Care in Cincinnati, Dayton, OH and Northern Kentucky

How Do You Know if Grass is Dead?

The best way to determine whether grass is dead is to take a look at the roots. If you dig a little bit of the grass plant out of the ground and wash off the roots, you can examine their appearance. If they are white, they are still alive. If they are brown or black, they are dead. Roots that have died also sometimes look “mushy.”
Another way to determine this without digging up the grass is trying what has been nicknamed the “tug test.” This involves giving a gentle tug on the grass in an area where it has turned brown.

If it comes out easily, the roots are no longer firmly anchored to the ground and the grass is probably dead. Living grass will still have healthy roots holding the grass in the ground.

It’s not enough to make a determination about your lawn’s status simply based on its surface appearance, as dormant grass does turn brown and appears dead. We will also talk about the differences between dead and dormant grass next.

Dormant Grass vs. Dead Grass: What’s The Difference?

As we mentioned, dormant grass will turn brown (like dead grass) so it can be hard to tell the difference.
If you’re trying to determine if your lawn is dead or dormant, you have to be a bit of a detective. One of the most important factors to consider is the time of year and what the conditions have been like. Cool season turf grass will go dormant if it’s not getting moisture over a period of three weeks. If it’s summer and there’s a lack of water, it could be dormant.

Grass will also go dormant in the winter as a protection mechanism against the cold.

But if the conditions are good weather-wise, and your grass is still turning brown, it’s probably not dormant. Instead there is likely something else going on. The “tug test” (mentioned in the section above) will help you determine if the roots are still firmly rooted in the ground (as they would be even during dormancy).

Will Watering Bring Back Dead Grass?

If your grass is determined to truly be dead (meaning, the roots have died), then watering is not going to bring it back to life. A lawn with dead roots is not going to come back.
If for some reason your entire lawn has died, it would require a lawn renovation to be restored. This is the process of removing all of the dead grass and planting seed. Some homeowners might also consider sod, though it is very expensive.

The good news is that there are typically just dead grass patches in the lawn (as opposed to the entire lawn having died). These dead patches can be filled in with a service called aeration and overseeding.

Dead patches are often the result of disease or pest problems.

Pests like lawn grubs that feed at the subsurface level (on the lawn roots) or chinch bugs, which feed at the surface, can cause dead patches. One year, we also had a particularly bad infestation of armyworms, which caused a lot of problems in our region.

It’s important to figure out what is killing your grass so that appropriate solutions can be implemented. Different lawn problems are going to have different solutions.
The problem is, if you misdiagnose what’s going on, you could create a lot more trouble for yourself. It’s not always just a matter of delaying the solution, which can actually cause more harm. We have heard stories of chinch bug damage or a lawn disease being misdiagnosed as drought stress. But watering won’t fix either of those problems. In fact, watering will only aggravate a disease and cause it to spread.

How to Revive a Lawn Full of Weeds?

If you’re worried about your lawn because it seems to have more weeds than healthy grass, then you’ll want to implement an effective weed control solution.

We find that most of the time, people think they have far less healthy grass than they actually do. If you have a lot of weeds, it can really capture your attention, but chances are, you still have quite a bit of grass growing.In the past, we remember spraying a lawn that looked like it was entirely clover. But once we were able to get rid of that clover, there was more grass growing there than the homeowners thought.

And once the clover was out of the way, and the grass plants had the opportunity to start growing again, it really filled in quickly. Aeration and overseeding can help to thicken a lawn and fill in thin areas where weeds are more likely to creep in.

Only in extreme situations do homeowners have to completely start over with their lawn. At the end of the day, this is pretty rare.

Choosing Lawn Care in Cincinnati, Dayton, OH and Northern Kentucky

Partnering with a lawn care company is going to help give you your best chance at success with a healthy and thriving lawn. They can help you diagnose problems and implement the proper solution.
A professional lawn care company can also get you on an effective lawn care program that will promote the growth of healthy grass.

At Oasis Turf & Tree, we are skilled at making proper diagnoses and setting our customers up on the best path. We even invite our clients to text us pictures if there are issues arising on their lawns in between our visits.

We truly care about keeping lawns in our area healthy and thriving.
In fact, if you’re someone who is experiencing some of these issues and you aren’t a customer, we still invite you to reach out. At Oasis Turf & Tree, we love talking about lawns and guiding homeowners to the right solutions. Feel free to reach out via text or give us a call. We’ll help you diagnose what’s going on so that you can get your lawn back on track to good health.

Ready to learn more about the professional lawn care services from Oasis Turf & Tree for your Cincinnati, Dayton, Ohio, or Northern Kentucky home? Request your quote, choose the lawn care program that’s right for you, and then sit back and relax as the pros help you get the lawn of your dreams!

Images Sources: grass with roots, white clover, dead grass