Spring dead spot, a lawn disease specific to bermudagrass, rots stolons and roots. Straw-colored dead spots develop as the grass emerges from dormancy in spring. The spots are generally circular and may range from 6 inches to several feet across.
If your bermudagrass lawn develops circular dead spots as spring growth begins, spring dead spot fungus may be the cause. The dead grass will be sunken and straw-colored, while stolons and roots are blackened and decayed. To address the problem and help prevent further outbreaks of the disease, specific maintenance practices are recommended.
Removing excess thatch, maintaining adequate potassium levels, and avoiding overfeeding will help prevent spring dead spot. Also, don't feed your lawn late in the growing season. Applying a systemic fungicide in late summer or early fall can help control the disease the following spring.
If spring dead spot appears in your bermudagrass lawn in the spring, the symptoms may slowly fade over several months in summer. Because the affected grass is dead, regrowth has to come from the edges of the spots. Keeping the lawn healthy and vigorous will encourage growth into dead areas, but the sod in larger areas may have to be replaced. You can easily repair those bare spots with Scotts® Turf Builder® EZ Seed® for Bermudagrass Lawns.
» Find out how to use Scotts Turf Builder EZ Seed in this video
