Question
Hi Tom,

Okay, you'll have to excuse the lack of my gardening knowledge, lol! I live in Southern California in the high desert, Temecula area if you're familiar. I recently put in a pool in the backyard and tore out a beautiful lawn in the process. Sad! After the building process was over, my husband and I installed a sprinkler system with the help of a friend and new sod, in June. We followed all of the directions of the sod farm and got the lawn established and looking good. Yes, this gets longer...we got a puppy, who used the lawn as her space to "go" for a few weeks before we could train her to go elsewhere. We are positive that she is not using the lawn anymore. We took up the dead spots she caused, sprayed an organic neutralizer and put down scott's patch master. Following the directions on the bag produced nothing. And now, we have large brown spots with dead grass and clumped up patch master spots. I don't have any clue where to go from here. Was it the urine that spread, killing the lawn? Did we really get the sod established properly? Do I need to take up all of the dead spots and neutralize, fertilize, seed, re-sod?? Or should I just hire a professional, maybe 4 months too late?? If you're still reading this, thank you for letting me vent my frustrations. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer
Wendy:

If the brown spots are expanding and you have been irrigating, I would have to believe that the urine is not the problem.  A fungus is more likely.

I recommend the use of a fungicide on the lawn, then patch repair.  If you will not use a fungicide, then apply some high quality compost to the lawn and repair the patches.

The easiest solution to patching is to buy a small quantity of sod, a few yards, and cut or tear them to fit the damaged areas.  Your sod farmer or distributor should understand.  Calculate the damaged area in square feet.  Divide that number by 9 and order the resulting number of square yards, rounding up.

Seeding may not match the particular varieties of grass in the sod, if that makes any difference to you.

If there is no fungus, then I would make an appointment with your local ag agent to diagnose the culprit before proceding.  Patching can take place anytime through the winter and spring.  Fungus treatment should be reasonable and easy.  Most fungi grow best between 60 and 85 degrees F in damp environments.

Don't despair.  A lawn is a perennial investment.

Best wishes.