Lawn is a mess

[daffodilbrain]

The summer had an awful effect on our grass - some chunks are just dead but the weeds!!! OMG I've never seen weeds like them on my precious grass. Why is it so bad this year? What the best way to tackle it? Green thumb??

Hopefully someone comes along with better advice as our lawn is also a state. Planning on giving it a good rake over and getting a lawn spot weed killer then using a general autumn weed and feed on top.

It's been a tough year for turf. A cold, wet start, followed by prolonged heat and drought stress. We're also seeing high levels of insect pest infestation. If you have turf which peels back you may find chafer grubs. Cream/white with a brown head. They eat grass roots, hence the die back. If you've seen a lot of cranefly recently, you may have had leatherjackets which also eat grass roots. There are currently no pesticides to treat either. If this is your problem, I'd suggest you investigate the use of nematodes soon. Come back to me if this is not the case, and I'll suggest other causes/solutions. I'm a senior groundsman for a landscape and lawn care company, having worked on sports turf for over 40 years.