A long dry summer can leave your lawn looking the worse for wear. But just how bad does it have to be before you switch from attempting to resuscitate it to replacing the whole thing? Most of the time even a dry brown crunchy lawn is simply lying dormant, waiting for cooler, wetter weather conditions to reawaken. But sometimes, especially under the pressure of extreme heat and weeks without rain, the grass will begin to die. If a large enough percentage of the lawn is deceased, it may make more sense to start over with a complete lawn renovation rather than continue the lawn-saving efforts. We tapped several lawncare experts for tips on how to determine when repair makes sense and when it’s time to replace the entire thing.
How to Tell Whether You Should Repair or Replace Your Lawn
Determine Whether the Lawn Is Dormant or Dead
The first step to determining whether to repair or replace is to assess the condition of your lawn. There are several easy ways to determine how much of your lawn is dormant and how much is dead. Lucas Ford, vice president of Ford’s Hometown Services, a Worcester- Massachusetts-based lawn care and pest control service, points out that a lawn dying from drought is rare since lawns can survive in dormancy for up to seven weeks. “All grasses have this survival tactic built into themselves in order to survive, so the likelihood of a lawn dying from drought is very minimal,” he says. There are several ways you can determine if your lawn is dead or dormant:
Conduct the tug test
Grab a handful of grass and tug gently on the turf. If it remains anchored in the ground, it’s alive and simply sleeping. If the grass pulls easily out of the earth, then the roots have dried up, which means the grass is dead. Administer the tug test in several areas in both brown and green patches.
Inspect the crowns
The crown is the part of the grass that is just below the soil line that serves as the heart of the plant, controlling all of the functions that keep it alive and growing. When the crown dies, the entire plant does too. Examine the crowns. They should be green or white, which is an indication that they have living tissue. “If they are brittle and dry all the way through, your grass may be dead,” says Em Daughtery of Bath Garden Center in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Water an area
Try watering part of the lawn for several weeks. Watering should trigger the grass to come out of dormancy, causing it to green up. “If the grass doesn’t recover at all, then the area is likely fully dead,” says Daughtery.
Measure the Extent of the Damage
Determining just how much of your lawn is damaged will help you determine which path to take. Divide your lawn into small zones. Inspect each zone and determine if it’s healthy, thinning, dead, or overrun with weeds. Then use your findings to determine your lawn’s health. If eight of the 20 sample zones are dead or weed ridden, then 40 percent of your lawn is in need of repair. Once you’ve made a full assessment you can determine the best path forward:
- Less than 30 percent damaged: Overseeding and spot repairs make the most sense.
- 30 to 50 percent damaged: Make a decision based on the type of grass, pressure from weeds, and how healthy the turf was before the drought.
- More than 50 percent damaged: A complete lawn renovation probably makes more sense than attempting to repair dead areas and overseed.
Related: Want a Greener Lawn Next Summer? Plant These Drought-Tolerant Grasses This Fall
Look at the Pattern of Damage
A percentage of how much of the lawn is dead versus alive can help you make a decision, but the pattern of damage is also crucial to determining whether it’s best to repair or replace.
- Damage is scattered: If large patches of lawn are dead, it makes sense to replace the lawn, or at least these large sections. When damage is scattered, it’s easier to make spot repairs. Plus, grass will have an easier time filling in these areas as opposed to a large dead zone.
- Specific areas: If the damage is limited to sunny areas, pavement edges, slopes and sections missed by your sprinklers, then the lawn is likely repairable.
- Large dead areas: Large swaths of dead areas or grass that’s thinning across most of the yard probably requires replacement.
- Overrun with weeds: A lawn that’s dominated by weeds with only a few pockets of good turf is a good candidate for replacement.
- Patches of brown: Brown patches scattered across the yard are an indication of insects or disease. You should diagnose what’s causing these issues before determining whether repairing or replacement makes sense.
Determine Why the Lawn Declined
Putting down new turf, planting seed over a patch of dead grass, or replanting an entire lawn will be a waste of time and money if you don’t first identify what killed the grass in the first place. Drought is one possibility. Here are other common causes:
- Uneven irrigation: If drought killed your lawn and you were watering it, the problem could include uneven irrigation. Check to see if your sprinklers are neglecting some parts of your lawn. “Poor irrigation causes uneven browning in streaks and splotches, while other spots remain green,” Daughtery says.
- Compacted soil: When soil is compacted, grass roots can’t receive the nutrients, water and oxygen needed to survive. If water is running off the surface of the soil when you irrigate it, compaction is probably the issue.
- Disease and pests: If insects or mold are the cause of your dead turf, you need to address it, otherwise it will infect any new turf you lay down. Insect damage typically presents as loose grass or may look like animals are digging in the yard, according to Daughtery.
- Poor grass variety: Cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass and warm-season grasses like centipedegrass and St. Augustine grass are susceptible to drought. “If it’s an unsuitable grass variety, it will likely struggle even with adequate care during either the summer or winter,” Daughtery says.
- Weeds: If weeds took over your lawn once, they can certainly do it again whether you choose to repair your lawn or install a new lawn. Come up with a strategy for preventing weeds to stop the issue from repeating itself.
When Repairing the Lawn Makes Sense
Several factors come into play when determining if repair is the best course of action for your ailing lawn:
- Most of the lawn is healthy. The majority of the lawn, at least 60 percent, is made up of healthy turf.
- Damage to the lawn is limited to isolated patches. It’s easier to repair small patches of dead grass than it is to revive large swaths of dead areas.
- Desired turf is present throughout the entire lawn. If desired grass is present throughout most of the yard, it will be easier to fill in bare spots and choke out weeds.
- Weeds are manageable. There may be weeds in the yard, but they haven’t taken over the majority of the lawn.
- The lawn was doing well. If the lawn was thriving before the dry summer drought kicked in, then it’s likely you can get it back to that point when cooler, wetter weather returns in the fall.
Related: Sod vs. Seed: The Fastest Way to Get a Lush Lawn (And the Best One Long-Term)
When It Makes More Sense to Replace the Lawn
While you can often repair a damaged lawn, sometimes it simply isn’t salvageable.
- Most of the desirable grass is dead. If the bulk of your yard is made up of bare patches, it probably makes sense to replace it.
- Weeds have overtaken the surviving grass. If weeds outnumber the healthy grass plants in the lawn, it’s time to renovate. “I would recommend replacing a lawn when varying grassy weed species have overtaken certain areas to the point where fertilization and consistent weed control still cannot maintain an even color/length of turf canopy in these areas,” Ford says.
- Damage is widespread across large sections of lawn. Large swaths of dead grass are more difficult to repair than smaller patches. If large areas of lawn are dead, replacement makes more sense.
- Too many grass species: If your lawn has become a mix of various grass species or turf and weed grass, then it may be time to start over. “If the turf does not look like it’s all the same grass and is undesirable, this is when I’d recommend replacement,” Ford says.
- Major grading or drainage issues must be solved. If you’re dealing with drainage or grading issues or pool soil conditions that require large sections of lawn to be torn up in order to fix these issues, then replacement is really your only option.
How Much Does It Cost to Repair a Lawn Versus Replace It?
While the above factors may point to replacement, that may not always be possible due to budget. The cost of repair versus replacing is significant. Repairing a few dead patches of grass with fresh seed and soil is a job you can handle yourself and costs under $100. Hiring a professional to aerate and overseed the lawn to rejuvenate it is pricier but still affordable at between $250 and $500.
Replacing the lawn is a much more extensive process that involves killing all of the remaining grass and weeds, correcting any drainage or grading issues, prepping the soil, and seeding the entire area. This is a more involved process that usually requires a professional lawncare service. Expect to pay between $3,500 and $6,000 for the average 5,000 square-foot yard.
Replacing an entire lawn with sod is far more expensive, costing about $2 to $3 per square foot, or about $10,000 to $15,000 for the average lawn.
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Author: Tony Carrick
