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I am located in southern Louisiana. I moved into this house in June 2013, and the sod was put in around Jan-Feb 2013. I usually make sure that my lawn gets about inch of water a week, but my lawn keeps dying! My soil PH is around 6.5, but I dont think it would kill my grass this quickly..

Can someone tell me what is killing my centipede grass? I'm struggling to figure out what is wrong.

[Picture 1](http://i.imgur.com/zoPr5IA.jpg)

[Picture 2](http://i.imgur.com/jxHF8Ma.jpg)

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  • How deep is your topsoil? If you have a new house and two inches of builder supplied junk soil that could be it
    – kevinskio ♦
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 20:08
  • The topsoil isn't deep at all. It is only a thin layer of top soil with sand under it.
    – Brandon Tull
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 20:35
  • I think the cause may have been lack of water. I set the sprinkler out for 45 minutes once a week, but it wasn't enough. I actually needed to water about 3hrs once a week to get the proper inch of water. I'm waiting to see what it looks like in the spring.
    – Brandon Tull
    Commented Dec 17, 2013 at 20:40

4 Answers 4

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I think the cause may have been lack of water. I set the sprinkler out for 45 minutes once a week, but it wasn't enough. I actually needed to water about 3hrs once a week to get the proper inch of water. It looks much better now.

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Have you had the roots checked for grub damage? If not, that might be a good idea - it can cause whole patches to look like your pictures, because the grubs eat the grass roots and the tops eventually die.

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  • I think the cause may have been lack of water. I set the sprinkler out for 45 minutes once a week, but it wasn't enough. I actually needed to water about 3hrs once a week to get the proper inch of water. I'm waiting to see what it looks like in the spring. If it doesn't bounce back in the spring then I will check for grubs.
    – Brandon Tull
    Commented Dec 17, 2013 at 20:39
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Based on your most recent edit the sandy soil is draining quickly and water is not retained in the organic matter. The traditional way to deal with this is top dressing with one quarter to one half inch of topsoil/compost/peat moss in the spring and fall.

You can also consider overseeding your existing grass with a similar but drought resistant variety in the spring and fall as well.

Varieties suitable for Louisiana are Bermuda grass hybrids and Zoysia which are described in some detail here.

It would be worth your time to go to a local nursery or sod supplier with a sample of your grass and get local suggestions for maintenance and varieties that work in your area.

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  • Thank you for the insight! I was about to ask how to make my soil less sandy. You have been a great help!
    – Brandon Tull
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 13:48
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I had that same problem two years ago and no matter what watering and fertilizer I put on it..it was still dying. A neighbor who has beautiful lawn every single day of the year and never had any lawn service come to his grass told me that I have to start putting Lime on my Lawn quarterly every year. I did put lime on my lawn and water it, after one week I followed it with Scott's fertilizer, or any fertilizer for that matter since all are nitrogen based. And voila after just one or two months my lawn is dark green and holding it's color even though I just water it once a week. There is no harm in trying this. I just want to share my experience with my lawn.

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  • The success of liming depends on where you live, what kind of soil, what kind of grass and your application rate. Can you tell us more?
    – kevinskio ♦
    Commented Jan 21, 2014 at 19:58
  • I measured my soil PH, and I already have a high PH (6.5-7). I think that adding lime to it would only make it higher. Thank you for sharing the experience you had with your lawn.
    – Brandon Tull
    Commented Jan 21, 2014 at 22:28

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