How to Fix Patchy Spots in Your Lawn

Every lawn gets patchy spots. It doesn't mean you're doing something wrong — it usually means one specific thing went sideways. Maybe the dog's been using the same corner of the yard as a bathroom. Maybe a shady area finally lost enough light that the grass gave up. Maybe you just had a rough summer and parts of the lawn didn't make it through.

Whatever the cause, learning how to fix patchy lawn areas is easier than you'd think. Most of the time, you don't need to rip everything out and start over. Here's how to figure out what's going on and fix it.

Why Your Lawn Has Patchy Spots

Before you fix anything, it helps to know what caused the damage. The fix depends on the cause, and guessing wrong means wasting time and money.

Foot traffic and wear. If the patchy spots line up with where people walk, where kids play, or where you drag the trash cans every week, the soil is probably compacted. Compacted soil suffocates grass roots and makes it hard for water and nutrients to get through.

Pet damage. Dog urine is high in nitrogen, which burns grass in concentrated amounts. You'll usually see brown circles with a ring of darker green around the edges — that's the diluted nitrogen actually fertilizing the surrounding area.

Grubs. If you can grab a patch of dead grass and peel it up like a carpet, you probably have grubs. These are beetle larvae that live in the soil and eat grass roots underground. Pull back the dead turf and look — you'll see white, C-shaped grubs if they're the culprit. A few grubs per square foot is normal and not a problem. It generally takes ten or more grubs per square foot before you'll see visible damage, so don't panic if you find a couple.

Fungal disease. Brown patch, dollar spot, and other fungal issues can kill grass in irregular patches. These usually show up as circles or spots with a distinct border between healthy and dead grass. They're more common in humid conditions with poor air circulation.

Shade. If a tree has grown in over the last few years and a section of your lawn now gets less than four hours of direct sun, the grass may be thinning out because it simply can't get enough light.

Drought stress. Areas that dry out faster — slopes, edges near pavement, spots your sprinkler doesn't reach — can die off during hot, dry stretches while the rest of your lawn survives.

How to Fix Small Bare Spots (Step by Step)

For patches smaller than a couple of square feet, the fix is straightforward and takes about fifteen minutes per spot.

Step 1: Rake out the dead stuff. Use a hard rake or even a hand rake to remove dead grass, thatch, and debris from the bare area. You want to expose the soil underneath.

Step 2: Loosen the soil. Use a garden fork, a cultivator, or even the tip of a flat-head screwdriver to break up the top inch or two of soil. Compacted soil is the enemy of new grass, and loosening it gives the seed something to grip onto.

Step 3: Add seed (or plugs). If you have a cool-season grass or bermuda, spread grass seed that matches your existing lawn. Don't be stingy — put down a thick layer since not all of it will germinate. If you have St. Augustine or zoysia, seed isn't really an option — St. Augustine seed isn't commercially available for most varieties, and zoysia seed is painfully slow to establish. For these grasses, cut a few small plugs from a healthy part of your lawn (or buy them from a garden center) and press them into the bare area about six inches apart. They'll spread and fill in on their own.

Step 4: Cover lightly. Whether you used seed or plugs, add a thin layer of topsoil or compost over the area — about a quarter inch for seed. This holds moisture and protects seed from birds and wind.

Step 5: Water daily. Keep the area moist (not soaked) for about two weeks, or until the new grass is about two inches tall. After that, you can ease back to your normal watering schedule. New grass needs consistent moisture to establish roots, so don't skip days during this window.

One important note: don't apply pre-emergent herbicide on areas where you've seeded. Pre-emergent stops all seeds from germinating, including the grass seed you just put down.

How to Fix Larger Patchy Areas

If you've got patchy sections that cover more than a few square feet — say, a whole corner of the yard or a big section along a fence line — spot repair might not cut it.

For larger areas, your approach depends on your grass type. If you have a cool-season grass (fescue, bluegrass, rye) or bermuda, overseeding is your best bet — that means spreading new seed over the entire thin or patchy section. Mow the existing grass short, rake vigorously to expose soil, spread seed, and keep it watered. Overseeding works best in fall for cool-season grasses and late spring for bermuda. The existing grass provides some shade and protection for the new seedlings.

If you have St. Augustine or zoysia, overseeding isn't practical since viable seed isn't widely available. Instead, you'll want to plug or sod the thin areas. These grasses spread aggressively via stolons and runners once they're established, so even small plugs spaced a foot apart will fill in over a growing season.

The second option is slice seeding, where you rent a machine (called a slit seeder) that cuts grooves into the soil and drops seed directly into them. This gives the seed much better soil contact than broadcasting on top, and germination rates are significantly higher. If you've got a large area to fix, the rental fee (usually around fifty dollars for a half day) is worth it.

When to Overseed vs. When to Resod

Overseeding is the more affordable option and works well when you have some grass to work with — it's thin or patchy, but the lawn isn't completely dead. It takes time though. You're looking at three to six weeks before new grass fills in, and it won't look fully mature for a full growing season.

Resodding is faster and gives you instant results, but it costs more and requires more prep work. If an area is completely dead, heavily infested with weeds, or you just want a fresh start in a specific section, sod makes sense. You'll need to remove the old turf, grade the soil, lay the sod, and water it heavily for the first couple of weeks.

For most homeowners with normal bare spots in their lawn, overseeding is the right call. Save sod for situations where you need an immediate fix or where the soil problems are bad enough that starting fresh makes more sense than trying to rehab what's there.

How to Prevent Patches From Coming Back

Fixing patches is satisfying, but you'd rather not do it every year. Here are the habits that keep your lawn consistently filled in:

Mow at the right height. This is the single biggest factor. Cutting your grass too short (scalping) weakens it, exposes the soil to sunlight (which helps weed seeds germinate), and makes your lawn more vulnerable to heat stress. Keep cool-season grasses at 3–3.5 inches and warm-season grasses at their recommended height.

Core aerate in the fall. Aeration (pulling small plugs of soil out of the ground) relieves compaction and lets water, air, and nutrients reach the root zone. This is especially important in high-traffic areas. Once a year is plenty for most lawns.

Don't walk on wet grass. Foot traffic on saturated soil causes compaction much faster than walking on dry ground. If the yard is soggy from rain, keep off it until it dries out.

Thicken up thin areas annually. For cool-season lawns, overseed thin sections every fall — this keeps the lawn dense and naturally crowds out weeds. For warm-season grasses like bermuda, zoysia, and St. Augustine, good fertility and proper mowing during their peak growing season (late spring through summer) encourages lateral spread that fills in thin spots on its own.

Address the root cause. If patches keep showing up in the same spot, something specific is causing it. Fix the sprinkler that doesn't reach that corner. Train the dog to use a different area. Trim the tree that's shading out the grass. Patchy lawns are symptoms, and the best fix is always treating the cause.

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