Brown Dying Grass

Thatch

• Thatch is a grass problem that can result in an entire lawn dying and turning brown. When you have a thick grass growing in your landscape, such as zoysia grass, it can lead to patch fairly quickly if you don't mow your lawn often or short enough. Don't allow your grass to grow more than 1 1/2 inches before you cut it again. Allow grass-cutting times to be dictated by how high the grass has grown -- not based on the fact that you have already mowed it twice that month.

Drought Injury

• Brown grass can also be a result of drought injury to your water-thirsty lawn. Watering your lawn for longer periods of time -- and in the evening hours -- can help to saturate your soil with a supply of water. It will be enough to draw grass roots down deep into the soil, thus keeping them hydrated even when grass becomes somewhat drought-prone in your geographical area. This is because water accumulation deep in the soil is less likely to evaporate than water left at the top of the soil. Watering lightly, on the other hand, or in the heat of the day, keeps water moisture nearer the soil's surface, causing grass roots to stay there, too, where drought can drain the water and burn the roots more easily.

Over Fertilization

• Too much of a good thing can sometimes be bad, and this is true for over fertilizing your lawn. Spring fertilization can bring about a healthy green lawn at the beginning of the outdoor season, but fertilizing too early -- before the last frost -- can result in some people fertilizing their lawn again, before they should. In addition, using grass fertilizer that isn't the right mix for your particular grass type can result in your lawn not getting the needed nutrients or too much of nutrients it doesn't need. Some soils in your area may be deficient in calcium, while others have an abundance of that nutrient but lack phosphorous.

Disease and Insects

• Dying grass can come about due to disease, turning your entire lawn brown over time, but initially starting with a yellowed patch or two. Fescue and Bermuda grasses can be hardest hit in mid-summer, especially if a combination of problems exist, such as grass that has been fertilized too much, is in poor-draining soil, has developed thatch and is deficient in the nutrient potassium, according to Walter Reeves' The Georgia Gardener. Insects can cause grass problems that lead to a brown lawn, too, according to The Garden Counselor.