What causes a circle of dead lawn grass?

[grsthegreat]

All you guys are UFO deniers

 

[OzarkChris]

I our front yard is a 20 foot diameter circle of dead grass, about 6" across. It may be hard to see in picture but you clearly see in foreground dead lawn and it's really almost a perfect circle.
I've had my soil tested by agricultural laboratory and it came back excellent except a little high in nitrogen. Rest of lawn (over an acre) is fine. Septic lines and tank is way away in back yard. No underground wires, phone, AC, pipes, etc.
Over the years any bare spot I lightly raked, seeded, then thin layer of potting soil, straw on top & it does great.
I've seeded this, doesn't help. Any idea what causes this? It's weird. (Aliens? ).View attachment 758212

Looks like crop circles to me! If you look real hard I'm sure you can see the alien text running through the yard, or is that a self portrait from them??

 

[Surshot]

Around here it is mole crickets, the wild turkeys and ducks love it when it rains, causes them to surface.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I got this at Ace Hardware yesterday. Bag says best to put down an hour before it rains, otherwise water.
An hour later it rained!

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

I think I found what it is by internet research.
This picture is not my lawn but found on the web.
We've had lots of hot days (90°F+), lots of rain and my soil a little high in nitrogen, all elements for Rhizoctonia solani to thrive.
There is a treatment and Ace Hardware is close by...hope they have it. Scott's lawn disease treatment.
Think that's it? ...thanks for opinions...View attachment 758231

Dead Rings In Your Grass? - Dealing With Brown Circles In Your Lawn? - LawnSavers Toronto

Dead circles or brown rings in your lawn are called necrotic ring spot. These patchy brown areas of dead grass are brought on by the presence of fungus in your yard. What can you do?

lawnsavers.com

Check this site out. That looks like it's caused by a fungus.

 

[Tony H]

Gub

I our front yard is a 20 foot diameter circle of dead grass, about 6" across. It may be hard to see in picture but you clearly see in foreground dead lawn and it's really almost a perfect circle.
I've had my soil tested by agricultural laboratory and it came back excellent except a little high in nitrogen. Rest of lawn (over an acre) is fine. Septic lines and tank is way away in back yard. No underground wires, phone, AC, pipes, etc.
Over the years any bare spot I lightly raked, seeded, then thin layer of potting soil, straw on top & it does great.
I've seeded this, doesn't help. Any idea what causes this? It's weird. (Aliens? ).View attachment 758212grubs? Moles, voles

Animal urine

 

[gckshea]

I our front yard is a 20 foot diameter circle of dead grass, about 6" across. It may be hard to see in picture but you clearly see in foreground dead lawn and it's really almost a perfect circle.
I've had my soil tested by agricultural laboratory and it came back excellent except a little high in nitrogen. Rest of lawn (over an acre) is fine. Septic lines and tank is way away in back yard. No underground wires, phone, AC, pipes, etc.
Over the years any bare spot I lightly raked, seeded, then thin layer of potting soil, straw on top & it does great.
I've seeded this, doesn't help. Any idea what causes this? It's weird. (Aliens? ).View attachment 758212

Fairy Ring. It's a grass fungus.

 

[MossRoad]

Looks like crop circles to me! If you look real hard I'm sure you can see the alien text running through the yard, or is that a self portrait from them??

Try to decode it…

 

[Shorteraaron]

Old pool, previous tree, excess fertilizer leak, weed and feed leaking (father-in-law did this with an old sprayer and it dripped even when off), mower footprint.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Old pool, previous tree, excess fertilizer leak, weed and feed leaking (father-in-law did this with an old sprayer and it dripped even when off), mower footprint.

No....not I'm sure...

 

[JWR]

There are fairy rings that are fungus, but they are usually greener than the grass, not dead grass.

My 1st guess would be someone turned around while dripping/spilling weed killer.

When we 1st bought our 20 acres back around 1989, it was a farm field. All sand. There was an almost perfect circle about 30’ in diameter where nothing would grow except one type of weedy grass. Outside of the circle, any and all types of weeds and grasses would grow. Inside that circle, only 1. It took a good 5-6 years before anything else would grow there.

Our conclusion was that the farmer over-applied weed control while turning a circle or two.

Yep, agree. Fairy rings exist on my farm in a couple of places and are weird to see for the first time! I have never seen a fairy ring as small as the one pictured. Like Moss I'd guess that some chemical was spilled in that circle and probably seeped deep enough in the ground to adversely affect grass. Maybe grass killer in large concentrations or something BUT that stuff ordinarily wears off after a while. Maybe some previous owner worked with a machine there with oil or fuel spills that soaked deep?

 

[MossRoad]

Since the OP said he’s been there a number of years and it just popped up now, I’d lean towards his diagnosis of a fungus issue.

 

[Bruno0201]

I had similar semi circles in my pastures several times. It would take about a year for them to produce grass again. I found that when I filled my tractor up with diesel and made left turns, fuel would leak out of the fuel inlet around the cap and kill everything it touched. Not saying this is your problem but it took me a while to figure it out.

 

[Teck]

I have these on my place too. I usually get them under or next to my red oaks, but not always. This Consan 20 (see Pic) works for me. 1 TBSP per gallon. Don't get near a pond or other water ... It'll kill fish.

 

[John Atkisson]

I our front yard is a 20 foot diameter circle of dead grass, about 6" across. It may be hard to see in picture but you clearly see in foreground dead lawn and it's really almost a perfect circle.
I've had my soil tested by agricultural laboratory and it came back excellent except a little high in nitrogen. Rest of lawn (over an acre) is fine. Septic lines and tank is way away in back yard. No underground wires, phone, AC, pipes, etc.
Over the years any bare spot I lightly raked, seeded, then thin layer of potting soil, straw on top & it does great.
I've seeded this, doesn't help. Any idea what causes this? It's weird. (Aliens? ).View attachment 758212

 

[John Atkisson]

I had something like this in my front yard and it turned out a large tree was removed from that spot a few years earlier.

 

[lilranch2001]

I’m guessing back in the 1800’s someone stored pallets there…….

 

[stuckmotor]

A few weeks back, I found a dead spot in the grass up near a utility pole. After puzzling over it I remembered it was on the exact spot where I'd snagged the gas tank on a guy wire and knocked it off the gas tank on the previous mowing. My Snapper Rear Engine Rider has a lift out gas tank and when it came off it pulled the fuel hose loose.

 

[stuckmotor]

I've noticed fairy ring mushrooms several times. Only saw a definition for fairy rings when I looked them up just now.

 

[beenthere]

I our front yard is a 20 foot diameter circle of dead grass, about 6" across. It may be hard to see in picture but you clearly see in foreground dead lawn and it's really almost a perfect circle.
I've had my soil tested by agricultural laboratory and it came back excellent except a little high in nitrogen. Rest of lawn (over an acre) is fine. Septic lines and tank is way away in back yard. No underground wires, phone, AC, pipes, etc.
Over the years any bare spot I lightly raked, seeded, then thin layer of potting soil, straw on top & it does great.
I've seeded this, doesn't help. Any idea what causes this? It's weird. (Aliens? ).View attachment 758212

Suspect grubs might be doing that. Can you grab some of the dead grass and lift up a patch? If so, look to see if there are grubs eating the grass roots.