A Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing Bare Spots in Your Lawn

There are quite a few things that look much better when they are full. 

Your hair, for instance. No one loves bald spots. A plate of delicious food is always better without an obvious open section where mashed potatoes should be. The carpet in your living room looks much better without holes cut out of it in strange, visible places. And, of course, your lawn has a much nicer, curb-appealing quality when it’s not full of bare spots and discoloration. 

In fact, you might be wondering as you stare at a few open areas in your lawn how to fix bare spots in grass in Northeast Ohio. 

Just like most of the examples above, the holes don’t always fill themselves. It takes some assistance to fix those open areas and get your lawn looking whole again. Some tactics include: 

• Identify the Cause of Bare Spots
• Make Sure Conditions Are Good for Grass Growth
• Plant Seed At the Correct Time of Year
• Plant Seed Properly
• Ensure Good Seed-to-Soil Contact
• Water New Seed Properly
• Enlist the Help of a Lawn Care Pro

Let’s talk about how to repair bare spots on your lawn. This way, you can make sure your lawn looks good all year long. 

Bare Patches on Lawn: Fixing Them Once and For All

You might be wondering whether grass will naturally fill in bare patches on your lawn. Well, that depends. 

The way grass spreads depends on what kind of grass you have. First, let’s talk about rhizome and stolon grasses. Rhizome grasses grow by root systems that spread underneath the soil, while stolon grasses spread by root systems above the ground that creep along the surface.

Turf-type tall fescue has the deepest root system of the different cool-season grasses that grow here, which means it can pull water from deeper in the soil and resist drought and heat stress. It’s a bunch-type grass, which means it doesn’t develop rhizomes or stolons but instead grows in clumps and spreads through vertical shoots or tillers from the base of each grass plant. 

When it comes to tall fescue, it can fill in bare spots, but it’s not in a rush, especially if your spots resulted from dog urine or lawn disease or even an accident with the mower. And, weeds, however, will jump in at a frustratingly fast speed. 

So what’s best for you to do is follow some important steps for filling in those bare spots on your own. Try these tactics. 

Identify the Cause of Your Bare Spots

There are a lot of potential reasons for holes in your perfect lawn, and understanding what's causing them can ensure you are on the right track toward how to fix bare spots in grass. 

For instance, you could have a lawn disease or maybe your dog uses the same spots over and over to use the restroom. 

Each of these causes may have different solutions. By having your lawn care professional identify the cause of your bare spots, you can more easily fill them in. 

Throwing grass seed down in imperfect conditions certainly won’t do you much good to repair these areas. 

Make Sure Conditions Are Good for Grass Growth

When it comes to bare patches on a lawn, you want to make sure you have the right conditions to fix them, namely proper sunlight and airflow. 

Most grasses need at least four hours of direct sunlight to grow and thrive. 

To achieve this in some of the shadier areas of your yard, trimming or thinning trees to let in more sunlight could be a good step to perform before seeding to ensure you can successfully fill in those bare spots. 

Plant Seed at the Correct Time of Year

Knowing when the weather is cooperating most to maximize germination of grass seed for bare spots is also a good strategy.

In Northeast Ohio, fall is the best time to fill in bare areas. It reigns supreme over spring because it offers a mix of warm soil, cool air, rain, and just enough time for grass roots to develop before winter arrives. And since fewer weed seeds are present or moving through the air in fall, you suffer less weeds at this time as well.

The trick with fall is avoiding planting seed too late in the year where frost or freezing temperatures will prevent its growth. Plant seed Mid August through Mid October for best results. 

Plant Seed Properly

When you’re going about filling in bare patches on a lawn, you have to do it correctly to ensure the process works. 

Start by raking out any dead or matted turf. Then dig and loosen the soil a bit to prepare it for the seed. You want the seed to touch the soil. Next, scatter grass seed over the loosened soil and tamp it down. 

Ensure Good Seed-to-Soil Contact

Scattering grass seed like you’re throwing rice at a wedding isn’t necessarily the best solution for how to repair bare spots on your lawn. 

The seed needs to be nestled in the soil so it can germinate. 

Since lawn aeration is best done in the fall months, this is the ideal time to also overseed your lawn and fill in open areas. 

Lawn aeration is the practice of using a special machine called an aerator to pull soil plugs from your lawn and redeposit them. This process creates air pockets so grass roots can thrive and receive water and oxygen. Healthier roots make a thicker, healthier lawn. And a healthier lawn is more resistant to weeds, diseases, and drought and can fill in bare spots a whole lot easier. 

Water New Seed Properly

Once your lawn care professional is done aerating and overseeding, you want to water your lawn as soon as possible to keep it evenly moist. This is a crucial step in how to fix bare spots in grass. 

What does “saturate” mean? It depends on your soil type. If it’s heavy clay, it’ll take longer to saturate than sandier soil. This amounts to about one hour per section to get the water down an inch or two into the soil. The goal is to keep the seed moist, but not submerged, at all times.

How often should you water? Weather conditions will guide you on this. If seed is drying out during the day and Mother Nature isn’t providing any additional rainfall, you’ll need a second watering each day to ensure consistent moisture until those seeds germinate, which takes about 10 to 14 days. 

Once the seed germinates, you can reduce watering to once a day for 30 minutes each section until that lawn is established in those areas. Many people will water right away and until germination, but then they stop watering, thinking their job is done. But you can’t stop at that point. You want to round out your watering schedule so those last seeds germinate and those tender new lawn shoots have a chance to grow strong. 

If after aeration and overseeding, you water correctly, your germination rate on those seeds increases to 90%. That means you maximize nearly all the seed that was put down. You certainly don’t want to waste this valuable seed that can turn your lawn from bare to lush and full.

Enlist the Help of a Lawn Care Pro

Never feel ashamed to ask for some help with bare patches on your lawn. 

It can be pretty challenging to correctly identify your lawn problems, especially when you see bare spots and you can’t figure out how to fill them in. We get it. Lawn care is a science. It takes proper timing and best practices to get it just right. And if you miss a beat – whether it’s because you are meeting deadlines at your job or meeting the needs of your family priorities – your lawn can suffer. 

Hiring a professional to come in and assess your problems and provide solutions to address your bare spots can be just what you need to get your lawn back to its less-than-spotty self. 

Leave Bare Spots Behind With Turf Pride

Bare patches on your lawn can be frustrating. They make your lawn – and you – feel bad. We completely understand.  

Try some of these tips to banish bare spots and get your lawn back to good health. 

But if you find these tricks aren’t working for you, you may want to bring in some help. 

Trust Turf Pride. We know how to fix these areas with our many years of lawn care service experience and can help you solve your issues quickly, so you can spend time enjoying your lawn instead of constantly thinking about how the neighbors are talking about your bare spots. 

We’ll take that embarrassment away by getting your lawn back to good health, so your lawn becomes the star of the street. 

Ready to learn why Turf Pride could be your choice for lawn care services in Northeast Ohio? We’re excited to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn on the block. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan that is perfect for you and your lawn.