I've had some major issues pop up in my backyard over the last month.

Houston area and water 3-4 times a week early in morning. At first I thought it was a watering issue with this heat but must be something else.

Have never it this bad in the 7 years I've lived on this property.

Any ideas what it could be?

Not of any help but our backyard has a pretty nasty "patch" in the middle....i sprayed for cinch bugs and continuing to water....not sure it will "recover" but trying to mitigate losses....will plan to clear out dead sections and re-plant in the fall.....i know its hot but I reallly want artificial turf at times like this....

Jdrex, you have the exact symptoms that I have. I applied Disease-EX a couple of weeks ago and watered it in for about 20 min right afterwards. I can notice a significant difference in that the spread has stopped.

I have a pretty basic approach to St. Augustine problems. First, I get down on the ground (with my reading glasses - ha) and take a very close look into the grass at the edge of the green and brown. I have always been able to see chinch bugs this way. Just pull the grass apart to the sides and look down at the crown of the grass. You can see them. They are about the size of fleas. They are always at the edge of the damage eating on the "fresh" grass. If I don't see them, I assume a fungus and treat with Disease-EX. I got the Disease-EX recommendation from a TAMU ag website.

I have the exact same thing going on, would love to hear any updates on what this is or treatment.

Thank you for the response. I will try the treatment and report back!

this thread delivers. the brown patch stuff is brutal this summer.

I smothered a section of TARR (4ft dia) in my front with a mix of 80% peat / 20% compost that I've been fighting for 4-5 years, after a month, I can tell the grass that was left inside the perimeter is starting to green back up and actively growing again. So that's a good start. I need to aerate that area and will give it a fresh coat of peat and continue through the winter. Hopefully we will emerge victorious next spring.

I also put peat moss down last weekend. I put about 20cf down on my whole yard using a peat moss spreader. Pretty simple but effective tool.

My soil test said I need to lower my pH anyway so this can't hurt but hopefully it puts the kibosh on my fungus problems.

Endorsed by Skip

X-Posted from the metroplex page….PSA: Chinch bugs are alive and well in DFW. Found a section of my side yard was infested with them, already did quite a bit of damage before I could spray them. And I had put down granular killer about 2 months ago. Seemed like it didn't last long enough for these things. Be on the lookout if all of a sudden your St Augustine starts dying even though you are watering. If you find tiny black bugs running all over the grass, especially where the dead meets the live grass you've got them too. It's usually in the sunniest hottest part of your yard so a lot of people just assume it's the heat. These suckers can kill off a half a lawn in a week if you get enough of them.