Zoysia in Georgia Clay

by Clifford
(Kennesaw, GA)

I have patches of my yard where the grass has died. It doesn't appear to be dollar or any other fungus. The only correlation is the lack of shade and location by the base of a tree.

Is this an issue of tightly packed clay? Is there a remedy beyond a simple aeration. With the drought, I didn't want to do a hard dethatch last year - so I did nothing. The water situation appears to be getting better, so it's on the list within two weeks - or do I need to delay or not dethatch? The last question was whether I need to send samples to the extension office. I recently got a look at the soil layering (lots of clay) when we filled a sink hole (construction debris).

Sorry about the questions, but I just found you and the site is impressive.

Thanks,

Clifford