Turfgrass is an investment for the homeowner, and a nice lawn can add aesthetic value to your property.

It requires some management skills. Monitoring the turfgrass regularly for issues such as disease and insect damage can help head off problems before they become too far gone, requiring a person to start over with the grass species.

What is causing my turfgrass to turn yellow? There are a number of things that can turn a turfgrass yellow. Several factors should be considered. Nutrient deficiency, iron chlorosis, insect and disease all can cause a lawn to start turning yellow.

Our warm season grasses for East Texas include centipede, bermudagrass, zoysia and St. Augustine. All have their place and do well under varied conditions. Each has its strengths and weaknesses under certain conditions.

Nutrient deficiency: Nitrogen is one nutrient plants use up and should be applied as needed following the soil test recommendations. Nitrogen helps the plants and grass maintain their green color. Applying nitrogen may correct any yellowing that is occurring in the lawn. If nitrogen is applied and the grass stays yellow, something else is the problem.

Iron chlorosis: Yellow, streaked grass blades may be an indication of iron chlorosis. An application of chelated iron or iron sulfate may provide a fast greening of a soil with iron chlorosis. Iron chlorosis is usually not a big problem in East Texas. It is most prevalent in high pH, calcareous soils. It is attributed to reduced availability of iron in calcareous soils, and may also be associated with high levels of bicarbonate and phosphate in plant tissue.

Turf disease: There are numerous turf diseases that can cause the grass to yellow during certain times of the year. Diseases such as Take-All Root Rot, brown patch and gray leaf spot may all give the grass the appearance of turning yellow. Take-All Root Rot is most commonly seen in spring and fall. If you have TARR, an application of iron will not green up the leaf blades. Controls would include an application of peat moss or a fungicide to correct this disease issue in your lawn.

Chinch bugs and white grubs: Chinch bugs are more of a warm-season issue, usually in late summer. Monitor the grass and look for actual presence of these insects in the turf areas of the lawn. They are tiny, but can be seen scurrying in and among the grass. An insecticide application using the appropriate product to control chinch bugs would be needed.

The Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on campus of Texas A&M University is one place samples may be sent in instances where yellowing occurs in turfgrass when treatments do not seem to fix the issue. Sample forms and instructions on how to send in a sample may be found at http://plantclinic.tamu.edu. This may be helpful to rule out a number of issues in the turf area.

A dense, healthy lawn is aesthetically pleasing. Read and follow all label directions when applying any pesticide to your lawn. In some instances, yellowing may be seen from oil or gas leaks from a mower or weed trimmer. It could be a sign of fertilizer burn, or even caused by using the wrong herbicide formulation. To prevent injury to the grass species, follow labeled directions.