DENHAM SPRINGS — One woman says a treatment meant to improve root rot in her yard instead made it worse; she reached out to 2 On Your Side after the treatment went wrong. 

Jeana Richard is the first owner of the home in Denham Springs. She had the backyard sodded in 2023 with St. Augustine. According to her, the grass thrived. Then in August 2025, Richard noticed a couple of brown patches in the yard.

"I noticed a couple of little brown spots indicating I had mold or mildew or something," Richard said.

Richard contacted Grassroots Turf to take a look, and she hired the company to treat the problem. As months passed, Richard says she noticed how the patches grew and spread.

"They made it worse," Richard said.

Grassroots Turf continued to treat the yard for months. Instead of improving, Richard says her yard continued to deteriorate. 

"The technician recommended that I rake up the dead grass to give new grass coming through; it'll come up faster if you get rid of the dead stuff," Richard said.

According to her, that didn't work. 

"They just kind of threw their hands up and said we didn't know," she said.

Richard was charged about $45 each month for service that occurred every other month. At one point, she called to cancel but was told it would take some time to fix, so she continued services. 

Grassroots Turf sent off a sample of Richard's grass and soil to LSU for testing. The lab diagnosed the sample as containing a type of fungus caused by the Gaeumannomyces species.

The owner of Grassroots Turf, Kevin Dinkle, spoke with 2 On Your Side about Richard's yard. Dinkle says the company can only do their part and went on to say that he doesn't believe the treatment didn't work, but rather the situation is due to circumstances out of his control.

"I'm not an expert, but it was just dying, it was just dying; I wasn't over-watering, we didn't have a rainy season," said Richard.

Unhappy, Richard discontinued service. Grassroots Turf offered Richard a one-month refund and apologized.