Can you post a couple pictures? The best time to photograph a lawn is when a cloud goes overhead. It would be good to see from far enough away to see the trees and then a close up of the dry spot in the middle. Did you have Marathon in Calabasas before? If not where? And what was your watering regimen (how often and for how long)? Can we assume you are watering this lawn the same way? When were the last two times you fertilized, or have you fertilized yet? Hopefully your close up picture will help someone here to identify your current grass type. Different grasses can be eradicated by different means. Sometimes it's as simple as stopping watering. I'm not sure you will ever be able to apply enough water for those trees. That is a lot of timber to keep moist. The tool which professional landscapers use to prep a garden is a box blade pulled behind a tractor. This is what it looks like in action. The ripper bars you see on the box blade (like a rake sitting above the soil in the blade) can be used to remove most small roots, but there is a limit. When you get ready to get rid of the trees, you might want to consider major stump removal, not grinding, and root removal throughout the rest of the yard. For those two jobs they might bring in a small bulldozer or other heavy equipment.

MS, let's assume your soil is not supporting the grass's wanting to grow and fill in. I cant comment on whether you are watering too much...you'd have to have knowledge about how much your sprinkling system puts out for the hour you say it feeds. That should be available, either by way of the system itself, or by the contractor who installed it. The size of piping and the size of the heads should inform you what amount you should expect. The size of your piping from the water company will also come into the picture, what pressure it gives. To grow grass and make it want to grow is the responsiblity of the soil. Improve the soil, you improve the chances the grass will want to grow. Fertilizer, given at the right time, will encourage the grass to grow and fill in bare spots. Lawns need nitrogen....to green up and grow up. Winter takes a lot out of a lawn if it has not be been given food the autumn before. If the lawn has been given just this one feeding, in the fall, it can hardly be expected to live on it. Feedings throughout the season is necessary. You can go by what the package says, or go by your own schedule and the amounts given. Early spring feeding will encourage the grass to grow when the soil temperature does likewise. Its the temperature of the soil....not the air temperature, that can decide whether grass grows early or late. In early season, put 1/2" to 1" layer of good topsoil or compost over the lawn. Then fertilize when soil temperature says to do so. The soil should be 50º - 55º to make the grass want to grow. In mid season, give another feeding....and another before mid August when feeding stops to allow the lawn (and gardens) to rest before dormancy. Grass, like other plants, needs moisture to go into winter....but feeding late causes growth that might die off when early frost hits. Mid August in northern zones is a safe rule to follow. Later dates can be allowed in more southern areas. Each spring, and fall, give the lawn this compost layering to enrich the soil. Follow a feeding program and water as the lawn needs it....don't go by automatic watering when the lawn might not want or need it. For this then, I'd say take your lawn off the automatic sprinkling and put it on 'manual' operation so that you decide when and how much to give. Too much water, causes short roots and the grass cant stand up to summer heat. To little water, causes short roots and the grass cant stand up to summer heat. Good watering causes roots to go deep and furnishes grass with moisture during dry spells.

Hey, things are going pretty good other than I snapped my habanero in half (doh). Thanks for the input! I'll continue look into thrips being the issue. I'm a bit confused from what I've read so far though. Are these things so small I won't be able to distinguish them from a spec of dust? I have noticed small white dots or specs of dust on my plants but wrote it off as just dust.

Hopefully the new modem/router will take care of the problem. I would just use the Built-In Router. Too much of a hassle to try and Disable the Built-In Router! Just make sure you have a Secure Password Set up. You may also want to check around the internet to see if your ISP is trying to pull a Comcast. The New Comcast Modem/Routers are set up to use your modem to share with other Comcast Customers. Comcast doesn't tell you about this but when someone is close to your Network they'll see an Xfinity SSID (Hotspot) that's Unsecured. This person can then use your Connection to access the internet. This connection is separate from the connection you're using that is secured! It's a Dual Band Router and they have it set as a Guest account without your knowledge. Not 100% sure but I believe you must be a Comcast Customer to be able to use this Guest account (think they'll ask for your Comcast Info). Here is a link that can tell you about what Comcast has done: Xfinity WiFi, and how to shut this feature off! You don't have to let your modem broadcast a Hotspot! I haven't had very good luck with the New Modem/Routers (keep dropping connections) so I just have a Modem and I use my own Router. I have a Linksys EA6400 Dual Band Router and I have a Guest Account set with an easy to remember Password. The other Account Password is much harder to remember. I use the Guest Account forthe Guests at my house! Everyone always asks right away, what's your password? They want to connect their Phones, Tablets and Laptops!