I renovated with TTTF last fall and I am already getting some fungal die off, and the conditions haven't been that hot or humid. It's not a classic presentation of brown patch, pythium, fairy ring, etc, just patches of grass that goes brown and dies. I think my issue is my seeding rate might have been too high. TTTF, especially the new ones, tiller heavily. If two seeds are close, then their tillering will overlap, which looks great in fall and spring, but once summer rolls around you have problems, the grass is always damp, no air can circulate, and fungus takes hold. It's probably a fine line between nice lawn, and fungus plagued lawn. Here are my thoughts on how to fix this problem. Stop overseeding every fall. I know it looks great, and fills in any bare spots but it also creates an extremely thick lawn that can't dry out in summer. Plus the young grass is more susceptable to fungal disease, so let your lawn age a bit and overseed periodically, not yearly. If you must overseed try a compatable KBG. KBG can be affected by the same fungal diseases, but it works out it is more resistant to the ones that TTTF is highly susceptable to. Cut at three inches. Most growers recommend this height as the upper cutting height, and shorter grass will be drier and less apt to lay down. Use a fungicide or apply cornmeal early in the spring. Fungicides you can put down at the first sign of disease or as a preventative. Lesco carries good ones that you can't get at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Heritage G and T-storm are two good ones that you can buy, and there are others. Stick with the granular ones, liquids are probably more effective but they are much more difficult to apply. They don't last a long time, so you have to reapply every month or so, and alternating the two will help prevent resistance. Cornmeal supports colonies of healthy fungus that will suppress the fungi that cause disease, but it takes a few weeks to get the fungi to colonize the cormeal, so do it early and often (I think the rate is 20lbs/1000 sq. feet). I think if you do the above you will see the incidence of fungal disease go down over time. Good luck.

Thanks tiemco. This is helpful. Am I okay putting cornmeal down now?

You can put it down now, again it takes a few weeks to get going, and it's a bit on the late side, but better late than never.

Are you sure it is a fungal/bacterial infection and not a problem with grubs or nematodes or some other beastie?

You might try digging around just to see what you uncover...

It would also allow you to try out a percolation test -- to verify your soil is properly draining... Poor drainage can lead to all sorts of fungal problems...

This time of year is also a prime time for cool growing "Weed" annuals and annual grasses to start dying off -- leaving brown patches...

Thanks

John

Hi John. This has been one of the more frustrating lawn issues I've ever had. I have checked for grubs and have not seen them in significant numbers. I am going to treat anyway, but I do not believe that to be the issue.

Through the process of elimination the past couple of years, I'm starting to come to believe that this is soil-borne disease.

The yard is large and there are a couple of areas that will remain wet for a couple of days after a heavy rain. I think that is a contributor, but not the main issue as we don't get heavy rains like that that often and I only water early mornings. I've barely used the irrigation system this year so far.

You are correct, fungal diseases do originate in your soil. They are always there, and only affect your lawn when conditions are favorable. It's a problem for anyone growing a nice turf, even golf courses have fungal issues.

It seems to me that Bacillous Thuringous (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) is the best natural control of grubs and caterpillars. I use it when I see that my collard and mustard greens are getting chomped on. I wonder if it could be a good grub control for lawns?

Here in SW Florida there are lots of grubs both in the lawn and in the garden. I mulch heavy with shredded leaves and that actually encourages the darned grubs. Every so often I try to turn the mulch a bit so I can collect the nasty grubs.

Here's an idea... something to try out on a small section -- to see if it does anything...

Try out a Mycorrhizal fungi innoculation...

Turns out that Good fungus is everywhere -- and it supports much of what we think of as "plant" life... This "Good" fungus tends to kill off the "Bad" fungus that kills off your grasses...

Sometimes, this natural balance gets out of whack -- like when you use a lawn chemical service like "True Green" that slathers your lawn in fungicide.... Turns out that the "Good Fungus" grows quite slowly compared to the "Bad" fungus.... and so it is quite slow to return...

Anyway -- you might try out one of those Mycorrhizal innoculant products on a small area -- let it go and see what happens... A free version would be to make up a manure or compost tea...

The guys over on the Organic Lawn Care board might be able to give some pointers...

Thanks

John

I have the same issue. Not a year goes by that fungus does not attack the lawn. For me it starts very early with "snow mold". Then it is inevitable that "dollar spot" will appear. Think about it, here where I live in NJ it is not uncommon for the late afternoon thunderstorms in the hot humid summer. Sometimes this occurs on a daily basis. Well this goes against all recommendations for watering. You know, water early morning so the lawn can dry before night. Well if it rains late afternoon and it is hot and humid all night, that invites disease.

I find the Scott's fungus control product to be most effective. I plan to heavily detatch and aerate my lawn in the fall and in addition, spread a layer of compost over the lawn to help breakdown thatch. The problem with fungicides is it gets quite expensive especially on a large lawn. Relistically it would probably cost me $150 or more to treat my lawn.

Funny thing, this year a lawn service solicited my business to treat my lawn for the season. Normally I would not agree but they gave me a great price to treat my lawn. I called them when I noticed the dollar spot. They sent an "expert" out to look at the lawn and said it was dollar spot and I need 2 treatments at $150 a piece = $300 and it would not be covered under the treatments for the season. I called them and told them I was cancelling the service. When they asked why I told them there was no way I was going to pay $300 to treat the disease (even though I would do it myself). I said since I was not going to treat the disease, there was no reason for them to show up anymore to fertilize a fungus filled lawn. Well miraculously the $300 treatment was free. I made it clear that if they want my business, they will address the issues that arise or I will do it myself and dump them. For the record, they used "Cleary" on the lawn and it is really starting to look good.

I too have used Scotts Fungus control in NJ and it seems to work.. never heard of 'Cleary', interesting!

MikeMerk - you've pretty much summed up my extact issue. Culturally, I know I am doing everything right, but this lawn just seems prone to this and early/late spring environmental factors like late day, heavy rains largely erase all of that.

I have been using Scotts and Bayer Advanced just to alternate what I'm putting down, but as you pointed out, that gets expensive.

I read somewhere that a high maintenance lawn is inherently an expensive one and that could not be truer. I would prefer good cultural practices and not have to rely on chemicals so much.

I've gotten some good advice on this string and appreciate everyone's input. I think I will try aeration with no overseed this fall and see if I can amend the soil over time so that the turf is strong enough to combat the issue on its own.

I have had what I think were fungal issues every year with my 3 year old TTF lawn. Spread around all kinds of fungicides (including some I probably wasn't supposed to, lol)and it only helped some.

This spring I hit my lawn with cornmeal in mid-April. A couple of weeks ago I had one brown spot and one yellowing patch and had that oh, no sinking feeling. Lo and behold they mostly stopped and green grass is now growing in both places. There are a few blades of fungus-y looking grass in the lawn, but scattered. I'm cautiously optimistic and my fingers are crossed.

I'm definitely willing to try different things. Where can you buy bulk amounts of cornmeal and how much does it cost?

I live in St. Louis and called a bunch of feed mill places with no luck. Finally, I found someplace nearby that says they can get it for me in a week. I'm debating on whether or not it will be beneficial now we're in mid-June. I may hold off and do this early next spring.