Identify And Treat Lawn Diseases
As earlier discussed, a positive ID of whichever fungal disease or issue is ailing your Bermuda grass is crucial in ensuring that youre spending on treatment measures that will work.
The sampling process for turfgrass disease determines whether your disease diagnosis is accurate or not. The recommended sampling procedure is as outlined below:
Overall, you can maintain a great lawn free of brown spots and patches, or areas of thinning by feeding the grass properly, watering and basically following the best practices when seeding and sodding.
How To Identify And Control Brown Patch
When lawn disease strikes, your dreams of a thick, beautiful lawn may seem to slip out of reach. But the solution to your problems can be as simple as disease I.D. and changes in your lawn care routine. Most common lawn diseases start with fungal pathogens that can’t flourish unless conditions favor their growth. With proper lawn disease identification and disease-fighting culture, you can control disease and enjoy a healthy lawn.
Brown patch disease strikes lawns from late spring through summer months, continuing into fall. All parts of the grass plant from roots to blade tips are affected by this disease. Bermudagrass,perennial ryegrass, and tall fescue are common brown patch targets. The disease often attacks fine fescues and Kentucky bluegrass as well.1,2
When cultural controls fail to manage fungal lawn diseases, a lawn fungicide can help. As with garden fungicides, early treatment is key to preventing fungal pathogens from germinating and spreading. Many effective fungicides are available only to lawn professionals. Your local county extension agent is an excellent source for information on lawn fungicides and their use for lawn diseases.
Pennington with design and Smart Seed are trademarks of Pennington Seed, Inc.
Brown Spots In Grass: Identification And Prevention
No one wants unsightly brown spots taking over their once-green stretch of lush, green lawn. But in order to solve this problem, you have to know exactly what youre dealing with. There are multiple causes of brown spots, from poor soil quality to dog urine and over-fertilization. But dont fret. This Old House will show you how to identify the brown spots in your grass, repair them, and prevent them.
Once youve taken care of your brown spot, This Old House Reviews Team recommends hiring a professional lawn care company to handle all of your lawn care needs to keep your grass hardy and robust. TruGreen offers five annual plans with options like overseeding and aeration that can help you avoid brown spots.
You May Like: Who Makes Riding Lawn Mowers
How To Fix Brown Patch In Lawn
- To prevent spots caused by the nitrogen in dog urine, create a mulch or gravel area in your yard for your dog.
- If your brown spots appear after you mow, check your mower blade. Dull blades shred the grass, which damages the ends that then turn brown.
- In midsummer, check for grubs. And if you find them, apply a grub control product to your lawn.
- Brown patch fungus grows in circular patterns sometimes several feet wide and is generally found during hot, sticky weather. Treat your lawn every other week for 6 weeks with a lawn fungus control product. And water just once a week, since a wet lawn encourages the fungus.
- If you have broad patches of brown, you could have overfed your lawn. Water the burned area every 3 days with at least one-half inch of water for about 4 weeks. And dont fertilize again until the area perks back up.
Related articles:
Recommended Reading: How Long After Lawn Treatment Is It Safe For Pets
What Are Brown Patches In Lawns
Brown patch is actually caused by a fungus called Rhizoctonia. This tough fungus will lay dormant over the Summer, then spring into action once temperatures start to reach around 70°F, and is at its most potent when temperatures range from 8085°F. It often pops up right after heavy rain events and cloudy days.
In the very early stages of fungal development, the grass will look wilted and wet, and the grass edges may look wavy. This stage doesnt last long, though, and soon it will turn into a brown patch that gets matted and sunken into the ground. Brown patch spreads outward quite fast from a central point, so as soon as you start to see brown circular patches popping up in your grass, its time to get to work. You may often notice a rusty orange ring around the patches, or spots where two patches meet and form an irregular shape.
Don’t Miss: What Kind Of Fertilizer Should I Use On My Lawn
Identify Snow Mold Disease
Snow mold is a lawn disease caused by two principle fungal culprits: gray snow mold , and pink snow mold .As the names suggest, gray snow mold shows a white-to-grayish webbing to the infected areas, while pink snow mold is grayish to pink.
The spores or fungal structures launch into active growth beneath the snow cover in the late winter when the temperatures beneath the snow cover range from slightly below freezing to about 45°F. When snow cover melts, the active fungal infections will continue to thrive and spread until surfaces dry out or temperatures are steadily above 45°F. Pink snow mold is slightly more tenacious, growing actively as long as the lawn is moist and temperatures are between 32°F and 60°F.
What Causes Brown Patches In St Augustine Grass
St. Augustine Grass is susceptible to a type of fungus aptly called brown patch fungus. Brown patch fungus unsurprisingly causes large brown patched in the lawn. Brown patch fungus proliferates in cool wet conditions.
Maintaining your yard properly can prevent this type of fungus from destroying your lawn. Most steps for patch fungus prevention are typical for maintaining any yard, but St. Augustine grass can be a bit more sensitive.
For more on taking care of any lawn check out out The Ultimate Lawn Care Guide
Also Check: How To Get Clover Out Of Lawn
Dark Brown Or Gray Fungal Threads In Your Grass
Fungus in St. Augustine grass also presents itself as web-like threads on stolons or crowns of grass. Gray or dark brown threads are an obvious sign of Rhizoctonia fungus and a spectrum of other fungal diseases.
These threads become highly visible as small patches on your lawn after a rainy session. Ultimately, these fungal threads cause the grass blades to rot in the areas they cover, resulting in dead grass.
Some of these signs may be common to other fungi, diseases, or due to pest infestation and pet urine.
Contact a professional lawn care company to ascertain what is affecting your St. Augustine turfgrass.
Recommended Reading: How To Nail Hardie Board Siding
What Does Brown Patch Lawn Disease Look Like
The chief characteristic of brown patch lawn disease is, in fact, the presence of circular brown patches on your lawn oftentimes with a spot of green grass in the middle. This is different from summer patch which is a crescent shape and affects the roots of the grass.
Brown patch disease begins as spotting on leaf blades. The infected grass blades will also have a dark ring around the brown lesions slightly different than leaf spot disease. As the spotting continues, they bleed together to completely turn the grass blade brown. In time, the dead areas of grass appear to be encircled by a dark smoke ring or what appears to be a dark brown border. The ring is most noticeable in the early morning hours. Each brown patch may measure a mere few inches to several feet.
Don’t Miss: How Much Does Lawn Spraying Cost
What Causes Brown Spots In The Lawn
Discover the most common causes of brown patches in your yard and how to treat them.
It can be alarming and frustrating to see brown spots ruining what would otherwise be a beautiful green stretch of grass, especially if youre not sure how they got there or what to do about them. Brown spots in the lawn can show up for many different reasons, so the first step toward treating them is to identify the cause of the problem. Below are the most common causes of brown spots in the lawn and how to treat them so you can get your lush green lawn back.
Fungus
Brown spots due to fungal problems usually show up as irregular patches. If the disease has been active for a while, the inside of the patch may recover, leaving a ring of dead grass around it. Extremely rainy or humid weather can encourage fungal outbreaks, as can lack of sunlight and poor air circulation. Although you cant control the weather, there is something you can do to protect against fungus. ApplyScotts® DiseaseExLawn Fungicide according to the label directions to not only treat active diseases, but also to prevent future problems from listed fungi.
Grubs
Dog Urine Burns
Weed Dieback
Dead spots can also occur in the lawn when annual weeds like crabgrass, annual bluegrass, and foxtail begin to die back. This is a natural cycle that can be avoided with proper lawn maintenance and quickly patched withScotts® EZ Seed® Patch & Repair. As always, be sure to follow the directions on the label.
Thatch
How To Prevent Brown Patch
As previously stated, this particular turf disease will be most successful if your lawn is wet going into the evening and night. To prevent brown patch water your lawn in the early morning, preferably between 3:00am – 8:00am.
Proper airflow is also crucial to preventing brown patch. As previously stated, brown patch prefers moist areas so if you increase airflow in troublesome areas, it will help to dry off your turfgrass. Do your best to increase circulation in these areas by removing unnecessary objects or foliage in your backyard. Also, a proper regiment of aeration will help to strengthen your lawn and increase airflow to the root zone.
You May Like: What Temperature Is Too Hot To Fertilize Lawn
Control Brown Patch Chemically
Chemical treatment is typically needed in severe cases or on high-value or high-resistant grasses. First and foremost, be sure to read the label. You want to be sure that youre treating the right disease and applying it properly.
Clemsons HGIC guide also provides a table of active fungicide ingredients and their effectiveness on brown patch fungus.
Consider using products with these active ingredients to help control brown patch in your lawn:
- Pyraclostrobin in Pillar G Intrinsic Fungicide
- Fluoxastrobin in Disarm 0.25
- Azoxystrobin, both with and without Propiconazole
Its a good idea to go ahead and pick up two different fungicides. Alternating which ones you use can help prevent a buildup of resistance to any certain fungicide.
To apply fungicide, follow these tips for the best results.
Regular applications every 14-28 days will make sure your lawn is free of fungus and stays looking healthy and green through the summer. Here are some regular application recommendations.
When you have a spot of brown patch, theres also the question when applying fungicide of whether to spot-treat or spray the whole lawn. That depends on several factors.
- The size of the lawn.
- If the homeowner is working to reduce chemical usage. Homeowners should look at places in their yard where brown patch has historically been a problem and start there.
- Look at some of those locations and how you target your sprays and applications and decide whether you need to treat the entire lawn.
Problem: Not Enough Nutrients
The soil in your garden might not have the right balance of nutrients for the grass to thrive, causing nutrient deficiencies and poor growth. Nitrogen is one of the most important macro-nutrient, be it for a potted plant or your lawn grass. It is needed for growth and chlorophyll production which gives the plant its green color. A nitrogen-deficient plant is characterized by yellowing leaves first the old leaves turn yellow followed by younger leaves. Older leaves may also die and the grass takes on a yellowish tinge overall. Magnesium, Manganese, Sulfur and Iron are other nutrients which can cause your grass to turn yellow or even make it crinkle and die.
Recommended Reading: How To Start Your Own Mowing Business
Read Also: How Do You Get Rid Of Red Thread In Lawns
How Do I Get Brown Spots Out Of My Lawn
Examine the sprinklers if the brown patches emerge in only one section of your grass. To ensure complete coverage, you may need to adjust the sprinkler heads. But occasionally, something else, like pet urine or lawn grubs, could be the issue. Therefore, to address the brown spot problem on your lawn, you must first identify its underlying cause.
Can My Lawn Grow Back After Brown Patch Pythium Blight Or Dollar Spot
The only way the grass can recover from dollar spot and brown patch damage is for the grass to grow enough that the damaged blades are pushed up and mowed off, revealing new and undamaged blades below. Tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass grass types grow more slowly as temperatures rise so it would take weeks or months for the grass to recover. And, it may require fall seeding to get the lawn back into shape. Thats why preventing damage before disease development is so important.
The best products for preventing and controlling lawn fungus are very expensive. Understanding turf diseases, their control, and when and how to apply them is very important. To get help with your lawn and protect it from fungus, request an estimate for disease control from a professional lawn care service.
Many conditions can cause patches of brown, dead grass on your lawn, but only one gets the official name brown patch. Brown patch disease is a condition caused by a single species of fungus, Rhizoctonia, that often occurs in mid- to late-summer when the weather is hot and humid.
Don’t Miss: How To Kill Weeds In Lawn
Symptoms Of Brown Spots In Bermuda Grass
- Brown patches on your Bermuda grass lawn may start small but will increase in size as the seasons get warmer.
- Often, these spots have a ring-like appearance, with the brown spots forming an outer circle enclosing a smaller, inner circle with live grass.
- Every grass blade acquires this tan color, with only the crown reserving the original lush green color.
Drought Stress & Dormancy
The grass may enter dormancy during extreme heat or drought dress, thus turning brown.
Many types of turf grasses enter a state of dormancy when the temperature is high, and there is a shortage of water. Theres nothing to worry about your grass will bounce back as the weather cools down and the rain starts falling again.
Warm-season grasses and some cool-season grasses go dormant in the winter. Some areas of your lawn may begin to turn brown before others if it is located in a transition zone and is composed of many different kinds of grass. You will probably notice that your grass is beginning to wilt before it becomes brown if the problem is caused by heat stress or drought. Also, browning will often occur across the entire lawn rather than in isolated places.
How To Make Your Lawn Immune To Drought & Heat?
Increase the mowing height to 3 inches or more in the summer. The higher grass will provide shade for the roots and lessen water evaporation. Similarly, you must water your lawn sparingly yet deeply. It will maintain your grass drought resistance and promote the development of deep roots. You may also need to adjust a sprinkler head to ensure that the sprinkler is reaching all areas of the lawn.
Also Check: What Services Do Lawn Care Companies Provide
How To Prevent And Get Rid Of Brown Patch Lawn Disease
The fungus that causes Brown Patch lawn disease is present in many areas. Disease prevention is very difficult if the grass species is susceptible.
Proper watering in the early morning though mid-day to prevent wet grass at night may be of some, though limited, benefit. Proper mowing on a frequent basis to promote air movement and drying of the leaf blades may be of more benefit when preventing and battling Brown Patch.
More tips for treating brown patch:
- Use moderate amounts of nitrogen fertilizer.
- Fungicides can be effective if applied before the onset of the disease
- Dont over- or under-fertilize your turf, as that can encourage Brown Patch.
Reseed With Resistant Grass Varieties
Where all other efforts fail you may need to reseed with a turfgrass variety that has known resistance to this fungus. A variety of grasses are available with moderate resistance to the Rhizoctonia fungus. If a brown patch is an annual occurrence, consider top-seeding your lawn with resistant grasses. Check with your local university extension service on recommendations for resistant grass species.
tab1962/Getty Images
Recommended Reading: How To Improve Lawn Soil
Brown Patch Control: How To Get Rid Of Brown Patch
Brown Patch is a common lawn disease and can become a widespread problem in both residential and commercial lawns. Brown Patch is caused by a fungus called Rhizoctonia solani and can infect many different cool and warm-season grasses.
Brown Patch appears in the form of spotting on the leaf blades which can bleed together to turn the leaf brown and circular areas of brown or dead grass outlined by a narrow, dark ring. Depending on the grass type, Brown Patch can affect the turf differently.
Brown Patch will affect cool-season grasses typically in late spring or during summer when temperatures are hot and humid. Warm season grasses can see brown patch around fall or during warm weather in winter months. This disease can very quickly spread without intervention.
If your lawn has Brown Patch, it can be eliminated by following the steps in this DIY guide which was put together by lawn care experts. Follow our directions carefully and you will be able to restore your lawn and eliminate Brown Patch.
