One of the problems with fungus is before you get a chance to diagnose it, it's too late. Or at least you think it is too late because the grass is all gone. But then you wait for the grass to return or you put new grass in there and it dies, too.

One of the reasons I picked up the organic program is that ordinary corn meal worked so well at killing fungus disease for me.

When the forsythias bloom, GO FOR IT! You're thinking you can outfox Mother Nature by watching TV. Most preemergents work for a few weeks only and then they are gone. If the forsythias think it is time to bloom, then the weed seeds do too.

If you can keep your grass mowed as high as possible and only water once a week (realizing that Mother Nature has Her own plans), you should not have much of a crabgrass problem.

No need to panic on the CG pre-emergent. You can wait until tax day with no problems. The Forsythia bloom is the beginning of nothing more or less than a point of reference. CG seeds need warm soil to germinate just like cool season seeds, the difference is that once the cool season seed germinates it can take temps below freezing without dying, unlike CG seedlings (they will be killed, no contest)

The soil temperature is anything but warm right now. This moring at the RDU Airport, the low temperature read 16F, and right now at 10:50 pm EST it's 23F going down to 17F.

I know a warm period is comming, but that's just for a few days - then the cold will return.

Wait until tax day at least so you can get some grass seed (fescue) germination, then apply the pre-emergent. And by the way, I haven't seen a single Forsythia bloom yet where I live or anywhere close to it(I'm in the Weston area near SAS)Where are you exactly located?

CG germinates when soil temperatures are 50 degrees and rising, and right now as I type this the top soil is frozen solid.

Right now the only thing blooming are daffodils...

Jim, whatever soil fungus that could develp will not show up until the summer months. Snow mold normally does not attack Fescue or Bluegrass in our area, it mainly attacks Bentgrass. It's not a common disease here because the snow usually does not stay on the ground long enough (over a month or more is ideal) to allow the bacteria to form. However, it does happen from time to time. I have seen it happen on golf course greens in Central NC, but those are Bentgrass like I said before.

Fescue is tough on diseases here in Raleigh, the lack of water will kill it first; Bluegrass is the oppossite.

Soil-born fungus are VERY difficult to control at best, it requires bi-weekly applications of different chemicals and very good knowledge of what to apply and how often.

I wouln't worry too much if I were you, just keep an eye or two on those new seedlings, then pre-emergent.

Thanks for the input guys. You'd think after all this time I'd know what I'm doing, but I guess I get to the point that I start questioning all my established patterns and schedules after I take a good hit like last fall. Actually, the first application I put Dylox down last fall, then decided to repeat the apps but with corn meal instead. I haven't seen any signs of grass death yet, but I'm gonna be a little proactive here and hit the low areas every month with cornmeal (where it puddles most).

auteck - I'm in Garner (south Raleigh) and we definately have the yellow flowers showing now. However, I checked soil temps this AM and they're 25-30, so that's not a real worrier for me. What I wasn't aware of was that CG would die once the seed germinates and then the temps drop below freezing again. For some reason I thought once it germinated it was good until fall. That's good to know.

As I said I haven't had CG for many years now, but I think I will wait a little longer for the fescue seedlings to get going. How much growth is necessary before I put out the Dimension? Maybe if I knew what the optimum soil temps were (I know over 50) for X number of days for CG I could monitor the soil maps to gauge how much time I had left, but not to close. I know you say April 15th, but it could warm up and stay warm this year, then I'd be screwed. :-)

Thanks for this thread guys. I am in North Raleigh and this info about when to put CG pre-emergent is very insightful. My lawn is all fescue and gets full sun but maybe one day I will switch over to something else. I don't think PR or blue grass do well in North Raleigh. I certainly don't see anyone around my neighborhood with it. One or two folks have bermuda or zoysia but everyone else has fescue. I wonder how it will do this summer?

Probably like every summer, and then we'll be out there next fall seeding again. SOS. :-)

That's one reason why I've put in small 15-30' trees all around the front and back yard areas. Maybe I'll get just enough partial shade to keep it from burning up.

Guys, Fescue does not burn up in full sun here in Raleigh, the lack of water kills it. Bluegrass (the new elite types)does not burn up in full sun here either, niether drought, disease will if conditions are right.

PRG is grows (the new turf-types) here in Raleigh as well, but requires more maintenance if grown in full sun. I'm trying this new variaty this year from Turf-seed that has been growing very well for the past few years in the Rolesville (near Wakeforest) Is suppose to do well in our climate.

I have tested many type of grasses here in the Raleigh area for the past 7 years, and what I have learned is that a mixture of Fescue/bluegrass works best.

This year I'm trying PRG/bluegrass mix and blend, I'll let you know the results.

While medium shade is acceptable for growing Fescue or Bluegrass, part shade to full sun is preffered.

What happens when you have medium shade is that your cool season grass behaves like a warm season grass. Looks like garbage during the winter because of the lack of sun, then it's beautiful during the summer.

I'll post some pictures later.

Well, here is what NCSU wrote back to me about applying pre-m after seeding 3 weeks ago:
"When was the tall fescue seeded? No preemergence should be applied to a lawn that was established late winter. If it was seeded last fall or early winter and has been mown a couple times, there are a few options but Dimension is not a good choice unless the fescue is 100% established."

So now what do I do??

Rule of thumb is, once you've mowed it a couple of times and is established, then you can apply a herbicide. You shouldn't do anything before then. The great thing about dimension, though, is that it will prevent crabgrass even 10 to 14 days after it germinates. So if you have to wait a week or two longer than you wanted to to throw it down, it should still give you great control. If the crabgrass comes through anyway, then you can hit it with acclaim or drive for postemergent control.

Okay, thanks. Are both Acclaim and Drive alright tp use on fescue lawns? Haven't used them before.

The soil temp maps are showing between 60-70deg, so I hope I can pull this waiting thing off for the grass to grow. Don't know how much damage the Dimension would do before the grass is up 3-4", but I'm getting all different sorts of perennial type weeds popping too, so the temps must be getting close. Witht he cool temps and rain coming in maybe it'll hold things off for a while.

Here is a link that might be useful: soil temps

Yes, acclaim and drive are both safe to use on fescue lawns. You can burn the tips if you overdo it, but it always comes back. Drive also does a fair job on most broadleaf weeds, unlike acclaim. Using a drop or two of soap with it really helps, or you can buy a surfactant, which is ideal. Q4 is another popular product that mixes the active ingredient in Drive with 2 broadleaf ingredients and an ingredient that attacks yellow nutsedge as well as burning back broadleaf weeds. So if you want an all-in-one product, it's a great choice.

Okay, thanks for the input denver. I've got 4 days of rain coming in so I think I'll wait on anything I was thinking of doing. Might toss out some more seed in a couple of places and just go around those areas with the pre-m when I do that part. I'm getting REAL tired of babying this dam thing.

Jimtnc, that soil temperature map is incorrect. I just checked the soil temperature this morning in my lawn and the readings from 5 different places are as follow:

Frontyard: 47, 48, 45 (full sun area)

Backyard: 42, 44, 43 (medium shade)

You are perfectly safe to add a crabgrass pre-emergent between April 1st to the 20th according to a Lawn book made by Scotts. I've never seen a crabgrass seedling up and running in April or even early May. I usually spot them at the beginning of June and there after.

I have decided this year not to put down any pre-emergent (the first round) until June to see what happens. I have a very dense lawn, so don't forsee much weed (crabgrass included) activity in the next two months. I'll let you know of my findings.

Here's some encourament for you:

{{gwi:81524}}

Lookin' good auteck. Obviously, I have a lot more to do now with mine.

Yeah, I just checked the map and it says 55-65F. But, the one thing I didi see yesterday is that dadgum Poa starting to seed up. It's always an adventure around my place...and not cheap either.