Did you notice the words "Pythium Blight" in my post is a link? This photo above was taken from there. The link also includes symptoms for recognition and suggestions for controlling the disease. Yes, water only once a week and only 1 inch. The best idea for irrigating is to wait for the grass to tell you it needs water. It will show signs of drought stress like turning a darker or pale color, wilting, drooping, or laying down. You also notice footprints remain for too long after the grass is steooed on. Water then. If you're not comfortable noticing or recognizing the signs, once a week is good enough. If you're going to fertilize this summer, which you likely will and I suspect you already have, use Milorganite or some other organic fertilizer. You won't get high nitrogen intake with those. Nitrogen can be very antagonistic, most often when too much is applied. That easily happens. The reason I suspect you fairly recently fertilized is that you probably would not have contracted the disease with too much water alone. Don't get me wrong, too much water is not good and contributes to disease. I'm saying too much water coupled with nitrogen makes it impossible for the grass to resist disease. You still want to be able to fertilize at the proper times, so organic fertilizer will be best. I highly recommend an organic turf maintenance program but not trying to push you into it if you don't prefer it. So, just use them for the summer until you get the disease under control. Then, you can go back to using whatever you want, being careful not to over apply. If you tell us what type of grass you have, I can link you to turf maintenance outline for future reference. I imagine you're growing bermuda, so here's the Bermuda Bible just in case. If not bermuda, let us know. If Milorganite is not available in your area, there will likely be a similar product by another brand name. Just ask your garden center for their processed sludge fertilizer. If there aren't any, grains like alfalfa meal or soy bean meal will serve your purpose. Can't get those from garden centers though. You'll need a feed store or outlet. You'll see cobweb-looking fungus early in the morning Later in the day, the spots look watery or greasy. This is how it looks when the disease matures. It's called melting out. You want to try to prevent this because it can happen quickly. I'm sorry I have no idea of a fungicide that is effective on pythium blight and safe for warm season grasses. Your garden may be able to help that. Whatever they recommend, be sure to read the label carefully.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. My last post was in the excitement of the moment, this one is not so happy. My office is in a back bedroom looking out over the lake and part of my garden. I had not mentioned this but earlier today I'd also seen a female duck out on the lake with 6-7 baby ducklings. I think everyone knows where this is going...a few minutes ago I noticed the female duck up in the backyard with only three babies. I went out to the back of my elevated pool deck for a look see and unfortunately off to the side in the water was the otter, eating two dead baby ducks. Nature can be wonderful but sometimes the realities of life can also be cruel.... Tom

Ah, that's it Rosie. Mine looks very much like the picture marked Illustration and less like the actual photographs. It's the only bird I've seen so far that hops around in the garden among the plants picking away at the ground. And it is the size of a full grown robin. It doesn't seem to have a partner. It's the only one I've ever seen. Doesn't come around until evening either. Hank

No, they aren't too large. 7.5 inches is what I am finding. They are parasitic brooders and lay their eggs inside the nests of other birds. That can cause some issues for the host species brood as the Cowbird chick often hatches first and therefore gets more food. They are federally protected birds though.~~A