Lawn fungus problem

7 years ago

Hello, Iv'e been looking at this forum for a while and have a question I was hoping I could get some advice about. I have a corner lot lawn that has a large ash tree at one side. The tree gives several hours of shade to different parts of over 3/4 of the lawn every day. There is however one strip about 12-14' wide and 25' long that gets full sun for the whole day. Starting about the last week of may/first week of june In the center of this area that gets full sun, for the last 3 years it has develops large brown areas that start to join together and the grass dies off fully in these areas. I have done a bunch of research and looked at lots of pics and I am almost 100% sure it's brown patch. The grass dies only in the sunny areas. There is not one blade that turns brown in the shadier areas. In late summer the grass has stopped dying and starts to slightly green up some. I end up over seeding the dead areas and it looks great for the fall and great for the next spring. Then the processes starts over again. I am thinking about using a fungicide this year as I don't want to go another year with the grass dying. the problem is I live in Southern Ontario, Canada and there is bans on what you can buy here for fungicides and weed killers and what not. One that I can get is beyer fungus control. I was wondering it anyone had used this and had any good results. I also want to fix the problem that is causing this so i'm going to do a soil test this spring and see what the results show.

For some history on the lawn so you can get a better idea here you go. Around 6 years ago I round-uped the hole lawn and planted scotts sun/shade mix grass seed (in the late summer) which is a mix of KBG/creeping red fescue/rye grass. I apply scotts fertilizer 4-5 times a year and usually over seed thin areas every late summer. After the last mowing of the year I apply scotts winter care which contains higher amounts of nitrogen. I keep the lawn on a deep infrequent watering schedule about 1" from 1-2 waterings a week. I mow the lawn at a 4" height. One thing I might be doing wrong is my fertilizing in the spring. There is usually a few dead spots after the snow melts and I seed them when it warms up enough to do so and apply scotts starter fertilizer to the hole lawn at this time. Then around 4 weeks later I put down the regular scotts fertilizer which has a nitrogen number of 30 on the bag. I don't know if maybe I should be using a lower nitrogen fertilizer as this is about the end of may that I put the fertilizer down and then the brown patches develop soon after. I don't want to go another year with dead grass in this spot as the rest of the grass looks very good. Any help you can give would be appreciated. I know it's winter and it's months before I need to deal with this problem but figured i'd get a early head start on looking into taking care of this. Sorry I don't have pics, and sorry for the long post.

thanks

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Comments (4)

User
7 years ago
Thank you for the detailed problem description, it is very refreshing.

Tell us how you've determined that you're applying 1" of water. We need to make sure it's not due to lack of water or over-watering.

As far as Bayer Fungus Control (propiconzole), it will do a good job at controlling brown patch and many other fungal diseases. However, it could be something else. KBG is not as susceptible to brown patch and other foliar fungal diseases as other grass types, but is very susceptible to root diseases like Summer Patch. Also, red fescue does not like sun and will go dormant/brown in direct sun. Ideally you should post some pictures so we can see what's going on. If you do apply a fungicide as a preventive, I would advise going with a granular so that you'll have both foliar and root diseases covered.

Cool season grasses need at least 4 pounds of N per year to look good. For a high maintenance KBG lawn you can go up to 8 pounds. 75% of the total N should be applied in the fall with only 25% applied in late spring (May). A fertilizer that is mostly slow release would be preferable in late spring.
snowbob11
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Thanks for replying.

I have one of those small rain gauges that you stick in the ground, so that's how I know about how much water the lawn gets.

I definitely should of taken pics last summer of the problem areas but unfortunately I didn't. When I was looking online at pictures of other lawns with problems like the one my lawn has to me it looked very much like brown patch but I could be wrong and it could be summer patch like you mentioned as they look fairly similar. I did try last year to incorporate a bag of just bluegrass in the sunny area as I did see that red fescue wasn't sun/heat tolerant but of course the fescue is still there. It is really good to know that granular protects from foliage and root fungus as I was going to get the spray one but think if it is possibly summer patch i'll get the granular one as it protects from both.

Just a couple more things. Do you think it is bad for any non mature grass that I plant in the spring to be given a granular fungicide?

Also I don't want to ask a stupid question but how do I determine the pound rate of nitrogen fertilizer to be spread from a bag of scotts 30-0-3 fertilizer?

Thanks
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User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Just a couple more things. Do you think it is bad for any non mature grass that I plant in the spring to be given a granular fungicide?

Not at all. As a matter of fact, fungicides can be applied right at seeding time to protect against fungal issues like damping off which plague newly germinated grass. Grass seed that is coated is a lot of times impregnated with fungicide, among other things.

Also I don't want to ask a stupid question but how do I determine the pound rate of nitrogen fertilizer to be spread from a bag of scotts 30-0-3 fertilizer?

The 3 numbers found on every bag of fertilizer represent the percentages of Nitrogen(N), Phosphorus(P) and Potassium(K) in the fertilizer product. We generally refer to it as the N-P-K. So the Scotts 30-0-3 is 30% N, 0% P and 3% K. If you were trying to apply 1 pound of N, you would spread 3.3 pounds of the Scotts 30-0-3 product. If you were to use a 20-0-5 fertilizer, you would spread 5 pounds of product to get 1 pound of N. And so on.

I need to clarify, the recommendation of 4 pounds of N per year is per thousand square feet. You should not exceed 1 pound of N per thousand sq ft per application per month, so the 3 pounds of N that need to go down in the fall would be broken into 3 monthly apps of 1 pound N each.
snowbob11 thanked User
snowbob11
Original Author
7 years ago
I need to clarify, the recommendation of 4 pounds of N per year is per thousand square feet. You should not exceed 1 pound of N per thousand sq ft per application per month, so the 3 pounds of N that need to go down in the fall would be broken into 3 monthly apps of 1 pound N each.

Ok, this is what I wasn't sure about. I understand the N, P, K But wasn't sure about the per pound per sq ft application amount.

Great to know about the fungicide not affecting the new seeds.

I will definitely try the bayer granular fungus control this spring and see how that goes.

Thanks a lot for your help. Much appreciated.

Lawn fungus problem

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