Guess What Now?? Brown Patch Blasting Tall Fescue in NC!

June is in full swing and so is brown patch in tall fescue lawns and landscapes.  Brown patch, caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, is the most common disease in tall fescue during late spring and throughout the summer months in North Carolina.  Brown patch infections can start as early as April in some years with full blown outbreaks occurring by late May and early June in most years.  As the name implies, symptoms are brown to tan areas of turf that are roughly circular patches that range from a few inches to several feet in diameter.

Brown Patch Lesion on Tall Fescue Leaf

The two most common mistakes managers of tall fescue make are fertilizing too late or too much in late spring and over watering.  Tall fescue should not be fertilized after the first of May, unless you are using ultra low rates (< 0.25 lb N/M) with iron for a color effect.  The recommended amount of nitrogen on tall fescue per year is 3-4 pounds per 1,000 square feet.  Most people will apply a pound or two in the fall and a pound or two in the spring.  When in doubt, submit a soil test to ensure you're feeding your lawn the right nutrients at the correct amounts.

Watering should be done only as needed to prevent drought stress.  When you do apply irrigation, do it deep and infrequent instead of watering every day.  It is a common mistake for homeowners to set their irrigation system on a schedule and forget about it.  Remember, fungi love water and if you over water, you're giving the advantage to the fungi, not the turfgrass.  The ideal time to water your lawn is in the early morning hours before sunrise.  Irrigating during late afternoon or early evening is the worst thing you can do because this extends the leaf wetness period, however brown patch will love you for it!

Symptoms of Brown Patch in Tall Fescue

Need help knowing when and how much to water your lawn?  Try out our online water management tool at the following link.

http://turf-ims.ncsu.edu/

For more information about brown patch, including control recommendations, please visit the following link.

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/Diseases/Brown_Patch.aspx

Winter Patch Diseases Now Flocking!

Recent weather patterns, as weird as they may be, have been favorable for two common winter time diseases to start showing up across portions of North Carolina. They are Microdochium patch (a.k.a. pink snow mold) and yellow patch (cool weather brown patch).

As most of you know, Microdochium patch doesn't require snow cover and isn't necessarily pink in color, although if you look at the picture below, you can see that the mycelium does indeed have a pinkish tone. Infection areas may start out as small as 2" in diameter and expand up to 12" over time. The leading edge of the patch may have a reddish brown or salmon color and the leaves in the middle will be collapsed and matted upon themselves. Also, this fungus is a heavy spore producer, so the damage may appear as if it has been spread or smeared by mowers, equipment, water, etc.

For more information about Microdochium patch, including control recommendations, click here.

Pinkish Flock of Microdochium Mycelium

Microdochium Patch

Microdochium Patch

Yellow patch is a very common disease of cool season turfgrasses this time of year and typically causes irregular patches up to 3 feet in diameter that are yellow in color. On creeping bentgrass putting greens and other lower cut turfgrasses, it reminds me of sweat rings in an old ball cap.

For more information about yellow patch, including control recommendations, click here.

Yellow Patch on Creeping Bentgrass

Yellow Patch on Ryegrass