FROM: Beverly Boshear Master Gardener Hunt County Weekly News Column On the Grow Brown patch in lawns usually occurs in late summer or early fall when temperatures are between 75-85 degrees and the humidity is high. Brown patch is cause by a common lawn fungus, Rhizoctonia solani that especially affects St. Augustine turf but can also occur in Bermuda lawns. The lawn will show circular or irregular patches of light brown, thinned grass. These patches will continue to grow larger and multiple patches are common in most lawns. You can identify brown patch by the yellow leaves at the edges of the patch. The leaf will show tan spotting with black margins on the blade which will eventually turn the entire leaf brown and will rot and you will be able to easily pull the leave away from the runner. The runner itself will not be affected. Moisture levels are a large part of controlling Brown Patch in lawns. At this time of the year we are beginning to have very heavy dews over night and many home owners water at night thinking there will be less evaporation. The longer the grass stays wet the more chance there is to develop Brown Patch in the lawn. Over watering and watering at the wrong time helps promote Brown Patch. If you have identified Brown Patch in your lawn apply a fungicide as soon as possible. Some of the products available to the home owner are Banner, Bayleton,Daconil and Captan. Always read and follow the direction on the product. Curing your lawn of Brown Patch make take a couple of sprayings at 14 day intervals. Brown Patch will not kill your lawn but may weaken it enough to allow weeds and other undesirable grasses such as Dallas Grass to invade and take over the lawn. It is important that you bag your grass clipping and thoroughly wash your mower blades after you have mowed a lawn infected with Brown Patch. This will keep you from spreading in infection to healthier parts of your lawn. Next year you might plan to apply preventive fungicides about the first of September if you have had Brown Patch in the lawn in the past.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 00:32:23 +0000
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