# New Grass, Fungus Control



## macleod52 (Feb 23, 2018)

So I have a 5'x40' area that I seeded with KBG on the July 21. It started germinating after 6 days but I have continued to water 3x a day to help keep the soil moist for any remaining seed to germinate. I've been keeping the soil moist but decided yesterday that it's about time to start cutting back on frequency and watering deeply.

It was extremely humid last night and this morning I noticed there was signs of dollar spot on the new grass (spider web looking stuff all over the new grass). I went ahead and watered to a) maybe (in ignorance) wash it off the blades and hopefully allow it to dry and mitigate any damage 2) because I wanted to start cutting back to watering once in the morning and once around noon.

Needless to say we've been getting a light misting rain all morning. My fear is that the dollar spot is going to set in and kill my new grass. Is it too early to apply fungicide to the new grass? By washing it off this morning could I have prevented an outbreak if everything dries up and I water earlier in the day?


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## STL (Jul 14, 2018)

Have you applied milorganite recently by chance? That can cause harmless mycelium-looking spider webs, but those are usually on the soil.

If not, I'd be worried about possible dollar spot or pythium. Removing dew moisture and guttation with a bit of irrigation and allow it to dry is a good idea but it won't prevent a fungal outbreak necessarily.

Note that control of dollar spot and pythium differ quite a bit. Are you seeing any other symptoms, like hour glass lesions or brown/purple water soaked-looking blades where the mycelium is?

For dollar spot, you can apply propiconazole after the seedlings have 2-3 leaves. There are specialized fungicides to control pythium, but azoxystrobin can offer some control, although it's best as a preventative, and, per the label, can be sprayed on seedlings. A small dose of N helps with dollar spot, but can make pythium worse.


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## macleod52 (Feb 23, 2018)

I applied Milorganite at the same time I seeded, so a little over 2 weeks ago. I honestly don't remember if it was more towards the soil or on the blades. The grass is only about .5-.75 tall so it could have been either.

I'm afraid I'm not to the 2-3 leaf stage yet. Some of them are but many are not.

I'm not noticing any other symptoms. The grass looks really good overall. There are two or three spots where the grass has died but 99% of it still looks great.


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## STL (Jul 14, 2018)

What do the areas that died look like? Since it otherwise looks great and no other symptoms, I'd probably lean towards holding off but keeping a close eye on it.


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## macleod52 (Feb 23, 2018)

There are maybe 2 or 3 patches not very big in diameter that died. Not sure on exact measurements and I don't think they're circular. Almost like a spot that dried out or got too much water... or perhaps, albeit very unlikely, they died from the PreM I put down back in April. I leveled out this section and filled it with dirt so I'm not sure how deep the new dirt is in this section. I'll try taking pictures tomorrow.


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## macleod52 (Feb 23, 2018)

This is what I'm dealing with. It looks like I'm getting this throughout the yard now. It's been extremely dry but the last two days have been really humid and we got a tiny bit of rain (.12" Monday and .16" yesterday)so the grass has been wet overnight.


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## STL (Jul 14, 2018)

That is a lot of moisture!

From those pics, it's a tough call. It doesn't look like anything that I'm used to seeing at least. I'd keep a very close watch on that. Are some blades browning or spotting, especially that 5th pic?

Here's a pic of dollar spot or brown patch, unfortunately I can't remember which, fungi mycelium on my lawn from last year. Pics taken in the morning after dew.


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## macleod52 (Feb 23, 2018)

I just checked and I'm not seeing any brown tips or spotting. Perhaps it's just the lighting? It's supposed to be sunny and in the 80's today so I'm hoping it will help dry things out some. I'm not going to water today and will be cutting back to 7am watering's only now that everything is established. I did notice some fungus like what you shared this morning. I'm hoping to let it run its course. We haven't had much rain or many humid days so I'm hoping it won't be a huge issue.


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## Mozart (Jul 17, 2018)

Here is what milorganite mycelium looked like in my lawn around July 4th. If you can see the fuzzy white stuff around individual Milo pearls that would imply it's just the Milo breaking down. Hope this helps


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## STL (Jul 14, 2018)

macleod52 said:


> I just checked and I'm not seeing any brown tips or spotting. Perhaps it's just the lighting? It's supposed to be sunny and in the 80's today so I'm hoping it will help dry things out some. I'm not going to water today and will be cutting back to 7am watering's only now that everything is established. I did notice some fungus like what you shared this morning. I'm hoping to let it run its course. We haven't had much rain or many humid days so I'm hoping it won't be a huge issue.


OK. Cutting back watering to the morning is probably a good idea so the grass can dry some during the day. Keep an eye on it though both so it doesn't dry out from less water and if things go south from disease, which can happen quickly in the early stages of a reno. All that extra moisture on new grass screams potential fugal issues.

@Mozart nice reference. Thanks for sharing the pics.


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