# From Crown Lawn to Brown Lawn



## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Hi,
First post on this forum. I look forward to contributing! I just started getting serious into lawn care this year and recently into wanting a more organic lawn care schedule after following some great channels on YouTube. (Grass Daddy, saw the link on your shirt which brought me here!)

In spring, I was actually dominating. 

I had used Scotts Crabgrass with Halts in early May (too late) and Scotts Turf Builder Weed and Feed (never again)in early June. By July 4 I had better researched how to care for my lawn and put down Milorganite. I irrigate 2x per week, mow tall, but summer and the humidity this season has my lawn brown and out! I live in Western NY and its been an incredible humid year. Looking for some summer advice on how to turn this brown back to green.

It doesn't look like a rust fungus to me but a tree out front on my property had a rust fungus I treated with a fungicide and another newly planted tree is now turning brown also.


Backyard shows the current state best:








Thank you for all and any help! :mrgreen:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Welcome to the site. Looking at the images (the black dots on the right side), it looks like leaf spot https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-103-W.pdf but it could also be summer stress. The 04Jul Milo might have caused more stress. The milo has nitrogen that encourages growth when the lawn is trying to survive the heat. How your weather been?


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Hi g-man,
Weather has been extremely humid for the past month or more. It was hot and dry in early June and since been extremely muggy. I got a nice dark green up from the Milo except in all of the brown spots which is making my lawn look patchier than ever. Is there a good granual fungicide I could put down? Or is that not the right next step? Thanks


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

If it is fungus, then yes apply a herbicide. The article has a recommendation. It also says not to use one herbicideb because it was banned for home lawns, but some folks use it against the label.


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## BrettWayne (Jun 19, 2017)

I had a fungus issue recently in my lawn and used Bayer advanced fungicide and worked great for me. 
It's a 10lb bag that covers up to 5000 sft.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^ he needs to make sure the ai in that product cures his type of fungus, if he has fungus since I'm not sure.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

How can I tell for sure if its a fungus and if so what kind? Would trying the Bayer hurt if it isn't fungus? I could take better photos today if needed too.


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## BrettWayne (Jun 19, 2017)

That was kind of my thought that the bayer wouldn't hurt . Maybe give it a try what you think G-man?


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## BrettWayne (Jun 19, 2017)

Just seen g-mans previous comment and he's got a good point . Not really sure if it is a fungus so the bayer probably wouldn't hurt anything but would be wasting your money and time if it isn't a fungus ..


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Ok, found some blades of grass on the lawn thatI gotta believe is a fungus.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

MarkAguglia said:


> How can I tell for sure if its a fungus and if so what kind? Would trying the Bayer hurt if it isn't fungus? I could take better photos today if needed too.


Sorry, I've been busy at work today. Use this tool to identify the type of fungus. http://turfdiseaseid.ncsu.edu/



BrettWayne said:


> Just seen g-mans previous comment and he's got a good point . Not really sure if it is a fungus so the bayer probably wouldn't hurt anything but would be wasting your money and time if it isn't a fungus ..


So here is the deal with applying fungicides. They tend to kill everything, the good, the bad and the ugly. It is kinda like taking antibiotics. It could kill all of good bacteria in your guts and give you diarrhea. Using too frequent causes the body to build resistance to it. Therefore, I avoid the use of fungicides until I see no choice. This means, I confirm it is a fungus and/or it is getting worst before I apply. I try to encourage my good fungus on the lawn to fight off bad fungus, so I dont want to kill the good stuff with a fungicide. So it hurts, but it is more of a long term hurt. Virginiagal posted some really good info recently around this. Some of us use organics (cracked corn, milk, alfalfa etc) plus Serenade (a good bacteria) to further fight off the fungus.



MarkAguglia said:


> Ok, found some blades of grass on the lawn thatI gotta believe is a fungus.


Use the tool above to compare images. The leaf on the left on both images has the signs of brown patch to me.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

That is a super useful tool! Thank you. I really look forward to diving into this forum. Hope you guys will excuse my newbie questions at first!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

We were all newbies at some point. Keep asking and reading other threads. Some times we give a few sentences to answer the question quickly. When we have more time, we write long paragraphs and try to explain it in detail.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Hey Mark,

I was in a similar situation not too long ago with fungus, and I used information from g-man and Virginiagal to work through it. I ended up electing to not use a fungicide. I stopped watering for a bit. Then I noticed, in another thread, that g-man was trying to prevent fungus by mowing shorter. I followed suit. At this point the fungus isn't gone, but it is a heck of a lot better. FWIW.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

I believe that this is the aforementioned information by Virginiagal. You want page 2 of the thread. 
http://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=509&start=20


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Looks like I've got some morning reading to do. &#128513; thanks social port!

My plan for today was to mow shorter, bag the clippings and see how it looks after that. My lawn is still mostly a nice dark green so id like to see if i can ride it out before having to use a fungicide.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

I posted some info June 17. It's on page 4 now (I haven't figured out how to copy a link to a thread). I had an idea of combining biofungicides with synthetic (when necessary) and choosing a synthetic that's effective but less harmful to the mycorrhizae.

I had brown patch in June. Neither cracked corn in April or repeated Serenade since early May prevented or cured it. The affected areas were not extensive and some grass has grown back! That's pretty successful in my experience with brown patch. The grass is thinner now than in its prime in May. The brown patch was a stress. This July heat is a greater stress. I will be happy if some survives. I have never used synthetic fungicide and did not see anything I wanted to use in those lists I found. Some grass will survive, some will die, and I will overseed this fall.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Some other things to do:
Irrigate in the early morning (ideally before sun comes up), not in the afternoon or early evening. Try to keep the grass blades as dry as possible as long as possible.
When you lower the cut, do it gradually. The lower cut will allow it to dry out but you still want enough grass blade left to enable photosynthesis.
Air circulation helps. If there are overhanging branches, you might consider doing some trimming.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Yeah I had been watering late at night all spring and summer and recently read thats a big mistake. I've been doing it early mornings since. I'll try bag mowing today at 2.5" (typically do 3"). I'm going to ride it out instead of using any chemicals because I'm still raw and dont want to make any bigger mistakes since my lawn actually still looks pretty decent.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

If you want to drop hoc now, be careful. I would mow at 3in and then wait 3 days and then mow at 2.5in bagging the clips. Don't go from unmowed (~3.5in) to 2.5in since it will stress the lawn. Baby steps. It is best to do these adjustments after mid August.

I recommend having the herbicide at hand and a daily walk around the yard. Look for signs of growth or spreading and/or mycelium. If it starts getting out of hand, then you will notice it early and have the stuff to react.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Ok that's a good call on the baby steps. Mowed at 3" and will drop it to 2.5 in a few days. Not looking too shabby things considered.



Still a heck of a lot greener than the neighbors. 😀


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

Better shot of what I'm dealing with


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^ where is the problem area?


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Virginiagal said:


> I posted some info June 17. It's on page 4 now (I haven't figured out how to copy a link to a thread). I had an idea of combining biofungicides with synthetic (when necessary) and choosing a synthetic that's effective but less harmful to the mycorrhizae.
> 
> I had brown patch in June. Neither cracked corn in April or repeated Serenade since early May prevented or cured it. The affected areas were not extensive and some grass has grown back! That's pretty successful in my experience with brown patch. The grass is thinner now than in its prime in May. The brown patch was a stress. This July heat is a greater stress. I will be happy if some survives. I have never used synthetic fungicide and did not see anything I wanted to use in those lists I found. Some grass will survive, some will die, and I will overseed this fall.


Is this the post?

http://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=450


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

Yes, that was the post.

Mark, I think you should keep it at 3 or at the most drop it to 2.75. I was thinking you were mowing at 4, in which case gradually lowering to 3.5 or 3 could help.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

I have a very old mower (its going on 30) its highest setting is 3" and goes down in halves to 2.5", 2, so on.

g-man, there's quite a bit of brown in there but the grass that is nice and dark green hides it pretty well I guess. Most prone probably just see the green, I focus on the brown. Lol


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I agree with virginagal. You have a nice looking lawn for this stage of summer. Just keep monitoring it.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

thanks you guys, will do!


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