# Fescue dieoff every summer in same spots



## Globetruck (Oct 14, 2018)

Hello. I'm in Fairfax county VA and have had issues for the past 5 years with my tall fescue dieing off but only in a couple patches.

The rest of my lawn is great. I aerate, oversees, and fertilize in the fall. In the spring I put down a crabgrass pre emergent and some fertilizer. Starting in about May I started using fungicides- Heritige G, 3336, and just bought Subdue Max. No issues with grubs or insects. I have a sprinkler system and don't water at night.

Take a look at the pics - it goes from lush and green to dead in very little time. I suspect Pythium blight.

Any advice? Thank you.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Welcome to TLF

Have you perform an irrigation test? It means to place containers(eg empty tuna cans) in your zone to see if you have even water distribution.

Also, get a shovel and see if there is something buried in that spot.


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## Globetruck (Oct 14, 2018)

I havent done an irrigation test but I have dug down about 3-4 inches and that area seems the same as the rest of my yard. A couple inches of topsoil and then clay. When it dies, it goes very rapidly and seems like the roots just rot away.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Can you post some closeups of where the dead grass meets the good grass? Could be water, fungus, or bugs. If you dug down 3-4" that may not be enough. I had a stump about 5" below and the grass always died on top in the summer.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

I had similar this year, and while mostly heat stress, I suspect insects might have had a minor role. There were no fungal lesions (or not enough to suspect an issue...I was using biofungicides fairly regularly, so ruled out disease). Did you have lesions? Also, when were each of the photos taken?


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## Globetruck (Oct 14, 2018)

Here's a closeup. And when the grass dies, it seems to be dead at the root with black and rotten roots that are easy to pull up. This pic was taken in July.

Other pic dates (sorry they didn't post in order)
Top 2 pics were mid- late May
3rd pic was last week of May
4th pic was the healthy grass in April
Last scorched earth pic was August


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## Globetruck (Oct 14, 2018)

Another intesersting observation - I have 2 holly bushes and the one located near the problem spot is noticeably less healthy than the other bush. Both were planted at the same time 3 years ago and both were originally healthy. I suspect something is in the soil.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Globetruck said:


> Here's a closeup. And when the grass dies, it seems to be dead at the root with black and rotten roots that are easy to pull up. This pic was taken in July.
> 
> Other pic dates (sorry they didn't post in order)
> Top 2 pics were mid- late May
> ...


I think I see disease in this picture, though I can't be certain of the disease. I see some lesions that look like brown patch, but it could be something else.


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## FuzzeWuzze (Aug 25, 2017)

Are you sure its Fescue and not some other weed grass dying off in the heat? Are you reseeding that area each year with more Fescue?


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## jht3 (Jul 27, 2018)

Wow, that is dramatic. My first guess would be insufficient water.

I have an area that I have watched something similar happen to, and finally found out why this fall when investigating a leaky irrigation head. A few inches down I found landscape fabric! Pulled up about a 4x15 foot area. Another smaller area I found a chunk of buried concrete when repairing yet another head.


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## Globetruck (Oct 14, 2018)

FuzzeWuzze said:


> Are you sure its Fescue and not some other weed grass dying off in the heat? Are you reseeding that area each year with more Fescue?


I overseed / reseed with fescue every year and even laid down sod one year. It's always healthy and lush until June.


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

It's hard to tell from this photo, but a few questions.

1. Looking at your backyard it seems like you have mostly partial shade, but that spot is closer to the house, does that spot therefore get a lot more sunlight exposure than the rest of the lawn?

2. You said you overseed/reseed every year with fescue and even laid down sod one year... are you seeding in the fall or the spring? If you're doing all this in the spring it's possible the grass is dying just from being too young, before it can mature and establish a deep root system to pull up water, it instead just dies from the dry out.

3. As others have said, could be a simple irrigation issue. Get some tuna cans or even just red solo cups w/ a rock in each one to hold it in place and run your system for 30 minutes. See how much water has accumulated in the cups. If the areas surrounding the dead zone have significantly more water than the ones in the dead zone, adjust your heads as you're just getting bad water coverage.

4. I'd say it's highly unlikely it's disease or bugs, the odds of that breakout happening in the same exact spot every single year seems extremely unlikely.

5. I know you said you dug 3-4 inches down, but if you have something longer, preferably like a really long 12" screw driver. Go poking around to the full depth of the screwdriver(you can get one cheap at Harbor Freight if you don't have something like this)? If you keep hitting something hard it's possible there's rocks under there which is preventing the area from getting enough moisture and root depth. Or just simply the ground in that area is more compacted as it's right off the patio and probably gets a lot more foot traffic.


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## Globetruck (Oct 14, 2018)

Khy said:


> It's hard to tell from this photo, but a few questions.
> 
> 1. Looking at your backyard it seems like you have mostly partial shade, but that spot is closer to the house, does that spot therefore get a lot more sunlight exposure than the rest of the lawn?
> 
> ...


thanks - posted my answers in all caps embedded above.


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## Robpin (Jul 4, 2018)

Have you considered chinch bugs? Grass daddy had a good vidio explaining how to do a simple coffee can test. It may be a long shot but It doesn't cost anything to try and would only take a few minutes.


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