# Smasts (LawnNerd) kbg experiment



## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Hey y'all. New here, and thought id introduce myself and (more importantly) my lawn experiment. I have a TTTF lawn and I'm attempting to grow KBG here.

I have three distinct areas that I call the front, side, and front corner and each section is separated by driveway. The front and side sections are TTTF. The front side I'm in the process of renovating into KBG.

This last summer I decided to change the front corner from an old (over grown)rock bed to grass. Here is a before picture.



I applied first round of glypho on June 21st and over several weeks I removed 64 cu ft of old rock bed. Mind you this was in 95+ heat in the middle of a 3 week heat wave. That wasn't fun... Here's another pic post rock removal. 


(Side note. Where the shadow is is where I encountered serious tree rooting and I'm going to stop the grass area and convert the rest to a natural area with pine straw. )

On august 7th I seeded with 2lbs of kbg. Its only about 600 sq ft.

As of today I'm at day 26. 


My goal here is to attempt kbg. If I can manage kbg here I will eventually reno the rest of the front and side yards to kbg. I am an unofficial "NClawnguy" stalker and I believe kbg is possible here in NC with due diligance. I hope to document my success, or failure here to share with y'all.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Do you have in ground irrigation for the kbg?


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Definitely doable. I started with KBG last year and it worked out well. Did PGR and fungicide every 2 weeks through summer, and watered whenever there were signs of drought stress(I don't have an irrigation system). Here it is as of today, freshly cut at 2". There's some thinning and small patches that I lost to grubs, but it's filling in fast.



First fall I won't be seeding. Yay! :thumbup:


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

I do not have in ground irrigation. Static pressure is so low, that after filters and backflow preventer and everything else, Im sub 40 psi at the heads.

I'm sick of overseeding. With yearly overseeding I'm water from summer through fall. I'm just done with it.


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

If you haven't already, search around the web for all of j4c11's posts. As you can see from his pic above, it can be done. We've both been growing the HGT mix because of its performance this far south, but I think he's trying some pure Midnight and I overseed Mazama a week ago. Good luck!


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

j4c11 said:


> Definitely doable. I started with KBG last year and it worked out well. Did PGR and fungicide every 2 weeks through summer, and watered whenever there were signs of drought stress(I don't have an irrigation system). Here it is as of today, freshly cut at 2". There's some thinning and small patches that I lost to grubs, but it's filling in fast.
> 
> 
> 
> First fall I won't be seeding. Yay! :thumbup:


Man, talk about putting the neighbors to shame! Just by mowing alone, you're doing that :mrgreen:


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Not much of a change in the last week. Some more overall thickening, but no real top growth. I applied my 30 day Tenacity App as the Goose and Crab grasses were starting to get big. I also laid down the next app of Started fert. Hoping the shot of N from the started fert kicks it into gear, i'm ready to mow it.

Sunday i was walking the hose out to hand water (started getting too breezy for the sprinkler) the area and i saw my 80 year old neighbor mowing again. As i was walking up to water, he mowed the edge of this lawn, which is all crabgrass, and blew the discharge into the reno.....


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

LawnNerd, curious which KBG you planted?


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Award and Prosperity. I went with these two based on nc states ntep trials in Raleigh. It was after I ordered the seed did I learn about different classifications. If I do the rest of the yard, I'll definitely add another cultivar from a different group.


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

Looking back at your original pic, do you have any seedlings in that closest bare area to the camera? I ask because it almost looks like to me that the seed there may have washed down close to the sprinkler head (it looks thicker there to me). If you don't have much there, you may want to drop a tad more seed and some peat moss or cellulose pellets to hold it in place. It looks like temps are forecast to stay moderated over the next week and should hopefully continue to fall so I don't think you'll need any fungicide unless you see an outbreak at this point. If you're gonna grow KBG in the humidity though, be prepared for preventative treatments starting in the Spring.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Yea, that whole area and the area by the mailbox washed for sure, as well as the area directly underneath the camera (not shown). The night after I seeded originally it rained, and I had some washout. I played the wait and see game to see what stuck. At the two week mark (1 week prior to the picture) I seeded the thin areas and dropped more peat. Well, after the initial rain, it didn't rain again.... Until the night after I reseeded, and it rained hard... Since then ive had a few Light easy showers. I'm taking this as my sign to quit seeding and let the kbg fill on its own. Ive had some new sprouts come up in the thin areas and everything is starting to thicken and fill in. Heres a pic from tonight.



And here's a picture up close of a really dense area and a thin area. 




In the thicker areas you can see some of the grass is maturing and leaving sprout and pout. And in the thin areas you can see some kbg that did germinate. I've got time here in NC. I can easily still be mowing tttf into December, let alone kbg.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Don't know how I missed your thread earlier. I'm very excited to see some adventurous KBG work being done in the transition zone.
There is a big part of me that is hoping that you guys are on your way to opening up the KBG doors for many more of us in the transition zone.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Adventurous is probably the best way for me to describe this as well. I'm lawn crazy, so i don't want the norm. My inlaws live in Wisconsin, and the first time i saw KBG and walked on it barefoot i was sold. I grew up in south florida with St. Aug. grass, and moved to NC and only ever saw TTTF. So when i walked on the KBG, it was heavenly and knew i had to have it. I knew i'd never be happy until i at least attempted it.


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

@LawnNerd, I sent you a PM to see if you wanted any Mazama to try. We transition KBG guys gotta stick together.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

So I took @vnephologist up on his offer. Seed arrived Saturday around noon and I re seeded the thin spots. I covered with peat, and began watering. Ive turned off the sprinklers here and ive been hand watering. Most of the areas that I reseeded are thin from runoff, so I'm wating to control this watering. Things look good weather wise with temps in the low 80's and no rain in sight. I hope it stays this way for another 2-3 weeks until these seedlings can grow and anchor the soil.

The thicker areas that I didn't reseed are really off to the races. Getting longer and fuller by the day.





I also started 4 pots of the mazama so I can really compare them against the prosperity and award.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Update:

Newly seeded areas are sprouting. I was beginning to worry, like usual, but on day 7, i saw the sprouts. I was going to give the whole area a light dose of , but I also began to notice something else however. I'm seeing what i believe is dollar spot. Here is a picture of the new sprouts.



The small KBG plant in the bottom left corner you can see the fungus. I know it's not a super clear image, but it's yellowing. In a macro look of the area, i have a few patches that are yellowing, about the size of a golf ball. In the closer look on these areas, the blades have the characteristic "white / tan spot" in the middle of the blade that is radiating up and down the blade. Right now the weather is not cooperating with me. It's mid to upper 80's everyday and lows in the mid to upper 60's with either heavy dew or fog overnight. Weather man is saying the temps are going to change towards colder by friday with highs in the mid to low 70's and lows in the low 50's. I'm hoping with this colder air, it's also drier. It can't get here soon enough...


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Noticed this happening with my pots. I think I need to put them in the ground now. 




I really dont want to drop these in the ground with all the fungus currently happening.

Ugh... This is so frustrating. I hate this weather.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

They go up so quickly, as she got her first cut today! :crying:


The re seeded spots are up and look to fill in nicely. Day 14 for them. (I think)


After I mowed I put down .25#N from urea and watered it in with .5" of water.

The fungus I was seeing earlier this week seems to be a mix of rust and leaf spot. I'm working the new seedlings to every other day watering in hopes of letting the more mature grass recover from the fungus.



Looks pretty gnarly in there huh?


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Sprayed patch pro on Friday afternoon, and i got it just in time. Weather has been terrible for me, great for fungus. 100% humidity (foggy mist with passing showers) and 74 degrees. Going to spray again at the high rate once it dries out, and that probably wont be till Thursday. It's tough tho, because we needed the rain desperately, as I've only recieved 1" of rain since September 1st. I just wish it was cooler.

Also tried something new yesterday. I sprayed urea for the first time, and i think i was successful. Grass was fairly wet from the misting / light sprinkles that were passing through. I waited for a break and measured out 1/2 lb of urea and dissolved it in 1 gallon of water in the sprayer. By the time i was finishing another wave of misty sprinkle passed through and really wetted it further. Then 2 hours later we got an embedded storm that dropped a 1/2" of rain. Don't think i could have planned it better if I tried.

One thing that keeps tripping me up is application rates. I have to remind myself to keep halving everything i do since this area is only 557sqft. We do everything in lbs /M, but i have to measure in lbs / 500sqft (yes i round down to 500). .5lbs / 500sqft is actually 1lbs / M rate. Can someone confirm my reasoning is correct?

Also, realized ive had a blonde moment for the previous (not latest) applications of urea. .5lbs of urea is not 5 ounces.... Its 8oz.... (My scale measures 0:0 lbs z. Not 0.0 lbs.fractional lbs.) Duhhh stephen.... Atleast i boneheaded short and not over...

*Edited for picture add*



You can see the area where the fungus is at it's worse where its yellow and stunted.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Sounds like the humidity and unseasonably warm temps have made this complicated.

Humidity is always cited as the biggest problem with KBG in the transition. But I was thinking earlier today: it sure gets humid other places. Some of the worst humidity of my life was in Central Wisconsin. New Jersey can get really swampy too.

What makes the south so different? Is it the duration of the humid conditions? Or perhaps it stays more humid overnight in the south compared to KBG-friendly areas?


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Personally, i think its the longevity of the heat and humidity that we experience that makes a difference. Sure other places get warm muggy nights, but they are for short stints, and still cooler / less humidity than we get.

My wife grew up in south east wisconsin (kenosha area) and she moved to NC in 2005. She still makes remarks at how muggy it gets here. We visited her parents there this August, and it lows in the 50's and highs in the mid 70's.

On the flip side, i grew up in south florida 2 miles from the beach, its not terrible here, and Wisconsin is down right pleasant in the summer. Now Wisconsin winter... I don't know how humans live in that kinda cold. Lol


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Day 60 65 update.

Well i meant to update you all during the past week, but you know... life.

Well, it's definitely recovering from the dollar spot / rust. Propiconizole has made a world of difference. The sprayed Urea at 1lb/M rate really darkened it up. WOW.



I love the color. This crappy phone camera i have doesn't capture it. It's A LOT darker in person, like 2 shades darker.

I was hoping that with fall would come more rain, but that seems to be the opposite. I was wanting to have been able to pick up the watering setup, and go ahead and pine needle the area under the tree by now. It's too dry and too warm (~4" since Aug. 15 with temps in the mid to upper 80's and you can see it in the neighbors yard) and i'm still watering ever 2-3 days. Hopefully the cooler weather incoming today will help me.

It's growing more now from the Urea as well. Mowed it Wednesday and again Sat. (after i took picture). I did spray another round of Urea at .5lb / M after a mow, and washed it in. After that dried off i did another application of Propiconizole to keep the fungal issues suppressed.


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

Looks good. I'm about 10 days behind you on my kbg reno in st louis. I was hoping for some rain as well. What height are cutting at?


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

Looking good man! Also curious on your HOC. Looks like you could go lower to me. I think I made the mistake of not going lower more quickly on my reno last year. I think going lower helped thicken my bare spots quicker this year. Then again, could just be the more intense spoon feeding too.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

I'm at 2.5", but that picture was pre-cut and in need of a trim. I'm hoping with a mixture of 2.5 HOC and intense spoon feeding i can get it thickened up before the close of the season. I stand a change with that Mazama leaving pout phase and thickening up nicely as well.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

After walking the area yesterday i discovered that the loriope was back. I didn't get it all. Its the spreading kind. So i did the only thing i know to do, and dug it up. I probably had to dig out 10x10 area to get it all. That stuff is wicked, kinda like that Bermuda weed.



This is what i was dealing with. The entire area was just full of rhizomes and tubers from the loriope.

I droppedin a few pots and some soil to relevel the area. Thankfully KBG spreads.


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Mowed @ 3" and sprayed urea @.5#N/M. Pots are taking hold arleady. Loving the way it looks!


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Spring thaw is over, and holy smokes it thickened up since my last post.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

:thumbup: come on, KBG!


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

So, today i laid down pine needles to finish the look. What a change in 8 months time. The easy part of growing the kbg through fall and winter is over. Now the hardest part for me is just on the horizon.... North Carolina Summers...

But in the mean time, here are some pictures showing the progression over the last 8 months.


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## ScottM29 (Mar 8, 2018)

LawnNerd-
Most excited about your post! I too am trying to grow KBG in the transition zone. Please read under the warm grass thread - "transition in the transition" You will see I'm going back & forth on what to do in my back yard. Your post really makes me want to stick with my gut on going ***. I'd love to develop a deeper dialogue on our battle
thanks


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

@ScottM29

I just left you a reply under your topic in the warm season thread.


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## ScottM29 (Mar 8, 2018)

What KBG varieties do you recommend in the transition zone ? I know having a blend is a good idea...I planted midnight last year and I do have spots that are doing well - but overall I still need work with getting rid of some of the grassy weeds, etc. I hope that the color will get better as the temps warm up some (44 today)


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## ScottM29 (Mar 8, 2018)

LawnNerd said:


> @ScottM29
> 
> I just left you a reply under your topic in the warm season thread.


THANKS


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Loaded question... lol. Be prepared...

Well, the best thing you could do it research the nearest 2-3 Ntep locations that have KBG trials. I looked and it appears the only KBG trial in Virginia is Blacksburg, and well, i know enough of Virginia geography to know that's a completely different climate than Va. beach. (Side note: there is a Va Beach does have Ntep trial, but it appears it's stopped after the 2006 trial, and it only did Fescue and for some reason they trialed a weed... :dunno: ). I looked at Maryland and College Park is running a current trial for Fescue and KBG. Not sure on the specifics of the climate, but i image it isn't too drastically different than Va Beach. There is also Raleigh here in the Great State of North Carolina.

College Park, MD KBG trialhttp://www.ntep.org/states/md1/md1_kb.htm
Raleigh, NC KBG trial http://www.ntep.org/states/nc1/nc1_kb.htm

Ideally, You want one variety from 3 different classifications. Here is a link to a incomplete list of varieties under their classifications. http://newsomseed.com/resources/KentBlueClass.pdf . Since you have Mindnight down, that covers the Compact-Midnight class. You'll do well finding an Compact-America type (Mazama is a good var. that does well in transition zone, so is Blue Note) and probably a Mid-Atlantic variety (zinfandel is a good choice from the 2005 study years, but a hard seed to find.)

The other thing I'd like to point out is that it is very hard to overseed KBG into and existing stand of turf. Most around here would consider it a waste of time and money. One thing you could do, is grow pots of the new seeds, and drop those into the existing turf once they mature a little. It's not perfect, but one way to not waste so much seed.

Ultimately it's your choice on what you want to do, and what seeds you pick. Don't just take my word for it. Spend some time researching and you'll come to know which varieties you'll want and what risk / reward you'll be comfortable with. Yard work will never be done for us, so just roll with the punches it throws, and enjoy the moments when a plan comes together.

And don't worry about the color. Good TTTF and Midnight KBG will be nice and dark once it warms up. KBG will darken more after about a year or two.


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## ScottM29 (Mar 8, 2018)

LawnNerd-
Thanks for the reply (sorry for my delay - work, aughhh)
Fantastic information. Please keep this thread open - lots to learn.


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

@ScottM29 not to continue hijacking LawnNerd's thread, but you may want to take a look at some of my (I'm in Richmond) and @j4c11's posts on transition zone KBG. I think you're good on the Midnight and Mazama (as LawnNerd mentioned), but I'd also consider taking a look at the Turf Blue HGT mix. It includes Barvette (and hopefully Barserati this year) that are some of the best transition zone performers. Their only downfall is lighter color, but that's easily remedied with PGR. Feel free to hit me up anytime to bounce questions. I'm no expert, but have learned a lot transitioning to KBG over the past few years.


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## probasestealer (Apr 19, 2018)

@LawnNerd

How's the yard looking now?


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Wow, So i've been bad... I'm so out of date that i didn't even get moved to the journals section... Talking about left behind. @g-man @ericgautier if one of you wouldn't mind giving me the bump to the proper section?

Well, I'm going to give a summer wrap up as i get ready for the fall. Luckily for you guys, i have plenty of pictures.

1st half of may was great. Coolish temps, decent rain, it seemed spring finally arrived. Color was fantabulous! 
Then summer came racing in and we skipped the rest of spring. With the 90's came a dry spell as well, but i kept it watered. Maybe too much water Slowly jumped the HOC to 4". It wasn't flopping over, so i went all the way up. I payed the price for that and the high amount of water in June.

June was still in the 90's but the rains returned a little bit. Enough to keep me from watering really. I then started to notice some fungal issues. 


If you can look past my terrible choice of footwear (i wasn't spraying, just patrolling!) you can see the yellowing. No fert had been applied in 6 weeks, so it wasn't a fert burn. If i gave a tug, the blades ripped off at the crown, but the roots stayed put. 

The blades would just yellow, needle then die. In sections. Not everything, and not wide spread.



I think now it was summer patch and Possibly some leaf spot, worsened with immature rooting and high heat. I have a lot to correct in this area. In this pic this section is a narrow sliver of grass where i taper to a point. It's bordered by the driveway and a mulch bed. It just gave up the ghost and was the first to quit. This area is also the most compacted area of this section with pebbles (long story about crappy government work...) in this soil. 


I think i seeded too heavily last year. It's far to dense and there is little air flow below the canopy. I remember it rained Wednesday afternoon. Decent shower, but nothing crazy, like a .5" Well thursday i was doing a walk around inspectiong. It was like 92 that day, and i wanted to see how the grass was fairing. I put my hand into a good section to pull a blade, and it was still wet! Not damp, wet! too think...

So i lowered the HOC to 3". Just went in a scalped it. Didn't bother stepping it down. I gave it a good 1" of water the next morning, and i walked away from it. It was 90's every day and it got dry as a bone here. No rain for 3 weeks at this point when i gave it that last water. At this point i think i was doing more harm than good trying to keep it awake and green in this heat and drought. Plus, my wife and i welcomed our 2nd kid ( a little girl) and as you can all imagine, i didn't have the time (or energy) to baby the kbg through. I let it go 2 weeks without water. It was pretty cripsy grey / brown. I didn't take any pictures, because i don't want to remember this time. I was about to water it again, a bit to keep it alive during the dormancy. Luckily i didn't have too.

That's when East Coast rain engine started up, and i got plenty. Made up for all the lost rain since May and then some. Probably 18" in 3 weeks, with 8 of those in 48 hours around the beginning of August. 

7.00" for the Rain event that started the previous afternoon, and 7.92" for the calendar month and it was only 8/02!

Tell you what, that KBG came roaring back with a vengeance. Since last week of July, there wasn't a stretch longer than 4 days where i didn't get atleast a .25" a day. I couldn't keep up with the mowing (1 month baby and all), so i'm back up to 4" HOC. I didn't capture any pictures however. I started the reno on another section in the Main fescue portion of the yard, and that took my focus. Color is a little weak, but no fert since May, and all the rain it's to be expected.

I'll snap a pic here tonight of the KBG. It's been hot again and no rain / water for a alittle over a week. It's a tad crispy, but I think the rains are coming back thursday / friday so i'll just let it go. Sprinklers are tied up keeping the TTTF seed going through the heat. Once i see these temps drop out of the 90's again i'm going to start up my blitz. I know it's hot here, but i get a long fall to push this KBG to fill in the dead spots from the summer patch. I typically can go through the 1st half of december before the sun gets too weak (it's not from cold yet by this point in the season) that the grass shuts down.

i'll start off with some 10-10-10 i've got laying around and then'll i'll switch to spraying urea around Oct 1st. I'm ready for fall!!!


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

LawnNerd said:


> Tell you what, that KBG came roaring back with a vengeance.


That's what I was waiting for :mrgreen:

Does the summer patch subside with summer, or do you have to treat it before you move forward with fall N?


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

I'm not fully sure. I'm still digesting and intaking more knowledge on it. Here's what i can process, and if i'm wrong or anyone wants to add, please do so. Summer Patch is new and foreign to me still.

1.) Summer patch is a root effecting fungus that awakens when soil temps hit 65 in the spring. Wetter the better, and what spring isn't wet normally. 
2.) Fungus infects and kills the roots that it infects. 
3) What we see in the summer is actually the by product of the fungus, and by that pointit has already run it's course. It does it's damage in the spring, but it's cool / wet enough that the plant is able to still regrow roots and have top growth. However it's rooting mass is severely reduced. Once summer rolls around, the soil heats up and rains slow. so with a reduced soil mass, it's not able to get into cooler soil and find water to survive the summer and dies, thus causing the surface results.

4) spraying in summer is futile since the damage is done, and the fungus is gone / dormant? Real success is a soil application of Azoxy before soil temps reach 65 (i'm going to shoot for spraying at 60 deg. next year).

By this point it's done it's damage and the spots aren't growing any. Heat and such cooked out the possible leaf spot i had as well. I'm still doing preventative treatments now, and it seems to be helping. So i don't really know if what i read was accurate (that damage done in spring, no point in spraying in summer) or if the preventative apps i'm doing for the leaf and $ spot are working. I really don't even fully know if it was summer patch or something else. I just correlate that with the fact that the turf just one day gave up and died when it got hot and dry.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Thanks for the information, LawnNerd.



LawnNerd said:


> Fungus infects and kills the roots that it infects.


 :shock:


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## STL (Jul 14, 2018)

@social port some damage may be done, but depending on how bad it is, it can recover in the fall. The tricky part can be getting it to fall and that may require treatment.

@LawnNerd check a section of roots in one of the affected areas. It may also be worth while to pony up for a lab analysis to confirm what you're working with. I'm not so sure that's summer patch, but it could be and lab results are the only way to know for sure.

A few points based on my experience and understanding of summer patch from research out of Rutgers, UNC, and Kentucky in case it's helpful:

Anything that impairs the roots or increases stress can increase the severity of summer patch. Reducing compaction, improving poor drainage, limiting excessive moisture and fertilization, etc. can improve root and overall plant health. Summer patch symptoms are most severe when conditions stress the turf and when soil ph is greater than 6.5. Ideal ph range to minimize symptoms is 6.0-6.5.

It's recommended to begin preventative fungicide application in areas with a history of summer patch when soil temperatures reach 65* for a few consecutive days. The QoI, azoxystrobin, etc., and DMI, propiconazole, etc., classes seem to be the most effective, but others can offer control too and may need to be worked into a rotation. Watering the AI into the root zone is critical.

Infected areas can look a lot like drought stress, will have black, nasty looking roots, and will pull up easier than unaffected turf. As you may be experiencing, applying curative treatments once the symptoms are apparent is not necessarily futile. Curative treatments can help reduce symptoms and the turf can recover some or be limped along to a certain degree. More frequent light irrigation may be needed when the roots are really impaired. Rutgers also recommends making an application of 0.2# N from ammonium sulphate, an acidifying source of N, at the onset of symptoms. Depending on the severity, you may only be buying time with curative treatments, but that could keep the plant alive until it cools down and the symptoms subside.

@georgiadad is a KBG and summer patch veteran who may have more insights as well.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

@STL Thanks for this information. It's very helpful to be armed with this knowledge at the forefront as I am beginning to learn about care for KBG. Sounds like a good practice will be to continue working on drainage and compaction.


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## georgiadad (Aug 18, 2018)

Almost all of my information came from this thread at the other site.
https://aroundtheyard.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13251&hilit=summer+patch
At first we called it LDS (localized dry spot). One of the things we tried was laying out soaker hoses for several days. This worked to some extent. It wasn't until jglongisland sent a soil sample to Rutgers did he figure out what it was. Magnaporthe poae (Summer Patch) coats the roots. It chokes off the plant and keeps it from receiving water and nutrients. The soaker hoses worked by completely saturating the ground so at least some water got to the plant. But in the long run you either had one hell of a water bill or the kbg just didn't survive.

SP never leaves the soil. Once infected it's always going to be there. The best you can do is beat it down but you're never going to eradicate it.

SP becomes active once 4" soil temps reach 65* for 4 days. Even it there is a cold snap later, it will just go dormant until temps rise again. Once it's awake it starts to grow and begin to cover the roots. If you know where you had it last year those are the areas to keep a close eye on in the spring. You can spot this by seeing areas not quite as green as others in early spring. Let it go and you'll start seeing small brown patches. If you get to this point you'd better act fast.

Here is a study done in 2009 by NCSU that was posted by nclawnguy

"There was a summer patch trial down here in Raleigh on kbg lawns, Armada rating very high for control. I know you are against using chemical fungicides. Just a FYI.

"In 2008, the second year after inoculation with M. poae, the average diameter of patches in untreated plots was 5.5
inches. Summer patch severity was moderate, with untreated plots receiving an average rating of 2.5 on a scale of 0 to 5.
Only Armada significantly reduced patch diameter, but Banner Maxx, Heritage, and Bayleton also maintained average patch
diameter below 1 inch. All treatments except Compass and Headway significantly reduced disease severity as compared to
untreated plots. Except for Compass and Headway, all treatments suppressed summer patch severity compared to the
untreated control. Patch diameters in plots treated with Bayleton were significantly lower compared to the untreated control.
According to the disease index, which takes patch diameter and severity into account, excellent summer patch control was
provided by Banner Maxx, Heritage, Armada, and Bayleton. Eagle and Trinity provided an intermediate level of control,
whereas GF-1948, Insignia, Compass, and Headway failed to provide significant control."
https://postimg.cc/image/3wgicfx6b/
https://postimg.cc/image/3wgicfx6b/"

Here is some good advice from osuturfman

"Postby osuturfman » April 7th, 2014, 12:29 pm 
A couple key points to piggyback on a very informative post from JGL.

- Cultural management of this disease starts and ends with three numbers pH, iron, and manganese. Too high of pH or too much iron, both of which limit Mn availability, and you're asking for trouble. For some those are easy numbers to manage and for others they are kind of stuck with what they have. No matter which category Lack of plant available and tissue Mn puts your plants at an increased risk of infection.

- Scouting, Scouting, Scouting! If you know where you had it last year, watch those areas closely, especially as you enter the first couple hot/humid weather periods this summer.

- Timing a proper application of the labeled fungicide of your choice at the 65 degree soil temperature mark is absolutely critical to see any kind of control. I have only ever used Heritage at the 0.4 oz/M rate, with one application when we hit 65 degree soil temps for two consecutive days and follow that up one month later with another application at 0.4 oz/M. As JGL said the studies of using the Heritage/Companion look promising, albeit expensive.

- An opinion from an accredited lab can help you make better plans for the future. In the eastern half of the country, I would recommend NC State, Ohio State, Rutgers, or UCONN. In the west, PACE Turfgrass (for profit, not a university) is definitely the way to go.

Best of luck to all as we enter the critical period"

What I do....once 4" soil temps reach 62*-63* range I spray Companion biofungicide. I will spray and water in every 2 weeks through out the summer. Once temps reach 65* for 4 days I drop Heritage at preventive rate. from here out I will rotate between Heritage G and Armada(I think, will have to run down to the garage and check). Usually by July I will have to make a 4lbs/K application of Heritage. That will normally get me to fall.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

What about digging 6-8in deep and replacing the soil?


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## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

I would think it would migrate into the new soil from the neighboring soils


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