How To Get Rid Of Fungus In St Augustine Grass

Grey Leaf Spot Fungus

Grey leaf spot fungus is an infection that only affects St. Augustine grass. This fungus causes yellow or white patches on your lawn and is most commonly found during high humidity weather.

This fungus can also occur if you over-fertilize your grass.

This type of fungus can be treated with a fungicide such as an azoxystrobin or thiophanate-methyl.

Fungicides are chemicals that effectively kill fungus quickly without harming the grass. Make sure that you use a high-quality option and stick to the instructions.

Plant Grass That Grows Well In Your Region

Fungus In St Augustine Grass Causes

What causes fungus in St. Augustine grass? If you are anything like us, your lawn is pretty important to you. We enjoy our lawns in many different ways, whether its relaxing in the back yard while our kids play in the grass, watching our pets run and play, or just enjoying the view out of the front window of our lush green lawns. As with anything that we consider important, caring for our lawns takes a high priority on our to-do list! If you are concerned that your St. Augustine grass might be infected with a disease or fungus dont wait. Its time to either call in a professional lawn service or try to DIY to remedy the problem.

Here are the three most common causes of fungus in St. Augustine grass.

1. Over-watering your lawn, or certain areas of your lawn, could be causing a lawn fungus to thrive! When you have standing water, it can promote the growth of a lawn fungus.

2. Change in temperature is also a cause! The spring season is a big culprit for lawn fungus in St. Augustine because of all of the ups and downs in temperature. While we love to think of spring as a time of growth and blossoming , its also a good time to check your lawn for lawn fungus and lawn disease.

3. The fungus can often spread from a neighboring lawn that is infected with a lawn fungus disease.

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Water Your Lawn At Sunrise

Watering your lawn too early in the morning exposes the grass to prolonged periods of wetness, which encourages the growth of fungus. It is best to water your St. Augustine grass lawn from mid-morning when the sun has already risen.

Watering at sunrise allows your lawn to dry up quickly and prevents fungal spores from germinating and causing brown patch disease.

Can Dead St Augustine Grass Come Back

You can easily bring back St. Augustine grass that looks dead to a lush green and dense lawn. However, it will depend on the cause of its browning.

A lawn that appears to be dead over a period of 3 to 5 weeks can be revived. If it remains dead for too long, you may not be able to bring it back to life because it will be dead to the roots.

Before tearing your lawn apart to grow a new one, you may need to examine it to see if the grass is truly dead or is just in a dormant state that can be revived.

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Improve Soil Drainage In Your Lawn

Fungi like to grow in wet conditions. Lawns that are poorly draining such as those established on clay soils may be susceptible to fungal infections. To prevent lawn fungus, core-aerate and dethatch your lawn regularly to encourage water to seep deep into the root zone.

You can also prevent standing water in your lawn by removing debris like rocks and sticks that may prevent or slow down water from draining into the soil.

How To Revive St Augustine Grass

After applying needed treatments to your yard and eradicating your St. Augustine grass problem entirely, its time to get your grass growing again. By cutting your grass at higher lengths and only cutting it once every ten days, you can make your grass stronger. This practice helps the healthy grass protect the grass that has been damaged, allowing it time to grow and become healthy. When mowing the healthy parts of your lawn, leave your grass clippings instead of bagging them, so that you can bring nutrients back into the soil. Also, to reduce stress on your grass during your restoration efforts, restrict use or even stay off it entirely.

As weve already mentioned, the single most important thing you can do, whether your grass is healthy or showing signs of a problem, is to create a lawn care maintenance schedule. You shouldnt just be concerned about how to keep your lawn green in summer heatthese fungi, weeds and bugs all have different seasons where they are most active so your lawn care should take these seasonal considerations into account.

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Brown Patches Of Dying Grass

Extensive damage is witnessed when most of your St. Augustine grass looks like it is dying. It starts to show as yellow patches of grass that eventually turn brown when the damage is extensive.

More often than not, sod webworms will leave large patches without grass, especially because sod webworms in large numbers cause more damage. However, sod webworm damage is often confused with heat stress in the summer and even some types of fungal infections.

How To Treat Fungus In St Augustine Grass

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• How to Stop Lawn Fungus

Brown patches, rings of dead grass, rusty-looking growths, and browned or yellowing blades of grass in random patterns may all indicate that a fungus is present in your St. Augustinegrass . In fact, almost all diseases in lawn grasses are caused by fungi. The good news is, St. Augustinegrass is somewhat resistant to fungal infections and the diseases are treatable.

Tip

For reliable identification of the fungus that’s infecting your lawn, send a sample of the soil and grass, including roots, to a laboratory for testing. Contact a nursery or your local county extension office for a list of commercial labs in your area.

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St Augustine Grass Care

One of the great virtues of St. Augustine grass is that you don’t have to mow it much, a fact that you will especially appreciate if you crave low maintenance. However, to achieve a lush lawn of St. Augustine grass, there is some work involved. You will have to keep up with the required irrigation and fertilization.

The Spruce / Krystal Slagle

The Spruce / Krystal Slagle

How To Treat St Augustine Grass Fungus

St. Augustine is a lovely lawn grass that is native to tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The coloring is a deep green that lasts throughout the year, dulling only slightly in the dead of winter.

The grass blades are wide and flat, and they all grow in thick stolons which are usually packed tightly enough to diminish the possibility of weeds or other types of grass.

This type of grass is truly a wonderful option for any garden, but what do you do when you begin to notice the warning signs for fungus?

Brown blades and red growths are sure to ruin the look of your thick lawn, so treating fungus on St. Augustine grass is a must for any lawn lover.

The good news is that there are a few methods of which you can try to remove the fungus without having to spend too much time and money on doing so.

There are some natural methods as well as unnatural treatments, and youll have to find what works the best for your lawn.

Below well be looking at the signs to look out for, what might be causing the fungus, and how to treat St. Augustine grass fungus.

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Lawn Fungus Treatment And Prevention

There are several things homeowners can do to help treat the fungus and to prevent lawn disease. You might consider taking some of the following steps:

• If you have grass clippings, fall leaves or other debris sitting in your yard, make sure to remove them so that your yard isnt vulnerable to fungal growth. When you mow, bag your clippings so that you dont spread possibly diseased grass all over your yard.
• Lawns with high nitrogen levels promote fungus growth, so test your lawns pH before adding fertilizer and add any amendments judiciously.
• Water deep and infrequently in the mornings so that the grass and soil have time to dry.
• Aerate your yard annually.
• When mowing, dont take more than inch off at each time. Raise the mowing height to allow more surface area for your grass blades to take in sunlight.
• Fungicides will help treat the diseased grass, while pesticides can help get rid of insects that are destroying your yard.
• Avoid urea-based fungicides when treating take-all patch and take-all root rot.
• If you have take-all root rot, lowering the pH levels in your yard can sometimes help.
• Avoid walking through or mowing the diseased area when conditions are wet because there is a greater change you will accidentally spread the fungus to unaffected areas.

The best treatment for lawn diseases is a combination of turfgrass management and application of the right fungicide at the right times.

Signs Of Fungus On St Augustine Grass

First, it is important to identify the problem because there are possibly other reasons for browning and dead spots including grub infestation in a lawn. Signs of fungus on St. Augustine lawn include:

• Stolons start to turn brown.
• Brown spots and patches on your lawn.
• Yellowing of grass blades in a random pattern.
• Dark brown fungal threads covering the stolons and crowns of grass.

Fungal diseases on St. Augustine grass manifest themselves in the form of irregular brown spots. In terms of size, these circular spots can go anywhere from a few inches to several feet in diameter. However, this appearance may vary depending on the soil conditions.

Additionally, if its a fungal problem thats gone untreated for a while, the inner part of the grass patches may recover and regain their green color, with rings of dead grass surrounding them.

When under fungal disease attack, St. Augustine grass blades that occur near the grounds surface tend to spot a dark-brown color along the edges and irregular tan spots that resemble a burnt-up cigarette.

If youre unsure as to the cause of the burns on your St. Augustine grass , your best option would be to consult a lawn-care professional.

Alternatively, you can call your local county extension offices, as theyre usually in possession of local laboratory listings. You can send a soil and grass sample from your lawn to one of these labs to be tested for fungal infection.

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How To Treat And Prevent Brown Patches In Your St Augustine Grass

So you finally thought you had your lawn in tip top shape and all of a sudden your St. Augustine Grass gets covered in large brown patches, and this time it wasn’t your neighbors dog. Large brown patches now cover your lawn and you just don’t know what to do.

But Here’s the thing, you are not alone your lawn can be revived!

St. Augustine grass, is a popular thick growing warm season grass, that easily keeps most weeds at bay. Unfortunately it is susceptible to brown patches which most commonly occur in early spring and late fall. But what do you do to get your green lawn back, and how can this be prevented from happening again?

Reseed With Resistant Grass Varieties

Where all other efforts fail you may need to reseed with a turfgrass variety that has known resistance to this fungus. A variety of grasses are available with moderate resistance to the Rhizoctonia fungus. If a brown patch is an annual occurrence, consider top-seeding your lawn with resistant grasses. Check with your local university extension service on recommendations for resistant grass species.

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How To Kill Sod Webworms In St Augustine Grass

Sod webworm life cycle

The best way to get rid of sod webworms is to use an insecticide such as FMC Talstar Pro. Spray the insecticide to control adult lawn moths, the active larvae, and even their eggs. This interferes with their life cycle and helps control the pests for a few seasons.

Heres how to get rid of sod webworms in St. Augustine grass:

Sod Webworms In St Augustine Grass: Signs And Treatment

Sod webworms are a development stage of lawn moths. They are caterpillar pests that particularly love St. Augustine grass, which is perfect to feed on and breed in. Lawn moths and brown patches may indicate infestation. So, after identification, how do you get rid of sod webworm?

Mow and water your lawn after identifying sod webworms in the grass to expose most of the pests. Apply a webworm killer such as Bifen IT or Talstar to get rid of both the lawn moths and their larva. Do not water the lawn for at least 48 hours after treatment for maximum exposure to the pesticide.

While a pesticide like Bifen IT is very effective at getting rid of sod webworms, cutworms, and armyworms, you can also introduce beneficial nematodes or encourage predators like spiders to control their population.

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Avoid Using Nitrogen Rich Fertilizer In Early Spring And Late Fall The Only Thing In Common With Brown Patch Mold And You Is You Both Like Fresh Green Grass

Nitrogen fertilizer promotes lush green growth, and this soft growth is just what brown patch fungus enjoys. This new growth provides a nice platform for the fungus to grow on. Fertilizing too early or late can lead to fungus growth. Instead use nitrogen fertilizer only in late spring or in the summer.

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Types Of St Augustine Grass

There are a number of different types of St. Augustine grass. Examples include:

• Floratine: offers narrower blades, for a finer texture
• Floratam: a chinch bug resistant selection, but not as cold-tolerant
• Seville: This selection offers both a finer texture and resistance to chinch bugs, but it also lacks cold tolerance.

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Coping With St Augustine

Im a big fan of St. Augustine. Its a handsome grass that many of us love. But, it does have its issues, and as a group they constitute some of the most commonly asked questions I encounter.

Diagnosing St. Augustine woes is extremely difficult without actually being on the lawn looking at it first-hand. Even then, it can be confusing, even to professionals. Several issues may get stirred into the mix enough so that its hard to decide which specific problem caused the grass the biggest challenge. Im going to mention all I can think of, and Ill let you work at diagnosing the problem yourself.

St. Augustine in the shaded Sperry landscape eventually was replaced with shade-tolerant groundcover.

Mow Your Lawn Regularly

Mowing keeps your grass short and less accommodating to pests like sod webworms. Short grass is not good for webbing and laying eggs. Lawns that are not properly groomed are more susceptible to pest damage and attractive to sod webworms.

The more you interact with your lawn through management, the more likely you are to notice changes that point at the presence of sod webworms. Ensure you keep your grass healthy and maintained so that you do not confuse infestation with anything else.

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Will Grass Grow Back After Sod Webworms

Grass can grow back after sod webworm damage if the infestation is caught early enough and treated. Keep the lawn well-watered and fertilized to encourage the grass to revive and fill in the bare spots caused by severe pest activity.

It might, however, take some time for the brown patches to turn green again since foliage turnover also depends on the growth rate of the grass and the season.

Sod webworms feed on the leaves thus leading to the death of grass, and the appearance of brown patches in your lawn. When you use proper treatment methods, you will eliminate these pests and provide room for grass regeneration.

Here are great ways to revive your St. Augustine lawn after sod webworm infestation.

• Water and apply fertilizers regularly: Water and fertilizers provide the needed nutrition for the health, growth, and recovery of the grass after pest infestation. You can choose to apply natural or chemical fertilizers to add nutrients to your soil, thus aiding growth of grass.
• Kkeep checking for pests, and applying pest elimination methods. If sod webworms return to your lawn in the process of revival, it will get harder to save your St. Augustine grass the second time round because of fewer and weaker grass blades and stems.

References

St Augustinegrass Fungi And Treatments

St. Augustinegrass is susceptible to a number of common fungi. Treatment for many fungal infections may simply require removing infected areas in conjunction with preventive steps to help keep the infection from spreading to the rest of the lawn. Fungicides are also available if all else fails.

Fairy ring appears as a ring or semicircle of dark-green grass with one or possibly more additional rings of dead grass inside or outside the green patch. To treat the condition, remove the soil where any mushrooms or white, woolly masses appear to 12 inches deep and 2 feet past the outer circumference of the ring. Refill the hole with fresh soil and add new seed or sod to the area. Help prevent fairy ring by fertilizing the lawn with sufficient nitrogen, dethatching, aerating the soil and watering the aerated area heavily for two to three days. Fungicides for fairy ring contain active ingredients such as azoxystrobin or flutolanil.

Gray leaf spot produces irregular dead patches of turf with bleached-out spots here and there. It typically occurs when the temperature and humidity are high or as a consequence of overwatering or overfertilizing. Preventing the fungus by cutting back on water and fertilizer is a more effective technique than the fungicides that are available. If you choose to use a fungicide, look for one containing azoxystrobin, azoxystrobin with propiconazole, or thiophanate-methyl.

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