Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
vangaal
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Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by vangaal » July 15th, 2020, 4:23 pm

Hi,

I am new to the site and mainly seeking a forum that provides reliable guidance and education on how to care for my lawn. Hoping that I found the right place! I had fescue sod laid down in April/May 2020. I've included two pictures below for you to reference. The first picture is from a couple of months ago. The second picture is more recent. It's been hot here in Northern Virginia. My water schedule is about every other day and tend to water just over .5 inch every other day. To my understanding it is normal for the grass up here to begin to brown during the summer as the temps and exposure to sun increase. I am noticing that in some areas the grass seems to be thinning a bit and turning brown. Is this normal due to the heat or could there be a more serious issue? How should I continue to proceed with my lawn care during these summer months?


Image


Image

Appreciate any input!

Thanks.

schreibdave
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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by schreibdave » July 16th, 2020, 6:26 am

That sounds like a lot of water. You want the roots to dig deep in search of that moisture. You dont want to promote a shallow root system. Maybe start extending your watering to every 3rd day while watching for signs of stress?

The other problem with too much water is it promotes disease. I dont know if u have a disease problem or not but Serenade is a cheap and easy preventative. There's lots of info on here about it.

What have you been doing about fertilizer? What and how often?

Given the summer we are having, that new sod actually looks pretty good. Better than i would expect for sod laid in the spring.

Edit: posting some close up pictures of the healthy vs brown spots would help with identifying the issue.

vangaal
Posts: 11
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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by vangaal » July 16th, 2020, 8:27 am

Image

Image

vangaal
Posts: 11
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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by vangaal » July 16th, 2020, 8:33 am

schreibdave wrote:
July 16th, 2020, 6:26 am
That sounds like a lot of water. You want the roots to dig deep in search of that moisture. You dont want to promote a shallow root system. Maybe start extending your watering to every 3rd day while watching for signs of stress?

The other problem with too much water is it promotes disease. I dont know if u have a disease problem or not but Serenade is a cheap and easy preventative. There's lots of info on here about it.

What have you been doing about fertilizer? What and how often?

Given the summer we are having, that new sod actually looks pretty good. Better than i would expect for sod laid in the spring.

Edit: posting some close up pictures of the healthy vs brown spots would help with identifying the issue.
I used Milorgranite right after the new sod was laid. I've only done it once. Also, I attached two pictures below with brown v.s. healthy.

schreibdave
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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by schreibdave » July 16th, 2020, 8:48 am

The health blades looks great but the unhealthy blades seem to have lesions on them suggesting disease. Someone with more experience than me will have to weigh in but my bet is disease. My new KBG caught a little something last fall but a fungicide knocked it out and now I apply Serenade fungicide as a preventative. Let's let some more knowledgeable people weigh in.


KBGkicksazz
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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by KBGkicksazz » July 16th, 2020, 9:26 am

That’s a fungus. Get propoconizole down ASAP. Use the generic 14.3% from site own on domyown.com

You’ll need two apps to get it stopped.

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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by KBGkicksazz » July 16th, 2020, 9:29 am

vangaal wrote:
July 16th, 2020, 8:27 am
Image

Image
Have you seen any “spider web” looking things in your lawn?

Those small areas have the hallmark of dollar spot

vangaal
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Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

Post by vangaal » July 16th, 2020, 9:49 am

KBGkicksazz wrote:
July 16th, 2020, 9:29 am
vangaal wrote:
July 16th, 2020, 8:27 am
Image

Image
Have you seen any “spider web” looking things in your lawn?

Those small areas have the hallmark of dollar spot
I have not seen any "spider web" looking things in the lawn. I have a couple of questions:
    What's the difference between Propoconizole and Serenade (or is it the same thing just different brand)?
      How serious is this? Will it kill my grass?
        How should I adjust my watering? I can never really figure out the best schedule for water and how much? It seems like such a gray area with no definitive answer

        KBGkicksazz
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by KBGkicksazz » July 16th, 2020, 10:29 am

        Heat and humidity create the conditions for fungus.

        Serenade is a preventative for fungus. Too late for that

        Propiconizole is a fungicide. You can buy the bottle or granular form at Lowe’s but it’s not as good as the 14.3% I mentioned above.

        It won’t kill your lawn as Long as it’s not Pythiumor acthanose (from pics doesn’t look like it is)

        But those brown spots are fungus until proven otherwise. The dollar size spots look like dollar spot. It could also be the start of brown patch. Treatment is the same: fungicide

        vangaal
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by vangaal » July 16th, 2020, 11:45 am

        What is Pythiumor acthanose?

        Here are a few different pics:

        Image

        Image

        Image

        schreibdave
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by schreibdave » July 16th, 2020, 1:00 pm

        How much lawn do you have?

        Rather than order it on line, I would find a Site One in VA and go pick it up. If you only have a few thousand square feet of lawn, you will want to use a 1 or 2 gallon pump sprayer. If you have much more than that you may want to explore a 4 gallon backpack sprayer. Site One sells both of those.

        I forget the dosage but it's something like 2oz applied to every 1000 square feet of lawn.

        I wouldn't wait because that will spread a little bit every day.

        This is what you want:

        https://www.siteone.com/en/10160021-les ... l/p/240275

        vangaal
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by vangaal » July 16th, 2020, 5:33 pm

        schreibdave wrote:
        July 16th, 2020, 1:00 pm
        How much lawn do you have?

        Rather than order it on line, I would find a Site One in VA and go pick it up. If you only have a few thousand square feet of lawn, you will want to use a 1 or 2 gallon pump sprayer. If you have much more than that you may want to explore a 4 gallon backpack sprayer. Site One sells both of those.

        I forget the dosage but it's something like 2oz applied to every 1000 square feet of lawn.

        I wouldn't wait because that will spread a little bit every day.

        This is what you want:

        https://www.siteone.com/en/10160021-les ... l/p/240275
        More like 600 sq ft!

        vangaal
        Posts: 11
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by vangaal » July 16th, 2020, 5:37 pm

        Do you think that there is anyway that this grass is just dormant v.s. disease?

        schreibdave
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by schreibdave » July 16th, 2020, 7:21 pm

        vangaal wrote:
        July 16th, 2020, 5:37 pm
        Do you think that there is anyway that this grass is just dormant v.s. disease?
        Dormant grass doesn't have lesions. You might have some grass that's dormant but I think you also have disease.

        Maybe you can leave it alone and it will clear up on its own. Or maybe it will leave you with big dead spots. I think you need to treat it.

        One draw back of a monostand is that a disease can wipe out the whole lawn. A monostand is where you have all grass of one type - fescue in you case. If you had rye and kentucky blue grass in the mix there would be a little less risk because some types will be more resistant to that disease than others. So the whole lawn would be less likely to get wiped out.

        KBGkicksazz
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by KBGkicksazz » July 16th, 2020, 7:44 pm

        vangaal wrote:
        July 16th, 2020, 5:37 pm
        Do you think that there is anyway that this grass is just dormant v.s. disease?
        https://www.domyown.com/propiconazole-143-p-16567.html

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        MorpheusPA
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by MorpheusPA » July 17th, 2020, 11:29 am

        Dormancy usually doesn't sit in such neat circles but fungi do spread and grow in circles. Similarly, fescue's dormancy mechanisms don't work that way.

        I'm going to chime in with "yep, fungus. Treat soonest." And try to back off on the watering, although that's going to be difficult in July. For now, go to every third day and then every fourth in August since we're halfway there already. Overwatering just breeds fungi.

        Overall, grasses just aren't going to look the same in July as they do in May. I've just posted my "Meh, July" photo for comparison. I don't irrigate at all, took the photo on the worst part of the lawn, at the worst time of day, in the worst light (day with full sun). It doesn't look great.

        But in this case, you definitely do have an issue.

        vangaal
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by vangaal » July 17th, 2020, 2:59 pm

        MorpheusPA wrote:
        July 17th, 2020, 11:29 am
        Dormancy usually doesn't sit in such neat circles but fungi do spread and grow in circles. Similarly, fescue's dormancy mechanisms don't work that way.

        I'm going to chime in with "yep, fungus. Treat soonest." And try to back off on the watering, although that's going to be difficult in July. For now, go to every third day and then every fourth in August since we're halfway there already. Overwatering just breeds fungi.

        Overall, grasses just aren't going to look the same in July as they do in May. I've just posted my "Meh, July" photo for comparison. I don't irrigate at all, took the photo on the worst part of the lawn, at the worst time of day, in the worst light (day with full sun). It doesn't look great.

        But in this case, you definitely do have an issue.
        Thanks for the response. I didn't see the picture of your lawn. Can you post it? Also, what do you recommend for treatment? Should I use a disease control?

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        MorpheusPA
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by MorpheusPA » July 17th, 2020, 4:57 pm

        Yes, absolutely use a disease control. DiseaseEx, something along those lines, I'm thinking. With the weather you have incoming (I do, too), adding more water to the mix as you may have to do is going to cause an explosion in diseases.

        This is a Pennsylvania bluegrass lawn with no irrigation at high noon in July right after a mowing where I broke the one-third rule by quite a lot, photographed at the worst location on the lawn (a swale where the roots never get that deep because they drown out and rot every spring). But I've done everything right for years, including feeding at the right times, irrigating deeply and infrequently when I do irrigate (rarely, every few years at most during very bad droughts), and so on. Up close, mine still looks a bit better than most at a distance. :-)
        Image

        vangaal
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by vangaal » July 18th, 2020, 7:07 am

        I raked this morning to minimize thatching to some extent. Could there be an issue with the root not establishing itself deep enough in the soil. See the pictures below


        Image

        Image

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        MorpheusPA
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        Re: Fescue Lawn Care | Northern VA

        Post by MorpheusPA » July 18th, 2020, 7:57 am

        That doesn't look like significant thatch, which usually allows enough air through for roots to establish anyway. Thatch is generated by the grass as it sloughs off its own material, which will happen after establishment.

        Fescues also aren't the most thatchy sort of grasses. Those tend to be Zoysia and bluegrass.

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