Watering New Grass and Fungus

[NotFadeAway77]

I'm 28 days after germination on my renovation (75% TTTF, 15% PRG, 10% KBG). I was watering 3x per day up until last week as I dropped some new seed to fill in a lot of bare spots and was trying to keep the area moist. However, on Monday I backed off the watering after discovering fungus (red thread and slime mold). I did not irrgate Tuesday and applied DiseaseX at the curative rate along with 0.25lbs of N (46-0-0 urea). We got 0.25" of rain Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. I did not irrigate on Thursday but was going to today (Friday). Weather is in the low 60s today and we're suppossed to get some light rain this afternoon, but only .02" is forecasted.

Should I continue to hold off on running my irrigation? I don't want to back off the watering frequency too quickly but also want balance out the amount of water its getting to let the area dry out.

[Paul]

Have you cut the new grass yet? I would think you could get down to irrigating once a day now with the current temps and time of year. Check the soil to see if it looks dried out, if not, don't water, if yes, water. I would water around 12:00 so the grass dries out before nighttime. With nighttime temps now in the 40's and 50's, disease shouldn't be an issue.

[MorpheusPA]

Slime mold usually isn't anything to worry about, but is fun to watch.

Red thread is slightly more concerning, but not terribly much. It can damage young seedlings, so keep an eye on it, though, and it can certainly be a sign that the arena is perfect for worse things to come.

As Paul noted, with dropping temperatures across the Northeast over the next few days and no rebound expected until October 10th or so, you should certainly be able to back off significantly on the watering. Every other day? Certainly, I would think. And morning watering won't be an issue, so feel free to do it even earlier than noon if you want.

If you're still waiting on seed, it's really getting too late and too cool for that in MA. Move to keeping the young grass happy, so keeping the soil damp at about the half inch to one inch level. The soil surface can dry out for quite some time in cooler October weather with no problems.

[NotFadeAway77]

I did my second mow at 2” a few days ago. The lawn has looked much better since backing off the water. The new seeds have started to germinate instead of lagging behind and also seeing some growth in the thin areas where the fungus was the worst. We got some light rain yesterday afternoon and was thinking of putting down 1/4” of water every other day. My third app of N (.5lbs) will go down in a few days.

[NotFadeAway77]

I think I narrowed this down to plythium blight. I’m still seeing mycelium on the grass blades in the morning. Can someone else confirm this? Daytime temps have been in the mid 60s with a low of 45 at night. I’ve only been irrigating in the early morning hours.

Can I continue to spoon feed N or hold off?