Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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MorpheusPA
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Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by MorpheusPA » October 6th, 2021, 5:47 pm

It's been pointed out that I don't post a lot of photos of my lawn for all that I do talk about it a lot. True. So here are several, including the normal "problems" I experience later in the season.

The standard shot. Looks great. Feels like a carpet underfoot. Cut to 3.5". The color is actually better in person; my camera tends to yellow out greens a bit.
Image

Turning around from where I was standing, you can see Olivia mowing the lawn...and a large but minor area of rust. Every. Year. Right there. And that lawn in the distance where Olivia is mowing isn't exactly any great shakes, either. It's thinner, blasts out every summer, and only looks OK by October.
Image

Moving way further front into the house shadow (north face), another rust patch. It's not too bad, although there are others out front that I didn't image.
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MorpheusPA
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by MorpheusPA » October 6th, 2021, 5:47 pm

Including the late-season gardens, about half removed, half still blooming. They won't last too much longer; November 1st is about the outside date. And that's rare. You'll note edging issues with the new mower, due to the ground being really, really soft.
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pristinegreen75
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by pristinegreen75 » October 6th, 2021, 6:22 pm

Lawn looks great Morph. Wish mine looked like that. Same problems with rust here also. A little worse than yours. Ida left a ton of water. It drains well under normal conditions but that much water left some brown areas where the rust developed also. I think there was some root suffocation before it could dry itself out. After a nitrogen drop it is regenerating well. With no fertilization since Memorial day and then Ida hit it was pretty much depleted. (Hello rust!) LIke you said, pretty much the same places here also every year.

Green
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by Green » October 6th, 2021, 8:35 pm

Morph,

Be glad you don't get hammered with rust...I do. No amount of aggressive Fall Nitrogen regimen applications coupled with Serenade apps, frequent mowing, bagging the worst areas, cleaning the mower and shoes, etc., remedies it when it's really bad...even starting the fert apps prior to the disease. The last two years, especially last year, it was terrible, and spread everywhere, and by late October had thinned out portions of the lawn bad enough that I had to overseed one area early this past Spring. This year I drew the line, and applied a curative rate of Propiconazole to stop it in its tracks. Now, about 6 weeks later, it's threatening to come back a little bit. I got a nice new bottle of Sonata Biofungicide recently, which I will crack open the seal on, tomorrow. Hopefully this will keep it under control for the rest of the Fall.

Masbustelo
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by Masbustelo » October 6th, 2021, 9:25 pm

What triggers the rust? I'm having a few flareups, also near or in tree shade.


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MorpheusPA
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by MorpheusPA » October 7th, 2021, 5:50 am

Masbustelo wrote:
October 6th, 2021, 9:25 pm
What triggers the rust? I'm having a few flareups, also near or in tree shade.
Damper, shadier weather in fall, usually. It'll fade when hard frosts become common, but we haven't even had first frost yet.

northeastlawn
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by northeastlawn » October 7th, 2021, 9:42 am

Ditto on the rust issues for me also. The lawn did well all summer, and I was really looking forward to the fall Fertlizer program making the lawn pop.

But disease issues really thinned out the lawn and you wouldn’t even be able tell I have been fertilizing it. I put down some disease-ex two weeks ago and throw down another fungicide if I don’t see some improvement next week.

I have like two Fertlizer apps before my avg first frost date, I’m hoping the cooler nights get things moving,I miss having the lawn come back in the fall.

fun4me2
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by fun4me2 » October 7th, 2021, 4:40 pm

Morph I wish my lawn looked half as good as yours. Very nice.
No rust here (knocks on wood).

The last couple days I cut down my perennials.
Instead of mowing every 4 days, it's now every 5 days.
I dropped my HOC to 3".
The temps are still in the 70's here which is way above normal.
(no complaints here) :no:
The leaves are not changing colors yet. They say we are 2 weeks behind.

BTW Olivia is doing a nice job! :)

bolson32
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by bolson32 » October 7th, 2021, 9:12 pm

Noticed some rust on mine today as well! I've probably always gotten it but only noticed now that you guys pointed it out and I was actively looking for it. Nothing bad, but it's there in a few spots.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Typical Late-Season "Problems"

Post by MorpheusPA » October 8th, 2021, 5:28 pm

It's really very normal in a fall lawn and, in "normal" levels, nothing to worry about. You'll notice that whole section of my lawn is pretty yellow-red and kind of Mars-like. Walking through covers shoes with spores. I'm not doing a thing about it.

It'll be fine. Unless it starts thinning out the grass (which it won't have time to do), it's not really a problem.

I started with spotty powdery mildew out front now as well. This also happens every year. I noticed it when I was dropping the second October feeding.

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