After doing much research, it definitely appears to be brown patch. I've tried hitting it with all the fungicides that are supposed to work on it and I think they've encouraged it, if anything. I have six patches in a relatively small yard now that are anywhere from a few feet to probably 8' in diameter. In some areas, all thats left are runners, which are still green.

So, my questions are, 1- is there anything that can be done to stop and/or eliminate this disease and 2- will the lawn fill back in this spring or will I need to re-sod these areas?

BTW, I'm in Austin, TX.

Thanks!

One other thing that I started putting on my lawn after treating the take-all was corn meal. Since then, I have not had any other problems with lawn diseases, and, my lawn has greatly improved in health. Matter of fact, I have another post somewhere on here about finding a boatload of earthworm casing piles throughout my lawn. I get a 50lb bag of agricultural corn meal at a local feed store just up the highway from my house for about $15/bag. I use a broadcast spreader and am not shy about using the who bag on my yard.

Last year my St. Augustine started encroaching back into that area. Right now it's covered with a cool-season grass, so I'm hoping the disease is stopped and that I can get warm season grass back in there.

Hope this helps,
Bryan

As far as the diagnosis, I'm pretty certain that it is brown patch. It has the characteristic rust ring on the outside of the circle and slight greening and recovery in the center.

I guess I just need to keep hitting it with the fungicides for now. I hate using that stuff having 3 dogs and all. Supposedly it's not a big deal once it dries, but still...

Now the corn meal, that sounds like a good solution. Sounds like it only works as a preventative and not a treatment though, correct? Also is corn meal the same as corn gluten? I'm a dummy when it comes to that stuff, so please have patience with me...

Also, check out the city's Grow Green website. There is a lot of good info on there. I live in northwest Austin, but I get my products at a feed store in Cedar Park.

Bryan

Ordinary corn meal, on the other hand, seems to work very well. That was how I got my start in organic lawn care was by killing a fungus that had resisted all other attempts to kill. Corn meal works to kill existing fungal disease. I'm not sure where you read that it was preventative, but that is not the case. It prevents outbreaks by killing the bad guys. Actually it is not the corn meal that does the killing. Corn meal is decomposed by other fungi. Some of those fungi attract a fungus called Trichoderma (try ko DER mah). Trichoderma is a predatory fungus that feeds on the cell structure of other fungi. The corn meal is what starts the chain of events leading to a huge population gain in the Trichoderma in your lawn. Other corn products and other organic fertilizers don't seem to have the same effect.

Now you have another problem. You have killed off the fungi you need to get a good corn meal process going. If you applied corn meal now, nothing will happen because you don't have enough fungal population to grow the Trichoderma. It would be best if you apply a t-h-i-n layer of compost first. Give that a few weeks to repopulate your soil with beneficial microbes, then use the corn meal in February. Apply compost at 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. Apply corn meal at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can over apply corn meal up to 80 pounds before you start to smother the lawn. Get your corn meal at a feed store for the best price. Call first to see if they have it. Prices for corn have shot up with the Chinese buying it all, so don't be alarmed if it costs upwards of $15 per bag. I use to get it for $3 per bag, so $15 seems extraordinary. Corn meal has the additional advantage of being an organic fertilizer, so you really can't go wrong with this approach.

How are you watering? How often? How long?
Do you have any fences or shrubs that might block air flow to the lawn? Do you ever pile up garden trimmings on the lawn? Cutting off air flow to St Aug will get you a fungal disease in 2 weeks (voice of repeated experience).

If you are willing to try the cornmeal, just about everyone I've looked into in most of Austin has a 50lb bag for about $25 and up. I get mine at Callahan's Feed and Pet Supply(http://www.yellowbot.com/callahans-feed-pet-supply-cedar-park-t x.html) in Cedar Park for $15, but since it's cheaper out there, you have to call them and make sure it's in, and then go out there within the next half hour to pick it up. It goes that fast.

It's good to hear there's a non-chemical fix for this. I'll give Mr. Hall's suggestion a try in the next few weeks and see what happens.

beacivil1- did your lawn recover on its own after going organic or did you have to re-sod some areas first?

I swear, the more I lean about lawns, the less I realize I know.

You don't have to resod with St Augustine. It will fill in once the disease is gone. If you resod and have not cured the disease, you've wasted your time and money on the new sod.

I swear, the more I lean about lawns, the less I realize I know.

If you want to learn about organic lawn care, I always tell people they have to unlearn everything they thought they knew about lawn care. I know I did. To that I should add that your choice of fertilizer is like frosting on the cake. If you are not watering and mowing properly, your choice of fertilizer won't make much difference.

No, I have never resodded nor have I thrown seed. Well, unless you count my mulching lawn mower as a "seed thrower". Even though my St. Augustine has not fully covered the area (very large area) that had take-all it definitely has slowly but surely started to take it back over. Right now the rest of it is covered with a cool season grass of some sort. I'm honestly not worried too much about the SA fully covering the area as I will be planting native beds in that area to help with current and upcoming water restrictions.

One thing that David mentioned- the water and mowing- let me support that by telling you this. There is a neighbor down the street that has a lawn of my size. He spends a ton of time and money on keeping his lawn green (via chemicals). This past summer, while most of the lawns on my street were in terrible shape (all St. Augustine lawns), a few of ours (including mine and his) were thriving, green lawns. He kept mowing his lawn the normal height he always has and kept watering his shallow and frequent watering schedule. Not sure what fertizer he uses, but his lawn was a nice blanket of green. Me, I raised my mower to the highest setting, and used a deep and infrequent watering schedule (per instructions on the organic lawn care forum). With city water restrictions allowing only once a week watering, and no ability to cheat (no irrig system like my neighbors to come on at night), I had no choice but hope for the best. Well, all summer long, we both had a green lawn. What's crazy is that now that temps are starting to warm up again, his lawn is looking like a boxer that just went twelve rounds. It looks exaughsted from having to try too hard to survive the summer. My lawn on the other had, has already started to green up. I also see worm casting piles here and there, so my lawn survived the summer just like his did, but already has a head start on the upcoming spring, only organic- no chemicals. I feel like I really did not do that much work to the lawn this past summer (mowing high, watering deep and infrequent, and throwing corn meal down using the national major holiday schedule), and I think this upcoming season will provide a lawn to enjoy instead of a chore. Well, that is until we go to Stage 3 restrictions (possible by beginning of June), which will not allow any watering at all. But at least I also take pride in that I'm not polluting what limited water we have by using chemicals on my lawn.

Anyhow, when I get a chance, I'll take some pics of the area that I had take-all patch on and post them. I did get out to Callaghan's last week and they had both CGM and CM. I brought the kids along to go pick up some bags because I could hear the rooster in the background when I called (they also sell chickens at this time, which the kids love to watch).

Anyways, keep posting. Add pics of anything you have questions about if you own a digital camera or smart phone.
Bryan