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| I'm thinking about preventative lawn fungicides (mainly brown patch in the summer) and I'm wondering if anyone has had success with fungicides from the retail stores. I know I can go to John Deere and buy some very expensive stuff, or have a service apply a fungicide a couple times which might be cheaper.
Do you use any of the granular or spray fungicides from the retails stores and if so what have you found that works? Thanks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sat, Feb 4, 12 at 16:29
| Where do you live? What kind of lawn do you have? How often do you water? How high/low do you mow? How often do you fertilize and with what? These elements of location and care can make a difference as to what works. |
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| You have to make a decision about what you're trying to do. If you apply chemical fungicides, you will kill the good fungi with the bad fungi, and the good ones keep the bad ones under control. Long term, the use of chemical fungicides will lead you to a dependence on fungicides, because there will be no natural predators keeping the bad fungi at bay. If you want to focus on the long-term control, consider proactive controls like "Serenade" and Phosphite (not Phosphate) fertilizers/controls. They require regular application every few weeks, but I have gone to zero fungus problems (from many) after two years on the regimen. Your call... |
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| Thanks andy10917. I'm not familiar with Serenade or Phosphite so I'll check them out. We live in the transition zone with tall fescue and brown patch is always a problem for everyone here. I do all the usual maintenance techniques to reduce the chance of brown patch but it's generally unavoidable. |
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| Nothing is unavoidable. Please answer David's questions so that we can help you avoid the unavoidable. |
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| OK, thanks. We live in NC and have tall fescue grass. I'm making changes to my maintenance plan so some of this I'm currently implementing. I cut the grass at 3-1/2" all year long. I water 2 times per week at at 5 AM with an irrigation system. I try to apply nearly 1" water per week. I cut the grass after the dew as evaporated or in the early evening. My blades are always sharp or near sharp. I usually use Lesco synthetic fertilizers 4 times per year. In the June timeframe through the summer I plan on using Milorganite. Once I applied Maxide fungicide and I think it helped, but I really needed to apply it more than once to know for sure. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. |
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| Unless you are talking about sandy coastal soils, NC clay tends to do best with a once a week soaking vs 2x. If there is anything you can do to improve air flow, that will help. eg cutting some lower branches off trees, no solid fencing etc Also, brown patch tends to be worse in over fertilized lawns. For fescue in NC, i would stick with 1 application after the first flush of spring growth with only LIGHT applications of organic fertilizers after that. Hold off on anything else until the summer heat breaks. Also, anything you can do to aid drainage is a good idea. Core aerating, topdressing with compost etc. Getting the water down into the soil and away from the crown can help keep the disease from taking hold. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, Feb 6, 12 at 22:20
| Now we need to narrow down where you are in NC. It's a big place with a variety of climates and soils. Would you characterize your soil as sandy or clayey? I agree with backing off on the watering frequency. Are you still watering that often even in the cool weather? I haven't watered since October (thank the heavens for the occasional rain). And even in our 100 degree summer heat I only water once every 7 or so days. |
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| David, Good point. We have red clay here in the Piedmont. If I went to watering once per week I would probably have to run each of the 9 irrigation zones for at least 1 hour to come close to 1 inch of rain. So, I would either have to start watering at night, which promotes fungus, or water during the day and fight evaporation. That is the main reason I went to irrigating twice per week. In the spring and fall I water far less and sometimes not at all if we get enough rainfall. Once summer I didn't even irrigate once per week in the summer and no fertilizer and still had brown patch. With hot and humid night temperatures in the summer I'm still looking for fungicide suggestions. Thanks. |
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