Additional photo

Additional photo

Additional photo

Additional photo - keep in mind this is right after watering

Those white/bleached areas on the blades are a sign of disease. Likely from too much water combined with the heat and humidity.

Grass1950, thank you for your follow up. How can I fix this? Stop daily watering?

I agree. I think you way over watered which led to fungus.
I would cut back on the watering.

I'm not sure if you can apply anti-fungal remedies right now.

Uscjusto, thank you for your suggestion. Should I stop watering completely for a few days to let the lawn dry out? Is the lawn too far gone to save? It's still more green than not, but it's probably best to not let this problem get any worse if I can help it.

There are a number of products available as curatives. The big box stores have some that can be applied by hose end spayer. You should try to identify the disease by closely inspecting the blades and comparing the symptoms to google images or to turf disease discriptions on University sites *buckeye turf, rutgers, South Carolina U, Penn State, etc, If you can identify a specific disease, you can make sure the product you buy addresses that disease rather than just hoping, Some diseases, like leaf blight have no cure.

Looks like pink fungus to me. I get that sometimes, especially this year with all the humidity and rain. Luckily, I have been able to get rid of it every time I got it. I suggest you buy Scotts Fungus Control. It's a dry fertilizer, and it might take more than one application to knock it out, but it works. Again, after the first application you may not see immediate results, but it should stop it from spreading or getting more intense, and by the second application it should go away. You only need to wait a week or two between applications.

Are you watering at night? You should really just water two times a week and make sure it's a deep watering. Constant watering, especially at night, leads to disease. It's best to water deep and early in the morning. Obviously if your lawn really needs water you can water more, or less if not needed, but it's better to water a few times for a while versus watering a little every day. That also helps the roots grow deeper.

This post was edited by jake19 on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 18:33

Aye dios mio! That is waaaaay too much water. It should have been more like 3 minutes 3x per day for two weeks. 3 minutes might not be enough depending on your sprinkler but some of them can put out a full inch every 20 minutes. All you needed to do was keep the surface sod moist and get the underlying soil just damp. Sounds like you drenched it 3x per day. The only way to tell how well your sprinkler works is with several cat food or tuna cans in the yard. Time how long it takes to fill the cans. That is your time objective to start.

Now the question is how do you back off slowly? Start by going to 10 minutes 2x per day and watch it carefully. If it looks okay after a couple days, try skipping a day at that schedule. If that works go to 20 minutes once every other day. This is assuming it takes longer than 20 minutes to fill your cat food cans. I'm thinking it will take an hour. If yours takes much less or much more, please write back. The idea is to get to the point where you are watering about an inch all at one time every 7 days. That applies to the heat of summer. When it cools off you should back off on the frequency but keep the timing about the same. Of course if Mother Nature helps out, all you have to do is supplement to get the full inch. My situation is much different in South Texas, but July is nearly over and I still am not on a weekly watering schedule. We got 3 inches of rain 2 weeks ago and my grass looks great. Temps are in the high 90s to low 100s every day and down to low 70s at night.

If your sod is all fescue, you will need to overseed in late August. If it has any Kentucky bluegrass, the KBG will spread back to fill in any thin spots caused by the disease.

Thank you Grass1950, Jake19, and DcHall for your comments!

I'll try and answer all 3 of you at once.

1) I'm unable to buy antifungals like Scotts because of a ban here in Ontario. Home Depot, Lowes, Canadian Tire do not carry (here in ON) any kind of antifungal that I can see.

2) yes, I have watered in the evening (usually around 7PM) as per the instructions of our lawn installer. More recently I have only watered during the mornings (around 6:30AM just after sun up)

3) I did a test early on and my sprinkler puts out roughly 1/8 - 1/4 inch per 20 minutes

4) The sod is a blend of Kentucky Blue Grass, Creeping Red Fescue and Perennial Rye Grasses. I was hoping the lawn would make it until early Sept so I can add seed and see what happens. So I will take DcHall's advice and re-seed in late August.

I didn't water yesterday hoping that the sod would dry out a bit and it has. I've read that using cornmeal might be helpful as I'll have to go the organic route to dealing with the disease rather than antifungals. Does using cornmeal sound like a good idea?

Thanks again!

I absolutely rely on ordinary corn meal to solve my fungus problems. It has worked for me every time I've used it (roughly annually since 2002). Apply 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet over the entire yard. Give it 3 full weeks to see improvement. If you don't see it at exactly 3 weeks, hit it again with 20 more pounds.

I do have lawn forum acquaintances who have not had the same good experience as I have with corn meal. At the worst it is an acceptable organic fertilizer. At best it is both that and will take out your fungal disease.

Never seed in the spring if you can help it. That is the same time that crabgrass seed is germinating. Also new grass from seed is not ready for the summer heat after just 4 months.