Some background: Transition zone (Northern VA) Rebel TTTF lawn.

1. Will the grass come back? From what I have read on a few extension svc sites, the fungus doesn�t touch the crown or roots. So that leads me to believe that the lawn will come back. Anybody have experience with this on a Fescue lawn?

2. If the grass will come back, when will this happen? When it gets cooler?

3. My plan is to extensively overseed with a rental slit-seeder (Billy Goat?) second week in September. Any other advice for what to do this fall specific to repairing the damaged lawn?

4. Anybody have experience using the Billy Goat overseeder? Is it any good? I used Bluebird in the past and have had good results.

Thanks for the help, everybody. I am so depressed over this. My lawn was the envy of the neighborhood and now it is trashed. Next year I will know the signs to look for and nip it in the bud as soon as I see the first black/purplish smoky rings forming. Ugh. Oh, and I will NEVER apply nitrogen late in the spring ever ever ever ever again.

Thanks again!

I have a beautiful TTTF that gets BP every year, and every year I learn A LOT more about prevention and treatment.

When you combine fungus with drought especially it is very possible to have the crown die. Don't kid yourself. It can die. If the conditions are bad and the fungus persists then it can move to the crown by itself and kill it. Fungicides should be sprayed at the first sign (like you said) of the disease. Professional products are the only way to go there. The homeowner products are close to worthless. The professional products actually end up being cheaper but application is no easy job.

As far as it coming back, again, it all depends on if it is truly dead or not. Last year was really bad (and this year was worse here but I treated) and about 93% of the yard came back just beautiful at least by the spring. I really doubt that everything will "come back" this fall. Most should next spring.

Sorry no experience with the Billy Goat overseeder. I've always aerated multiple times then seeded. Be careful with applying herbicides and the timing of your seeding. My seedlings really struggled last year because I pushed it a little too much with Trimec, I think.

Unfortunately, I can only offer you bad news when it comes to brown patch. It comes down to fungicides - preemptive applications. Basically, if you wait until there are obvious brown patches, then spray, those brown patches will only come back after temperatures fall, and conditions improve. If you spray before things look obvious, you should be able to keep the true green as long as you stay on top of it, treating every 28 days roughly when conditions are bad.

I'm sure you know all the cultural practices to follow, and I'm sure you already are, but those are extremely important to follow religiously! They are things like watering early in the morning, and infrequently, and don't fertilize when condition are present for brown patch (night time temperatures that don't fall below 70, and have a lot of dew, etc.).

Hope this helps.

My questions now turn to the overseeding:
Can anyone give some good advice for overseeding TTTF? I am have reserved a husqvarna overseeder (I think it's a slit seeder) and I'm going to do this on 9/9. Again, keep in mind that I'm in northern VA so is this a good time to overseed?

With the overseeder, do I need to de-thatch/power rake? Or does the overseeder take care of this by its nature? (tynes should dig up the dead stuff, right?)

I plan on making 4 passes per section of lawn with the seeder: e-w, n-s, then diagonal both ways. Probably apply seed at twice the recommended rate. Sound good?

I plan on using lesco starter fert and watering 2-3 times per day very lightly to keep seeds moist after overseeding/fertilizing. Sound ok? Probably will do this until germination.

We're going out of town starting Oct. 13, so I should have good growth by then. Sound about right for TTTF?

sorry for all the questions. i am so depressed over the loss of my lawn. It was so beautiful up until the dang brown patch took it. Ugh.

Thanks!!