hi turfidiot,
We live in central massachusetts and we are suffering from the same exact problem with red thread, Not to bad last year, this year it is aweful. It is worst in the sunny area's than in the shade...Our lawn service claims it will improve once the wet weather and humidity decrease .They also said the lawn should recover. We opted not to have the fungicide applied because there was no guarantee if the weather pattern didn't change. They did say it would take a least two mowing cycles to remove the damaged grass. My neighbor had the treatment done and it looked good for a few weeks but it looks like the red thread is returning. Our problem with the red thread started in late July -early August. I called because I had read that it could be caused by a lack of nitrogen, but we had just had a lawn treatment. I had them check the ph and it was fine.

>>Their recommendation has been to increase our watering (every other day, 30 minutes per zone at 5am and 5pm.)

I think your lawn service is looking for business because that's a quick way to make red thread explode. Red thread is most active in cooler temperatures (70 degrees or below) with lots of water, and in underfed turf. There are exceptions.

Cut back your watering frequency, but increase the amounts. Target, ultimately, would be 1" of water a week, delivered in one watering. For now, cut back slowly to avoid shocking the lawn--add an extra day between waterings. In two weeks, add another. Keep extending the time you water to put more water down.

By the end of the season, you should have added 3 or 4 days depending on how much longer the weather holds.

Fungicides are not recommended because red thread usually doesn't kill the lawn, it's merely extremely unsightly. Grass crowns aren't generally impacted and the grass will re-grow blades when the stress levels drop. Plus we really don't want to breed a fungicide-resistant red thread...

I agree totally with the above poster, the worst thing for red thread is regular watering as your gonna thane regular moisture. Water once or twice a week.

I have had a bad year too and decided to change my grass mix a little. My old mix had The particularly vulnerable slender red fescue in, so ie got a new one which doesn't as had te more disease resistant strong creeping and chewing a fescues in along with ryegrass