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molski_gw

Pic of lawn-unsure what happened

molski
9 years ago

Hi,

I am wondering what this is in the middle section of the lawn. This appeared mid September and I thought that a couple of mowings and it would green back up but so far it is not the case. My plan was to aerate and then overseed that area here in the next week or so and see if that helps for the spring. I'm in wisconsin. Any ideas what this might be or possibly caused it? Westher has been pretty mild and I definitely did not over water it this year. Thanks!

Comments (12)

  • californiagirl
    9 years ago

    Looks like rust from this angle, but the lines suggest some effect from your cultural practices.

  • molski
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I think it could be fertilizer burn. This would make sense I think. I don't think anything can be done now this late into fall can it? I am hoping everything should return to normal come spring?

  • dchall_san_antonio
    9 years ago

    Dig up one square foot out in the middle looking for grubs. If you see fewer than a dozen in that square foot, then you can rule out grub damage. If you see hundreds, then it is grub damage. At this time of year the grubs have stopped feeding. If the lawn is Kentucky bluegrass, it will recover. If it is fescue, it might recover. If you were going to overseed this fall, then late August would have been the time for you in your location. It's far too late now.

    If you don't see grubs, then a disease is likely. If the disease is not rust or red thread, then you can probably use corn meal at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Again, this time of year is a little late to deal with it. You might wait until next May and hit it with fertilizer and corn meal at the same time.

  • californiagirl
    9 years ago

    Did you fertilize since August? Do you use a drop spreader? Too much or too little fert are both possibilities.

    Our neighborhood in Madison got hit with a lot of rust in August because the nights were cooling and leaving a lot of dew on grass that was otherwise growing slowly during hot days without much rain. That combo sets up the opportunity for rust fungus to grow on older grass blades. My tennis shoes turned orange when I walked over our lawn.

    If you did not fertilize well and that represents a missed area with a drop spreader, then the bad news is the patch may reflect a nitrogen deficiency. Your grass did not outgrow the rust the way it should have this fall with some nitrogen and water.

    Unfortunately, growth is really slowing in Wisconsin now that we are getting frosts at night and the days are short, but if you did not fertilize in September then you may want to look into a fast-release nitrogen/urea drop plus watering in soon to help your grass come back stronger in spring. It is probably too late to expect that patch to green up much this year if that is a fungus disease.

  • molski
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for all the info. I did fertilize in September, went out of town for a couple of days and noticed this when I came back. I thought it would just go away after a couple of mowings but it did not.

    I know nothing will germinate at this time of year but if I aerated and over seeded just that area, couldn't that help for the spring? I will definitely fertilize and look into corn meal for that area next spring.

  • californiagirl
    9 years ago

    Is your soil compacted? It doesn't look like that is the problem there. So you could skip aeration, which might bring out weed seeds.

    Did you water well after you fertilized? If not, is that why you suspect burn?

    You can overseed some high quality KBG into that area (something that matches what you already have in growth and color) and put it down in November before a snowfall. That's dormant seeding, where the seeds will overwinter and then sprout in spring exactly when conditions are right. It is risky to put the seed down now, where it might start to germinate and then get destroyed by cold. This is Wisconsin, we're talking, and winter is coming.

    You might see that area come back to life in spring without any if this, btw. Hold off on the fertilizer until late May if you don't overseed. Studies show early nitrogen ends up hurting the grass.

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    Could we get a closer shot? It looks like rust caused by a bit of temporarily standing water in that section--which does seem a bit lower than the surrounding areas.

    Grubs are possible, but not likely. They tend to be patchy when they do damage at all, not a huge area like that.

    Fertilization error is also possible there, particularly if you got a heavy rainfall.

  • yardtractor1
    9 years ago

    Any chance you put down lime recently?

  • molski
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I attached a close up photo. I ran a soil test and pretty much everywhere in the yard came back around 7. I have not added lime. Would that be a good idea to do?

  • morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
    9 years ago

    I see some evidence of rust or red thread (highly probably rust) in there. What I don't see is enough to make that orange looking patch you have.

    First, skip the lime if your pH is near 7. It's only going to set off more and different problems. Optimal pH ranges from 6.2 to 6.7 depending on your soil particulars, with 6.5 being pretty much good for everybody as long as all the elements creating that pH are balanced properly.

    Are some areas more orange than others?

  • molski
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The more I read about rust the more this makes sense. This same area looked similar to this for a couple of weeks in June or July and went away after a couple of mowings. Now it came back in the same spot but seems to be a little larger this time.

    The second photo I attached is pretty much how that whole area looks. If it's just rust then I will fertilize and throw corn meal down on that area in the spring and take it from there, if it even comes back at all like California girl mentioned. Thanks for all the help, my wife thinks I'm nuts for caring about this!

  • yardtractor1
    9 years ago

    What morph said about lime. You definitely have a turf disease based on the lesions in the new picture.. Certainly could be rust, but just to be sure use the link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Disease ID

    This post was edited by yardtractor1 on Mon, Oct 20, 14 at 17:24