Comment: I’ve noticed over past few days especially after last mow yesterday yellow blades mixed in after finished mowing. I do the idiot proof plan, but was at Lowe’s and saw fungicide on sale and so thought I would be proactive this year. I applied it last Friday but now see signs of fungus that I didn’t notice last Friday. So wonder if it’s made things worse now. It was Scott’s granular with azoxystrobin. I have attached some blade picture. Maybe it hasn’t had time to work yet or maybe it’s made it develop fungus. You have fungus fighter but was too lazy to make the drive. Any thoughts? Didn’t know the chemical of your fungus fighter or if I need to give existing application more time. Just seems odd that now I have fungus when I thought I was being proactive. I don’t water at night too. Have a blue grass fescue blend and appears to be the fescue w issue. Thank you.
Response: I agree that what you are seeing is fungus on the fescue. The Scott’s product is a good product, the question has always been the rate on using the Azoxystrobin. We feel their rates are on the lower end of the manufactures recommended rates and do not post a curative rate which is double the preventative rate. What I am saying is we feel the product should cover closer to 4k preventative and only 2K at the curative rate. That being said it is possible the disease was breaking out last week and now is getting a little more prolific. We would suggest you treat at the curative rate with our Fungus Fighter now and let it get rained on over this weekend.
Azoxystrobin is good chemistry and it is in the rotation of products we use in Fungus Fighter. We used it about 3 years ago. We feel it’s important to rotate fungus controls annually. This year the active in Fungus Fighter is Fluoxastrobin, trade name Fame.
Controlling fungus is a little different than controlling dandelions. When you spray dandelions you see them wilt and go away. When you control lawn fungus your goal is to not have it spread any further. The blemish will only disappear when the grass grows enough to allow the damage leaf tissue to be removed with your lawn mower.
I doubt if your watering scheduled is to blame for this but be reluctant to irrigate too soon or too much. The lawn’s root system will be stronger if the lawn dries out some in May. Research has shown that roots will grow deeper in search of water if they need to. If the water is close by they will enjoy the drink and not go looking for it. In May and June consider watering heavily when you water and let it really dry out in between. Setting the timer this early is fun but wait until we see frequent 90 degree days and it is sunny until 9 PM before you go into auto program mode.
Thank you for the question.
Thank you,
-Uncle
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