Open Association of Landscape Industries
Lawn issue, can you identify this problem?
Good evening, I wonder if you lawn experts can help me out here, Went to one of my jobs to mow the lawns and noticed it was patchy and looking a bit sorry for itself, two weeks ago there was no sign of this at all.
On closer inspection I could see what looked like little bits of red cotton, but it was actually like a waxy plasticy substance on some of the blades of grass in the patches.
I have never seen this before! the worst affected lawn was turf laid late last year and has been very healthy up to now, the problem exists to a lesser extent on the larger lawn which was laid about two months ago,
Any ideas please?
Sorry the pictures aren't very clear!!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Smith on -
Looks like red thread, Its a fungal disease but I don't know a lot about it though sorry. I'm sure someone more helpful will sort you out soon.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on -
Thanks Simon, It does actually look like red cotton, so you could be right! :-)
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on -
Yes, it's red thread ( Laetisaria fuciformis). Not a huge problem.
A good dose of nitrogen will sort it out.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on -
Yes Thanks Phil and Simon, just had a read up about it.
Thanks for that, a quickly solved question :-)
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Permalink Reply by Colin Hunt on -
I also noticed a few patches today, put it down to the persistent rain washing out the Nitrogen as we treated our lawns 5 weeks ago when it was warm and everything wanted to grow!
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on -
Sorry Andy...my response was a bit cavalier:) When I said a good dose of Nitrogen I should have added a caveat.
As I'm sure you are aware, there's still a chance of sharp frosts (although diminishing) so a nitrogen flush from sulphate of ammonia, for example, might prove counter productive if the fresh soft growth spurt is hit by low temperatures.
A controlled release nitrogen is safer.
andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance said:Yes Thanks Phil and Simon, just had a read up about it.
Thanks for that, a quickly solved question :-)
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on -
ok phil thanks for that :-)
(the use of the word "cavalier" made me laugh :-D will have to use that more lol)
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Permalink Reply by Lawn lover on -
You can carry the fungus from a infected lawn to a uninfected lawn via boots, lawn mower or spreader so try to avoid contact, it will usually grow out if left alone for a couple of weeks.
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Permalink Reply by David Benson on -
as already said red thread, lawn fungicide will also do the trick
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Permalink Reply by Jim Davidson on -
Andrew - now that you've seen it once you'll see it all the time !
The stuff in your picture looks particularly virulant. Most times when I see it its not quite so vibrant but if you pull up a few blades of affected grass you'll see the tiny red hairs and/or the pink cotton wool like buds.
Watch out for it in the next couple of weeks because if we hit a warm spell the stuff is going to explode.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Barnett on -
Yep Red Thread, no problem, just needs feeding, with the current weather and lots of rain nutrients are being washed through.I recommend lawn fertiliser from the Grass Seed Store,www.thegrassseedstore.co.uk
it contains no herbicide so can be applied irrespective as to when mown. it works really well and the grass will respond well with vigorous growth.
Kevin
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Permalink Reply by Jim Davidson on
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Kevin - which 'lawn fertiliser' do you recommend and why ?
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