The Landscape Alert
An Outreach of the Center for Urban Agriculture - www.gaurbanag.org
- Is it Safe to Apply Herbicides During Spring Green-Up of Turfgrasses?
- Potential for Frost across Georgia Looming Early Next Week
- Ground or Digger Bees Attack Landscapes
- Azalea Lace bugs Best Controlled Early in the Season
- Ambrosia Beetles: An Early Season Tree & Shrub Threat
- Southern Red Mite
- Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Found in Forsyth County
- Florida Betony Control
- Fall Management of Large Patch Disease in Turfgrass
- Lantana Lace Bug Control
- Prevent White Grubs in Turf Now!
- Protect Landscape Trees Now from Drought Injury
- It is Time to Control Mole Crickets!
- Check St. Augustine Lawns Now for Chinch Bugs!
- Powdery Mildew in the Landscape
- Take All Root Rot Damages Centipede and St. Augustine Lawns
Take All Root Rot Damages Centipede and St. Augustine Lawns
Willie Chance, Outreach Coordinator - Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture
June 2, 2008
Many lawns in central Georgia are infected with Take All root rot. This fungus disease affects centipede, St. Augustine and Bermuda lawns, though we are mainly seeing it now on centipede and St. Augustine. Affected lawns may have round or irregular dead or dying patches. The grass may yellow or wilt even though the soil is moist.
The organism that causes Take All rots the lawn’s roots and aboveground runners (stolons). To identify the disease:
- Look for the black, rotted roots.
- Affected stolons may be brown or black at the nodes or have dead patches.
- One of the best ways to identify this disease is to look for the black, thread-like fungal hyphae growing on the undersides of the stolons. You will need a microscope or a good hand lens to see these hyphae. Many Georgia Extension offices have microscopes agents can use to diagnose diseases.
Take all root rot prefers cooler weather and may be confused with the green-up problems we saw earlier that were caused by cool spring temperatures. Take all infects lawns in the fall, grows through the winter and begins to slow growth in late spring. Unfortunately, by the time we see the symptoms of this disease, much damage is already done.
Since this disease destroys roots, lawns may be slow to recover. Affected lawns are also more susceptible to other stresses – herbicides, drought, etc. Affected lawns may not even show evidence of this disease on the leaves until the turf is stressed by herbicides or other stresses. Give special care to affected areas until they recover.
Much of the damage of this disease is probably behind us now. The damage is done in the fall and spring, but we are noticing the effects now. Expect the disease to be less active as temperatures increase.
For now, the best control is to improve cultural practices to prevent the disease and to increase the vigor of the grass so that it will recover quickly. These practices will slow disease progress.
- Make sure the soil pH is not too high.
- Water deeply and infrequently and do not allow the soil to remain wet.
- Remove thatch if the thatch layer is thicker than one-half inch.
- Use slow release fertilizers that contain equal amounts of nitrogen and potassium.
- Do not apply high nitrogen fertilizers in the fall.
Fungicides are best applied in the fall to prevent this disease. Treat in September and again in October to prevent this problem. For now, a fungicide may be helpful in some cases - especially if we are sodding or plugging turf into these areas. Improving the cultural practices of the grass is the best method of control for now.
For more information –
Take-All Root Rot of St. Augustinegrass (lists fungicides for this disease)
Call your local Extension Agent at (800-ASK-UGA1) or Locate your local Extension Office (http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/statewide.cfm)