Better red than dead
It has become apparent over the last few days that the disease that affected my lawn last summer (which subsequently spread to the lawns of my neighbours) has returned. It is called Red Thread and it loves cool and wet conditions, which coincidently is exactly the type of weather that Germany has been experiencing for most of the month of May. It has also returned to a neighbour’s lawn. We had hoped that the cold winter would have killed off the fungal infection, but we were wrong. The fungus left bare patches last summer which have only just to regrow this year.
The original infection came from the turf that I laid a couple of seasons ago. Our only real course of action now is to improve drainage, cut the grass very short and fertilise the hell out of the lawn and pray for warmer drier weather. Fungicides are available for Red Thread but there are not recommended for home use. I don’t know why but I suspect it’s a safety thing.Technorati Tags: Gardening, Marburg, Lawncare, Grass
posted by Haddock at 5:08 PM
13 Comments:
Fungal Infections: I sympathise. They are nothing if not persistent.
I was hoping the cold weather (combined with a course of antibiotics) would clear mine, but *checks himself* it's still there.
Fortunately it hasn't spread to any of my neighbours, though not for the want of trying.
Ugh! I have never heard of such a thing. It looks like something from a movie, like the "War of the Worlds" and the stuff they spray every where. If you cannot use fungicide, how are you supposed to get rid of it?
Capgas - LOL, hope it clears up soon! :)
Naked Nerd - The never ending battle against weeds is a pain, but be must be much worse when you can see the source of the problem and cant do anything about it.
Claire - I does look like the stuff from WOTW. Apparently all I can do is adopt good lawn practices......personally I will be praying to the big pumpkin in the sky! ;)
In my Bio-Garden-Book from Marie-Luise-Kreuter I read something about mycosis: Maybe you can try to strengthen the lawn, for example with a Equisetum-arvense-broth or -finished product as Equisan (made by Oscorna): Put 1kg fresh Herbs or 150 g dried 24 h in 10 l water. At the day, cook the broth for half an hour, then let it cool down and then sift it. Befor sprinkling, dilute it with the fifefold amount of water. In acute cases sprinkle it every day for 3 days, than sometimes. But as you said maybe better a read lawn than a dea one ... (but I often heard of equisetum for gardening problems)Good luck!
Eeeww! Red fungus? That really looks strange. Hope you can get rid of it. We're also hoping for dryer and warmer weather.
I have never heard of this. Do they have it in the States?
Look on the bright side, the pretty colors of red and green remind me of Christmas.
Good luck to ya, hope you lawn can come back from the (almost) dead.
Cyn
Scary! Our lawn is in awful shape, but I don't think we have that particular ailment. Probably better not to go spraying stuff on the lawn when there are kids around, but it would still be nice to get rid of it before the whole neighbourhood turns red. :-)
whine whine whine!
I live in a freaking jungle..my lawn wants to revert back to rain forest..it's a constant battle ..
Stupid rain forest!..what good is that?
interesting post...
who will win the reds or the greens?
Deepblue - Many thanks for the helpful advice. I had a look at the Oscorna website and they sell some very good organic fertilisers & pesticides :)
Canadianswiss - Dry warm weather! I think we have more chance of winning the lottery at the moment! :)
Lisa - I will will be VERY careful! :) This stuff may well be from outer space :)
Cynthia - I checked on the internet and Red Thread is a known lawn problem in the USA as well. Perhaps it is taking over the world! (one lawn at a time!)
Christina - I'm trying to be as organic as possible and will and try and avoid nasty chemicals as best I can! :)
Cynnie - You could grow tropical fruits! :)
Heza - Hopefully the greens will win! :)
There are probably at least 273 rules as to why you shouldn't use them at home.
So, you've gone from the Aquarium of Life to the Lawn of Death? You should have full circle next summer.
That looks really annoying.
I was thinking of Astroturf if you still want green ... I did know someone in New York who filled the front yard with concrete and then painted it green.
How about a rock-garden?
You have my sympathy. I've got lawn mites so there will be some spraying going on in my yard. But mine seems like an easier problem to manage.
Good luck!
K
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