Centipede

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– posted 15 July 2003 11:19

I put fertilizer out on sod that was planted about 5 weeks earlier. Started getting brown spots so I applied a fungicide and I think I put it out at too high of a rate and turned my grass brown. Will the grass come back nextyear or should I re-sod my yard

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 15 July 2003 14:24

The issues illustrated here are exactly why I turned to organic gardening. With the materials I use, I never have to worry about making this kind of mistake (assuming a mistake was made). If I use 10x as much of my materials as is needed, I’ll get the desired result plus a long term fertilization effect. Here’s how…

You’ve already used a fungicide, so my suggestion would not work for you. My suggestion requires a fungus that was likely killed off by the chemicals you used. But for those reading this who have not yet applied a fungicide, try this.

Apply ordinary corn meal to the fungal disease spots at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If there is no chemical fungicide on the soil, then the corn meal will attract a beneficial fungus called Trichoderma. The Trichoderma acts like a disease against the disease on your grass. The Trichoderma will weaken the grass disease until the other soil and plant microbes can munch up the disease you want to get rid of.

The initial brown spots could have been caused by the fertilizer. If you had used corn meal as the fertilizer in the first place, you likely would not have gotten the brown spots on any account. 1) Corn meal cannot be overapplied to cause brown spots, and 2) corn meal would have killed off any fungus in the soil preventing the disease (if it is a disease that you have).

You might still be able to recover your lawn this season (unless it is zoysia). First, before you apply the corn meal, apply compost at 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. Use more and you risk smothering the turf. Sweep the compost off the grass blades with a push broom (a rake is way too much work). Then, the same day, apply the corn meal. You can get corn meal in 50 pound sacks at feed stores for about $5.