Take All Root Rot

jncollier – posted 17 October 2011 09:09

My St. Augustine Grass has recently started turning brown. My front lawn now has brown spots in several spots. You can pull out the root stem and the bottom of the root is brown and rotten. I was wondering if anybody new whether or not a possible solution might be to re-sod the infected area in the spring after applying some top soil on the affected area.

John

RealGreen5 – posted 24 October 2011 10:13

Take All Patch or Take All Root Rot is a disease that thrives in alkaline soil conditions. The water out of the hose is very alkaline in pH, the more we have to water without rainfall the higher pH levels rise. There are fungicides that will put a band aid on it, but nothing will kill the pathogen that is in the soil for the disease. You can put it in an inactive state by dropping the pH of the soil into the slightly acidic range-below 6.7. This can be done by broadcasting spaghnum peat moss or applying a liquid acidic pH buffer for a quick pH correction. Throughout the year apply materials like sulfur, hydrohume, fulvic acid, and humic acid as you fertilize to keep the soil pH levels in the slightly acidic range and the disease will stay inactive. This also improves the solubility of nutrients such as nitrogen and iron allowing the grass to more efficiently utilize what is available to it. Good Luck