Question
I live in SE Mich and am having trouble with a fungus(?) on my lawn. I have gone to local nurserys and have gotten every answer from too much water to too little water or too much nitrogen or too little nitrogen. I have purchased a fungicide but have read your postings and am reluctant to put it down. if I do have a fungus, what is the best way of removing it w/o harming the lawn. Also, I have been putting down a basic 12-12-12 fertlizer over the last 1 1/2 years. I try to avoid the comm. fertilizers but am not sure if I should be varying the fertilizer i use for the season. Thank you.

Answer
Brown Patch? Dollar Spot? I feel your pain, my friend.  Please clarify for me: Has it been determined that you do in fact have one or both of these Fungus problems?  That (?) in your question to me indicates you may, or not.

First, this is a very simple problem.  There are a lot of things you can do to make it complicated, but it is in fact very simple.  So relax and don't worry about it.  This is going to be solved.  Easily.

Next, let's make friends with your local Cooperative Extension agent.  Your tax dollars at work.  Do this while you still have a state department of agriculture (I think I heard New Jersey the Garden State has abolished theirs to save money?).  Instead of traipsing over to the local guys at the garden center who probably are not really good at diagnosing these things, bring samples to your Coop Agent and get an expert's opinion.  They are often REALLY good at this.  Some of these people have looked at thousands of samples of sick Grass.  They can spot Brown Patch across the room in the dark.  Bring them the real mcCoy.  A picture is worth 1000 words, a real thing is probably worth a million.  Your contact info:

http://www.msue.msu.edu/portal/default.cfm?pageset_id=25744&page_id=25794&msue_p...

Copy the URL, pull up the page and click on your county.  Find out when and where you take these samples.  Know your enemy.

Let's assume you're right that this is a Fungus.  (It would be better to know which one(s) but for now we'll work with what we have.)  I have a webiste that is the Fungus equivalent of America's Most Wanted:

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/landscap/pp950w.htm

Look over the photos of the perp and see if you recognize anything.

By i.d.'g the perp, you see, you will get a better idea of how your Lawn got caught up in this kind of activity.  Not only do you suddenly know how to manage it, but you also know how to avoid getting it again in the future.

As you probably read, Fungicides are often ineffective for current Fungus attacks.  PREVENTIVE Fungicides aim to block spores from reaching host plant tissue; they cannot protect infected tissue or erase colonies that are established.  CURATIVE Fungicides are supposed to minimize damage that has not already been done.

What you may not have read:  Most Fungi are beneficial.  The most carefully maintained Lawns are the ones that deal with Fungus attacks because the beneficial Fungi control the destructive Fungi; you damage the beneficial Fungi when you use a Fungicide.

But as you know what they say about an ounce of prevention.  This is important to understand because it applies very much to Lawns.

Because Lawns grow in dirt.

And dirt is loaded with Fungus spores and dead Fungus bodies.

Have you seen my speech about the towel on the bathroom floor?

Do your towels get Mildew because you did not spray them with Fungicides?

Do you have NO Fungus problem in the living room because you spray?

NO!

Spores are EVERYWHERE.  They're on our skin.  Our food.  Our lungs.  If you take a loaf of bread and put it in the refrigerator too long, mold grows on it.  These things are ubiquitous.  And that's OK.  Right?

Because we manage them.  We pick up the towels.  We use up the bread.  And we do NOTHING in the living room because without moisture and darkness and the right materials, there will never be a Fungus problem there.

Step outside, Don.

Why is there Fungus out there?

Heavily maintained soil suffers constantly from shell shock.  Bad Fungi take advantage of that every chance they get.

Why do you suppose we never hear about 'good' Fungi?

I'll tell you why.

They don't make money for anyone.

No one is going to get rich selling you products to wipe them out.  No one is going to make money getting you to feed them.  They're out there, minding their own business, doing what good Fungi do to be 'good', until someone comes along and knots up the hyphae and mycelia.  Then all hell breaks loose.

If you have an automatic sprinkler, stop using it.  Your Soil needs to dry out.  Give those good Fungi a rest.  Wipe out some bad Fungi.

Get some good old fashioned AGED MANURE and COMPOST.  These are rich in good Fungi and other good things that fight crime in your Soil.  Make sure they are NOT sterilized.  Sterilizing kills all the good things you need to get.  Top dress affected areas.  Let it rain.

I'm not kidding here.  I expect this is going to happen.

Please find out what Fungus you have, then we can fine tune a fix for you.  By the way, the Michigan Ag people will probably be pro-pesticides so please just use them for a diagnosis.  I will send you links to scientific papers that back up anything I tell you, but I would like to know what you are up against.  rsvp,

L.I.G.