Question
I recently had a problem with a brown patch fungus on my front and back lawn. I have treated my turf with two different types of fungicides.  My question is will my grass ever come back, or should I re sod the problem areas?  Also I would like to start organic system for my grass.  I truly believe that I used to many types of chemicals on the turf and I removed the good stuff from the dirt.  Could you spare some of you knowledge?

Answer
Hi Jacob.
Actually a very little chemical is too much. Fertilizers are purhaps the worst offenders.
That kill all the beneficial microbes, nematodes and insects that will feed on the harmful ones and will work round the clock enriching and improveing the soil.
Weeds like poor soil and will jot thrive in rich soil.
Make rich soil and weeds will not thrive, and any that come up will start to die out right away.
Beneficial microbes work round the clock enriching the soil.
Sugar does not enrich the soi or kill weeds, but it nourishes thiose beneficial microbes, so putting sugar down each spring and fall, at the rate of about 4 pounds per sq.ft, will keep th microbes nourished, and they will enrich the soil. when the soil is rich, weeds won't be a problem.
Even the poison ivy I was getting went away when I stareted the organics.
You can speed up the enrichment by adding some things.
Lava sand and alfalfa meal are two things rich in nutrients.
After a volcano erupts and kills everything, then cools off, the island where it rupted comes alive with gorgeous foliage and flowers. that is what makes all those gorgeous flowers if Haiwaii etc.
Just sprinkle it lightly around the ground. You don't hav to add full coverage.
If you are tilling up the soil for any reason, that is a good time to throw sonme of it down and till it in too, or if you are adding soil to an area.
The same with the alfalf meal. You can sprinkle it all over and water it well, or you can add it to new soil, or you can make a tea by soaking 1 cup alfalfa meal per 5 gallons of water. Then water plants or houseplants with it, or strain it and put it in a garden sprayer to foliar feed.
Your organics will create a healthy enviornment for toads, lizards and grass snakes. They eat harmful insects, and do no damage themselves.
Toads love slugs. Lizards keep all the aphids off my roses, and the tent catapillars out of my trees.
Grass snakes and toads eat all kinds of ants.
Just go out now, and put down sugar and water it in.
To combat all those chemicals, I would use just a little more sugar for this first time. About 5 or 6 pounds per 1000 sq.ft.
Water it wll, before and after putting down the sugar. About 3 or 4 days before, water to a depth of at least 6 inches to help fluch out some of the chemicals.
In spring at the first sign of greening up, put down sugar again.
That should get the microbes started.
If your grass is the spreading typs like St. Augustine or Burmuda, it will fill in shortly with the watering.
When the weather is still cool, mowing to a shorter height will encourage it to put out more runners and spread faster.
If your type of grass doesn't spread like that, you may need to resod those areas.
When the temperature gets up to about 80, move the mower blade settings up to at least three inches.
Longer blades help shade the soil from the summer heat.
The deep watering helps protect against heat, cold and grought damage, and prevents thatch.
In early spring, I put cedar bark mulch all ovet the lawn in a thin layer to repel fleas and ticks. Cedar repels a whole host of insects, including termites.
I put a line of cedar bark mulch all around the foundation of the house and any outbuildings about 3 or 4 inches wide and an inch or two deep to keep termites away from my house. It has kept termites away from my house for over 40 years, while my neighbors that will not d the bark mulch, have to havbe the exterminators out every year.
If you can think of anything you have aquestion about, write me anytime.
Charlotte