Question
What is brown patch and how do you cure it? My neighbor says we have it in our grass. I live in Selden. I don't know what the zone is sorry.

Answer
Everything you have ever wanted to know about Brown Patch (Rhizoctonia), you will find out at Cornell University's Coop Extension website (plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/brownpatch/brownpatch.htm).

It is a familiar site around here on lawns with a lot of thatch.  

More than anything, Brown Patch is a hot weather disease.

The Univ. of Calif. at Davis website posts an illustration
(www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r785100811.html).  Note the big circles across the lawn. Rhizoctonia mycelium closeups are also posted (www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/R/D-TG-RHSP-FU.008.html).

Fertilizing grass with N makes this illness worse.

Thatch is never a problem when sensible gardening routines are practiced.  "Sensible" means not trying to "purify" your lawn by eliminating microbes and beneficial fungi (yes they are out there) and bird food.  Like I told someone else this week, a healthy lawn hums like a well-oiled machine.

Believe it or not, fungus is not an easy problem to catch.  These fungi are very fussy about where they like to party.  Everything has to be just right.  They may be relaxing in soils everywhere - they're in my front and back yard, they're next door to your house, they're in the patch next to the curb, they're in the dirt next to the parking lot at Starbucks, they're lieing around in landscapes by the beach...  All the time.

Fungicides to erase this blight from Planet Earth are everywhere including the Cornell Website. The Maine Website, however Univ. of Maine Coop Extension

(www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2273.htm).  Because they say specifically:

"Since Rhizoctonia is not an effective cellulose decomposer, soil populations are greatly reduced by competing microflora and less disease is observed with good rotation. As soils become devoid of organic matter,
Rhizoctonia becomes a competitor and flourishes. Planting potatoes in low organic matter soils with high Rhizoctonia populations encourages growth of the pathogen and an increase in disease."

Now, Neighbor, I am quoting this language specifically for your benefit because you are clearly educated enough to follow it.  It may sound a little stiff, but there is no doubt in my mind at least that you are capable of digesting that information.

The message here is: Organic is good, Chemicals are bad.

See that sentence?  "As soils become devoid of organic matter, Rhizoctonia becomes a competitor and flourishes."

Next, we turn to 3 researchers at APS - The American Phytopathological Society (www.apsnet.org/phyto/PDFS/1998/0522-01R.pdf#search='Rhizoctonia%20organic'), a professional organization of scientists who specialize
in plant diseases.

In their paper, "Suppression of Rhizoctonia solani in Potting Mixtures Amended with Compost Made from Organic Household Waste", researchers evaluated the effect of compost-fortified soil on Rhizoctonia populations.

To wit: "Compost from two commercial composting facilities suppressed growth of R. solani in potting mixtures with 20% of the product when the compost was fresh (directly after delivery) or long matured (after 5 to 7 months of additonal curing)...[A]mendment of peat-perlite potting
soil with 20% VFG compost suppressed growth of R. solani, depending on the degree of maturation of the compost.. Long-matured compost consistently suppressed the pathogen... Use of increasing amounts of composted
hardwood bark resulted in a proportional increase in
suppressiveness...Suppression of R. solani by organic amendments has been correlated with increased antagonistic soil microbial activity.  From bark compost, antagonistic microorganisms were isolated that were able to induce
suppressiveness in conducive bark media."  

They also reference an earlier study which points to Trichoderma as "the most effective fungal antagonists".  Another study notes "different Bacteria, such as Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas spp., and Flavobacteriun
balustinum, that induced suppression to R. solani alone or in synergistic action with Trichoderma spp."

Finally, "Densities of copiotrophic, oligotrphic, and cellulolytic bacteria ... were high in young compost, and lower in long-matured compost... Because densities of oligotrophic bacteria were 10-fold higher in mixtures with suppressive long-matured compost than in pure compost,
these bacteria might be involved in suppression."

If you have the attention span to read the full pdf posting of this study, pay special attention to the section, "Presence and establishment of Trichoderma spp."

Bottom line: Microbes -- not powdered fungus killers in plastic bags made by Scotts -- will be your best weapon in the war being waged on your front lawn.