Question
I live in Northern NJ.  LAst year my lawn was hit with Red Leaf fungus, I used Scott's Fungacide to treat it.  The lawn at those spots died and had to be reseeded.  How can I prevent a reoccurance.  Can I put down a fungacide and pest control at the same time.  I lost the entire lawn (sod) to grubs in 2001.

Answer
Howard, you certainly sounds like you have had your share of bad luck with lawns.

Red leaf fungus could either bed Rust or Red Thread. Neither are usually serious enough to kill a lawn, but you may have been very unlucky.

Unfortunately fungicides are not very usefull once the symptoms are visible (too late), but it can be used preventiatively. I do not recommend use of fungicides, however, what you need to do is to make some structural changes to your lawn maintenance program.

Fungicides tends to change balance in the soil and the natural response of the grass plants. Without changes to the underlying reasons for the disease (the root cause .. no pun intended) all you will be doing, is to fight a never ending battle.

- Fertilize your lawn in late spring, early fall and late fall. In your area the right times would be Memorial Day, Labor Day and Halloween. Do not fertilize too early in spring or during hot summer months. If you must use a fertilizer w/pre-emergent herbicides (e.g. a crabgrass preventer such as Scott's Turfbuilder with Halts) then apply same in early April, but if you have not had a bad crabgrass infestation then skip this application. Your lawn will be much healthier if you do not fertilize in early spring. Wait until late May.
Even fertilizers which promisses they will not burn the lawn should not be used in summer. The grass is incapable of converting the sun's energy into storage in summer and any type of fertilizer (safe or not) will weaken the grass in summer and make it susceptible to lawn disease and insect attacks.

- mow your lawn high and mow frequently. Cut the lawn 2.5-3.5" tall (after a cutting -- check with a ruler next time). By mowing high you allow the grass to concentrate on root growth rather than reconsituting basic foliage material.

- water your lawn infrequently, but deeply when you do water.e.g. it is better to water once per week for 2 hours rather than 15 minutes daily. During very hot summer months you may increase to twice weekly, but still water deeply. Do not water a little bit all the time.

- Core aerating is a process of removing 3" cores of soils (the size of cigarettes). It is done with an aerator which can be rented at equipment rental stores (pretty big and heavy so it is good if you have a truck or suv and two people to lift).

Core aerating eliviates compaction by pulling hundereds of cores from the soil and deposit them on the surface to decompose. The core holes allow oxygen, water and fertilizer to reach the root zone and permit carbondioxide to escape. It is one of the best horticultural practices you can perform on your lawn. Do this once per year -- in fall, such as early september. You can also do it late May. Landscapers will do this for a fee.

Note: make sure you rent a CORE aertor and not a spike aerator. The core aerator pulls cores of soil from the lawn. The spike aerator punches holes into the soil.

Grubs
Apply an all round grubicide in early summer (June) such as Grub-Ex. Water in immediately. You can apply this with or without fertilizer.

My recommendation is to forget about the fungicides. Limit the amount of early spring fertilizer you put on the lawn and fertilize in late spring, early fall and late fall. Do not fertilize during hot summer months. Avoid using too many insecticides on the lawn, although an application of Grub-Ex is fine with your history.

Mow the lawn high and mow frequently. Water infrequently, but deeply when you do water. Core aerate once per year if you can to improve grass health and the lawns ability to fight off disease and insects.

Note:
- make sure you add the right amount of fertilizer to your lawn. First calculate the square footage of the lawn area (length x width), e.g. such as 50 x 100 = 5,000 sq feet.

Then divide 100 by the first number on your fertilizer bag. The result is the LBS of fertilizer to apply per 1000 sq feet. E.g. Scott's Turfbuilder 29-3-4:
100 / 29 = 3.45 lbs per 1000 sq feet.
For a 5000 sq feet lawn: 3.45 x 5 = 17.25 lbs needed.

Another example:
a 8000 sq feet lawn using 10-2-6 Ringer Lawn Restorer fertilizer:
100 / 10 = 10 lbs per 1000 sq feet.
Fertilizer required: 8 x 10 = 80 lbs to cover the lawn

Thrid example:
a 20,000 sq feet lawn using 33-3-3 fertilizer:
100 / 33 = 3.03 lbs per 1000 sq feet
Fertilizer required: 20 x 3.03 = 61 lbs to cover the lawn

Use your fertilizer spreader setting, but it is always a good idea to manually calculate how much fertilizer to use so you are sure that the amount applied is approximately what the guidelines recommend (spreaders can go out of alignment).


Good luck.