Red Thread Explosion!

[Whitey4]

Apparently, the very wet April and early May here has created a very bad red thread problem. EVERY one of my lawns has some, some of them pretty bad. Visable discoloration even looking from the street on the worst of them.

Anyone else seeing this in the northeast? What is your choice of treatement? What works best on red thread? I used Bayleton on my first round, but I think there are better controls available. Looking for suggestions. TIA.

[RigglePLC]

Whitey,
The strobin fungicides are better for red thread. (Heritage, Compass etc) Costly --and do not do much for dollarspot. Be sure to rotate fungicides to avoid build up of resistance. Extra nitrogen fertilizer helps. Be sure customers are not watering at night. Change irrigation (if any) to 3 days a week in mid afternoon--the goal being to reduce average humidity, and let grass dry before nightfall. Some types of ryegrass are very susceptible to red thread. Consider overseeding with a higher-quality more disease-resistant type. Like Derby Xtreme or Silver Dollar. Or switch to Kentucky bluegrass with no rye at all. Sod maybe.

[LIBERTYLANDSCAPING]

If you have the ability to spray WP products & want an excellent all around fungecide that wont break the bank, the use Armada from Bayer. It is a combination of Compass & Bayleton. The two active's cover most turf diseases you will encounter. I use disolvable packs that cover ~3k apiece. My cost per package which covers ~20k ft is $48 Comes in a handy zip lock pouch.

Of course, this product may not be labeled for your state:dizzy:

[Whitey4]

Whitey,
The strobin fungicides are better for red thread. (Heritage, Compass etc) Costly --and do not do much for dollarspot. Be sure to rotate fungicides to avoid build up of resistance. Extra nitrogen fertilizer helps. Be sure customers are not watering at night. Change irrigation (if any) to 3 days a week in mid afternoon--the goal being to reduce average humidity, and let grass dry before nightfall. Some types of ryegrass are very susceptible to red thread. Consider overseeding with a higher-quality more disease-resistant type. Like Derby Xtreme or Silver Dollar. Or switch to Kentucky bluegrass with no rye at all. Sod maybe.

I'd love to resod all my customer's lawns! However...

The worst property hasn't even turned on the irrigation system yet. Lawns has enough N... did a late winterizer and put down 20-X-X March 30. Second round in another week and a half. Last year I saw some dollar spot at this time, but almost no red thread. Showed up on my lawn too. There is also some dollar spot at most properties as well, but it's the red thread that is bad.

I'm still a backpack man, and WP's are a problem for me. Maybe I'll go to Lesco to see what they have on the shelves.

[Whitey4]

Rethought this a bit... could be a shortage of N. My first round went down on March 30, but the April rains were frequent and often torrential. Might have washed a lot of N off. I'll push round 2 up and do it this week instead.

[lilmarvin4064]

try with fert first. a little sprayable Amsulfate w/K nitrate should do the trick. + T-methyl or propiconazole or triticonizole if it's severe.

[TJLANDS]

I agree, try to fert it out.
March 30 means you are going over 7 weeks this week.
I like to do my spring apps 5 weeks apart to avoid problems.
good luck

[DLAWNS]

I'd love to resod all my customer's lawns! However...

The worst property hasn't even turned on the irrigation system yet. Lawns has enough N... did a late winterizer and put down 20-X-X March 30. Second round in another week and a half. Last year I saw some dollar spot at this time, but almost no red thread. Showed up on my lawn too. There is also some dollar spot at most properties as well, but it's the red thread that is bad.

I'm still a backpack man, and WP's are a problem for me. Maybe I'll go to Lesco to see what they have on the shelves.

I just put down my second round today and will finish it tomorrow. I hope it clears up soon. Usually I just put down fert and it grows right out.

[turfsolutions]

More fert now means more brown patch later. Armada is a great product that will give you very cost effective control.

[Rusty Hook]

Never have had to use a fungicide for red thread. If I come across a lawn infected I bump up my rate. So far this has worked every time with no future consequence's.

[Whitey4]

My fert apps done on 5/19 haven't helped much. I've applied some fungicide to the worst of the lawns yesterday. I've got two that have really taken a beating... I've read that most lawns will recover from red thread, but these two look pretty freakin bad right now. As I drive around I see about 1 in 5 houses with serious browning here.

I'm not used to this.... and neither are my customers. This is the first time I've ever had such bad problems with my program.

[Please_Be_Green]

My fert apps done on 5/19 haven't helped much. I've applied some fungicide to the worst of the lawns yesterday. I've got two that have really taken a beating... I've read that most lawns will recover from red thread, but these two look pretty freakin bad right now. As I drive around I see about 1 in 5 houses with serious browning here.

I'm not used to this.... and neither are my customers. This is the first time I've ever had such bad problems with my program.

Being in NJ, my lawn and many of my neighbor's lawns experience the red thread explosion. I sprayed Armada at preventative rates (2g/1000)about two weeks ago and am quite pleased with the current control in my lawn. Granted before the wet 10 day streak we had at the beginning of May, I had just applied 1/2(N)/1000. Therefore, it could have been the combination that assisted with the grow out as we've had some nice growing conditions in the last two weeks.

Other homes in my neighborhood have not treated or have not put down (N) and their yards are not looking so hot at this point of the season.

I'm planning on a 2nd round Armada preventative (rate 3g/1000) app at the 21 day interval to assist with control during early summer period.