Research a fungus named Magnaporthepoae and see if that could be it. Those most recent photos look like there is a fungus.

Yea is that what the white is in the dirt?

That is certainly Mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus...and could very well be the Magnaporthe poae fungus Greene suggested.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...




edited cuz my fingers can't spell.

greene said:Research a fungus named Magnaporthe poae and see if that could be it. Those most recent photos look like there is a fungus.

The grass in question is St. Augustine, which isn't a host of Magnaporthe poae. On St. Augustine it is more likely to be large patch aka brown patch (Rhizoctonia), or "Take-All" (Gaeumannomyces). It looks more like the former although I'm not sure about the mycelium, I didn't think one was supposed to see mycelium on large patch of warm season grasses. I don't see mycelium on the actual grass in the picture, though, it appears to be on whatever it is growing in (which doesn't look like ordinary soil??).

Edited to add this link I just found from the City of Austin on diagnosing lawn problems, it includes a flow chart (but also scroll down for pics of brown patch and take-all):
https://www.austintexas.gov/si...

Well its actually 2 different spots of my yard. I see nothing white on top of the grass, just mixed in the soil, top 2".











The soil has poor drainage and with all the rain we had in dallas last month I wonder if it was too much and drowned the grass?? It was submerged under water. Either way whatever cause the problem it is now getting worse, spreading. Will corn meal help any?

Thanks again for all the input.

I know cornmeal is sometimes suggested for fungal diseases but its effectiveness seems controversial. I've never tried it so can't really comment either way. What is really needed is an accurate diagnosis, and one thing that concerns me is the "soil" they are growing in, it doesn't look right. Is it like that all over the yard or only where the bare patches are? Have you ever tried aerating the lawn?

I'll have to check but it does seem to be an issue but I wouldn't think it would be much different than everyone else in the neighborhood and they have decent to nice yards. It seems to be compacted IMO.

here is a pic of what it looks like after it rained for a solid month and now dried out after 10 days.

gotsqueeze said:I'll have to check but it does seem to be an issue but I wouldn't think it would be much different than everyone else in the neighborhood and they have decent to nice yards. It seems to be compacted IMO.

There must be something different, though, compared to the neighbors if your lawn is the only one with a problem. I would definitely check the soil where the turf is healthy to compare, issues can be quite localized. Where the bare spots are it doesn't look like a normal soil texture but if it's like that all over then maybe that's not the problem.

OK.. I'll take a couple of pictures tomorrow and I'll also take the 2 samples and break them down in water and see how the different layers compare.. But what I noticed during the rain it seems like most of the dead areas , except the 2 spots i orginally talked about, retain water longer than any other parts of the yard. I think I need to level out the spots and like u mentioned aerate everywhere. But don't I need to stop the fungus before it kills the whole yard (assuming that's what it will do). ..

Thanks for the replies, I'm lost

Oh and I guess everything points to take all patch.. I did the exact things it days not to do..

Bad irrigation
Fertilized with High nitrogen
Rain rain rain
Used a old mower with a dull blade
Used a broadleaf fertilizer

Isnt it too hot to apply a fungicide ?
This is the fertilizer I used about a month ago right before all the rain.






So for sure it also got over fertilized (I bought one bag and my roommate put it down but I didn't want to use that one so I bought another and put the other one down without knowing he had put the other down..)

I guess I've learner from my mistakes, made every damn one along the way.

Oh and I talker to my neighbor and she said to not kill the weeds BC they are green and from the curb if its all green weeds it looks good. So I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one ..

I think that might be part of my irrigation problem. The sidewalk needs to be leveled out so the water doesn't puddle in that area...

I looked a little closer at the soil and I found this :




It just so happened to be right where one of the problems is at. I cut that piece off but it extends farther into the grass. Then on the opposite side of the yard I found what appears to be a black hose running along another part of the grass where it is dying..




Not sure what the purpose of either of the two things but to me its a sign that they were attempting to fix whatvevr problem I'm also having..

That is edging. Not hose. It seems that area was once some sort of bed edged off from the lawn.

It might be a good idea if you can remove that plastic edging. That is probably contributing to the drainage problem as the water cannot get past the plastic. Maybe grab a short piece of re-bar and jab it here and there to locate all the old plastic edging to remove it all.

Oh, and I just figured out you are the same person with the 'misfigured tree' thread. Beginning to get a bigger picture of the situation.

The Bonus S is certainly high nitrogen at 32% (large/brown patch is also favoured by high N by the way, although if the N goes way too high it can damage turf all by itself). But, there is/was a recall for Bonus S apparently, see this article:
http://blogs.msucares.com/turf...

A link to the Scott's recall page (which for some reason doesn't list Texas) is here:
http://www.scotts.com/smg/goAR...

It kind of looks like you may have two problems, the round circles are more likely to be a fungal disease but the other areas look more irregular so there are other possibilities there. Disregarding the recall for now, the edging material and the texture of the "soil" with white mycelium may mean, as Jennifer said, that part of the lawn was a flower bed. I wonder if it also had mulch and that would account for the coarse texture of the stuff the grass is growing in. For the healthy parts of the lawn I was wondering if you could lift a piece of turf and dig up a little or whatever you did for the earlier mycelium picture. It's not really possible to see the texture as well from the top.

Did either of the problem areas start before the fertilizer and the weed and feed?

I also noticed the tree post that Greene mentioned, and it is difficult to grow good grass under a tree.

Old mulch, I never thought of that. If the former gardener/homeowner used edging they may well have used mulch and possibly some landscape fabric. Might be good to start digging here and there to see what you can discover hidden under the grass.

Hmm, turning a lot of wooden mulch under the soil can create huge amounts of white fungus. I saw that in one bed when I bought some "Soil Pep" soil conditioner. It was mostly woody, and TERRIBLE for soil. It took over a year for it to be digested and the bed to return to normal.