What's the harm in raking up the old stuff and throwing some seed down again? You've done the heavy lift already last fall. I did the same a couple years ago and invariably end up throwing down seed in one area or another each year.

One of the downsides of TTTF (at least in my case) is the fungus susceptibility. I try to be as vigilant and proactive as possible, especially those areas that I know have had fungus/blight before, but I'm not batting 1.000!! Life happens. That's okay.

Throw down some seed and now and update your game plan next spring/summer/fall based on what you learned this year.

 

Here are a few images of my issues. Yes, I have some weeds coming in, but not a huge concern in a "good" lawn year for me w/ split applications of prodiamine and spot treating. I've laid off heavy weed work this summer though given the heat and drought stress.

 

Those pics could have easily been from my front yard! That looks totally manageable.

 

Pull up a few of the dead grasses. Are they totally dead or does the crown still have some green or white? The crown is what the grass stem emerges from and is attached to the roots. Did the blighting come on suddenly? You may have ascochyta leaf blight and if so, the grass is supposed to recover on its own. I think that's what I have and I didn't trust the "recover on its own" and overseeded. I have some totally dead and some with green that is just starting to emerge. One thing I read while researching ascochyta leaf blight is that you shouldn't water for 24 hours after mowing so the leaf tips heal. That helps to prevent the fungus from spreading. Make sure your mower blades are sharp.
https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/ascochyta-leaf-blight-of-turf-2-901/

 

@Virginiagal That article mentions the leaf blight being common in KBG. Since you have TTTF are you sure that was your issue? My lawn looks similar to the pics above. I am really puzzled whether it was disease or insect damage.

 

@kay7711226

 

@kevreh I can't upload photos right now but I did a post about dirty lawnmower wheels if you want to look for it and pictures are there, I think it got blighted after I cut on August 18. In the past week it has mostly recovered. I used no fungicides. I didn't send anything to a lab to be tested but I'm pretty sure is ascochyta leaf blight, which can affect tttf. The middle week of August was a relatively cool one and was followed by very hot weather. The shaded side of the lawn was not affected. And by the way, I no longer think the wheels were responsible. But the grass was under stress on the sunny side so it would have been better to skipping mowing then and do more watering,

 

@Virginiagal thats interesting, being in NoVa we're in the same weather pattern. Brown patch always happens, but leaf blight is new to me. I've been stumped by the dead patches in my lawn. Few weeks ago tried Bioadvanced grub killer ad before that Headway G for fungus. Things haven't changed, but then again the weather has been pretty warm and humid. Starting this week we're back into the low 60s at night so maybe that will help.

Which lab can you send samples to?

Thanks!

 

VA Tech has a plant disease lab. You could take a sample to your local extension office and they would send it off. Read about it first on the website as they have directions for taking the sample. I hadn't heard of this leaf blight before. It was such a sudden occurrence, not what you'd expect for dormancy or even death from drought. There were no lesions, just a dieback starting at the tips. I found it so strange that it affected only one side of the yard. And had tire tracks, which in my 69 years have never seen after mowing lawns. What I've gathered from my reading is the fungus is just naturally there in the lawn; it's not brought in by equipment. It erupts when conditions are right. It affects grass under stress. Usually happens when there is an abrupt change in the weather. The tire tracks are bruised grass. I read it's supposed to grow back but I heard that too about brown patch and grass never recovered. So I overseeded last Friday. The grass seed has yet to germinate but the old grass is green again. I'll take a picture Saturday when I'm home. Do a Google search for "ascoclyta tony koski." He is a turf expert at Colorado State who has written a number of pieces (with pictures) on it. Apparently it's quite common in Colorado. Did you see my pictures in the other thread? Here it is:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=40635

 

No, it has actually been a very good year for fungus in the mid atlantic area, compared to the last 3 years.

it's because you have young grass. Young grass is much more susceptible to fungus for the first 18-24 months than an older stand.

 

@Virginiagal I'm going to hop on over to your other thread, our lawns have a lot in common. As @learningeveryday made mention, your lawn is young like mine (I rehabbed last fall).

 

Young grass doesn't have the long roots and reserves of older grass. I found it interesting that in my case, the grass on the left side of my sidewalk which was completed devastated by armyworms last year and had to be totally renovated last fall was not touched by the leaf blight. Only the older grass on the right side of the sidewalk which wasn't hit by armyworms. The left side gets afternoon shade. The right side gets the hot afternoon sun.

 

I can totally second that. About 3 weeks into germination my young grass was hit hard by armyworms later last September. That was a new one to me. BUT the area between mine and my neighbors driveway was untouched then and now. FWIW there's a nice smaller tree that provides some shade through the hottest part of the day. Interesting.

Where are you in Va?

 

Richmond

 

I'm north of you a bit, all those Armyworms last year must have come up through Richmond first!

 

Yes, the armyworms hit me and lots of others in Richmond (it made the news on TV) in August last year. It was said they blew up from the south on hurricane remnants. This year I put down Grub Ex in early July so there would be protection in place if they came back this year. Haven't heard anything about them this year. North Carolina has an armyworm tracking map and they haven't found much this summer.

 

Was such a bummer seeing my new lawn being attacked by something I didn't know what it was. The drench test was a quick way to find out what was going on.

Is that Grub Ex application in early July effective against late summer grubs? I've been doing the june preventative route with Merit (imidacloprid).

Sorry @alwaysgreener just realized I'm taking your thread off topic.

 

Grub Ex is effective 4 months. It has chlorantranilprole which doesn't harm earthworms and bees. I suppose I could have applied in May or June when they say to apply for grubs and also gotten protection from grubs. I was thinking of armyworm protection into October.

 

@kay7711226

Indeed this looks all to familiar and my worse year of fungus damage. You can compare pictures in my journal. 2 of my other neighbors are dealing with the same. What I did notice my back n side lawn which gets less sun is doing about normal for fungus pressure similar to my neighbors. However our front lawn that gets the most sun is torn apart by fungus. Leads me to believe heat stress had a lot to do with it as well. Watching it closely to see what's recovering since I have a 90% KBG lawn and overseeing is not much of an option, but do have sod pots I can plug with.

 

Another grower in the Richmond area that inexplicably struggled through late August.

August was just odd this year. Started hot & dry, unseasonably cool & wet in the middle and then bounced back to unseasonably hot & dry which has carried on into early September.

While in a bit better shape, the OP's pictures look pretty familiar. With a solid fungicide program, I'm simply chalking it up to unlucky weather.

 

I've had major problems this July and August in southern Delaware. It's what has started my lawn care obsession.

Disease Ex has helped tremendously. And I dethatched and overseeded a week ago.

Also received my soil test results back from the University of Delaware.