[SNOWBOB11]

I have several areas of rust developing in my lawn. My lawn is a new this year bewitched reno. There's been lots of rust going on in my town this year, but It's so late in the year I'm really surprised that I have this problem now. I sprayed seranade a couple times on the reno area as a preventative measure and did another app of seranade last week when I first noticed the rust start to develop. I know urea is often used to help get the lawn to grow out the fungus, but it's so late in the year and top growth has slowed to a crawl and should be just about done in the next 10 days to 2 weeks or so, so I'm not sure it would be advisable to do a urea app this late. But the rust is there and has spread a bit from when I first noticed it. I'm worried being it's a monostand and can be more prone to fungal issues that I'll get damage if I just leave it. I'm wondering if I do just leave it alone if I'll get over winter damage. Looking for some advice on what my best course of action would be.

 

[Sinclair]

I've also been seeing lots of rust around on local lawns and fields.

How high are you cutting right now?

I'm cutting at 2", no fungicide, and no fungus issues.

 

[g-man]

I would apply a fungicide. New lawns are prone to fungal issues.

Clean your mower at the street between areas with rust and areas without it.

 

[Pete1313]

I have recently read in a turf iNfo from the university of Nebraska-Lincoln that rust is killed off by the first frost. https://turf.unl.edu/turfinfo/10-5_Fall Maintenance.pdf

 

[SNOWBOB11]

I'm currently cutting at 2" as well. I'm going to clean my mower before my next cut, that's good advice g-man. It's interesting but I live close to the lake and sometimes areas right around me will have frost and I stay frost free. I think there was one light frost last week but no killing frosts for me so far. I can tell because I still have begonias growing in the garden. Hopefully after the first hard frost/freeze the rust will diminish. By the time I order and receive a fungicide it will be very late, but I think I am going to get some and have on hand in case this happens again next year...

 

[Tsmith]

I am in the first full year with a Bewitched mono and I've been dealing with rust alll season long and even lost a few sections because of it which is really surprising. I am pretty much past it now but every time I think that I see more pop up.

I'd recommend lowering your cut and bagging your clippings rest of this season and to be as proactive as possible next year trying to prevent it. I wasn't as proactive as I should have been and regret it.

 

[SNOWBOB11]

Thanks tsmith. I definitely plan to start early and go hard and heavy with seranade next year, and like I said will keep some fungicide on hand in case things go bad. I have been bagging the clippings and will continue to do so the rest of this season.

On a separate note, just wanted to say your bewitched reno thread is one that I must have looked at 100 times before I started my reno. Your lawn turned out so well last year I wanted to try and copy some of what you did. So thanks for posting your thread last year. Lol

 

[Tsmith]

Thanks, glad I could help. Just wish my lawn looked half as good right now but it's been a very odd year weather wise so I'm trying not to be too hard on it especially while I try to take care of all the POA.

Everything I read about KBG renos was you have to give them 2-3 years before you can really judge them so I'm trying to be patient. The rust and shedding were difficult to look at this year and actually made me miss my TTTF KBG mix at times.

 

[stotea]

My Bewitched reno got hit hard with rust as well. I applied a fungicide a couple weeks ago, but I dunno if it's going to do anything, as we've already had a bit of snow and freezing temps. I'm pretty sure I've read that the fungus can survive the winter, so I guess we'll see how it looks in the spring. It spread like mad and really destroyed the color in just 2-3 weeks. Fingers crossed...

 

[Tsmith]

My Bewitched reno got hit hard with rust as well. I applied a fungicide a couple weeks ago, but I dunno if it's going to do anything, as we've already had a bit of snow and freezing temps. I'm pretty sure I've read that the fungus can survive the winter, so I guess we'll see how it looks in the spring. It spread like mad and really destroyed the color in just 2-3 weeks. Fingers crossed...

Fungus can spread easily especially if you are mulch cutting and unknowingly spreading it yourself. The conditions where fungus starts will usually not change from year to year so it can def come back. It's easier to prevent than treat so be as proactive as you can with Serenade and other biofungicides.