Damage caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia sp. on bermudagrass.

Some patches in lawns caught my eye this week.  It was interesting to note that there were several lawns in my neighborhood had patch symptoms.  Most appear to be due to rhizoctonia blight (common name of disease = brown patch, yellow patch or large patch).  I just call it brown patch.  The “smoky” halo at the edge of the damage area of the turf was evident in many of them.  I have also been getting some reports from the Dallas-Fort Worth area that this disease (caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia) was flaring up.

Now something else that I noticed was that there were several patches are not due to diseases at all.  At a few homes, including mine, we have bermudagrass in our St. Augustine lawn.  This time of the year, the bermudagrass go into dormancy – it becomes brown. The St. Augustine is still green.  Hence you get that brown spot/patchy area.  This should NOT be confused with the disease that I describe above that is caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia.

Hmm… I should head out the get a photos to post over on the Plant Clinic facebook page.  Also, for more information about the disease, I would recommend picking up Extension publication E-306 ” Warm-Season Turfgrass Disease Management in Urban Landscapes”