Approach to red thread and tired lawn

Hi All

I have run into a bit of trouble with the lawn in the last couple of weeks. Per the attached photos, and looking at other posts in this forum, I think I have quite an outbreak of red thread, as well as some general yellowing of grass in some relatively large areas, but could be entirely wrong.

Background is that I had the garden leveled and bamboo removed by digger and turf laid last October (about 2/3 of the garden). In the spring of this year someone came in and scarified and over-seeded the remaining original lawn, and aerated and fertilised the whole lawn. In August I put down cheap weed and feed (10-2-2 with iron).

Around 2 to 3 weeks ago areas of the lawn started showing yellowing and following on from that the red thread has really started spreading (not necessarily the same areas as the yellowing) and the 'candy floss' look is developing.

I would really appreciate help on what the best approach is at this time of the year. I have read things about high nitrogen fertiliser, but in other places read that this shouldn't be applied after August.

Thanks

Jeff



Area affected by red thread - was all green

Bellow is an area of yellowing, although not a very clear picture:

 

Thanks for the quick response Marley Farley.

Jeff

 

You have red thread and it’s better half and I’m not sure about the yellowing but can see colouration areas on those leaves looking like a separate issue but related in a way.
Yes nitrogen does help but we are now into the cooler weather so you need an Autumn feed and look for one with a good potassium rate which is the K on the NPK scale.
you could however get away as long as temps stay good with a liquid fertiliser aimed at the higher N but I would stick to a nice Autumn feed.
It will help but it’s not a cure as such but normally Red Thread will disappear once the cold weather sets in but it will pop up again when the weather is warm and wet.
To reduce this you need to do the basic lawn maintenance, scarify, feed and good cut height. Some grass types are more prone to this than others and I’ve no idea what your soil is like or ground condition ie compacted.

 

Thanks Liz the Pot, I've been trying to work out what feed to get so that narrows it down nicely. The soil is a mixture between on one hand imported top soil under the turf on the area that was leveled, and on the other the original lawn which I am sure is more compacted. I haven't done any analysis on it. These issues seem to be over both areas.

I have been more regimented than ever before on the cutting schedule, but as you can tell the feeds have been haphazard with the hollow-tine aeration being done in the Spring. Looking back I'm not sure that the original lawn was scarified when they did the aeration. I assume the aeration and scarifying should be done on an annual basis - that seems to be the suggestion in other posts.

I will go for an Autumn feed and get up to speed on the rest of the maintenance programme.

 

Aeration is important in the sports industry, more so than domestic as the surfaces have greater pressure put on them. Some do it yearly others never worry and just do it once in a blue moon. Scarifying tends to be more important and more so once you start to fertilise the turf through the year as it increases thatch levels and does impact on the way thatch is broken down.
It does look unsightly but 99% of the time the lawn recovers.
Normally a summer based feed strengthens the grass and by leaving the cut higher it tends to hide and out grow this disease.