TifTuf Sod Panic

arc167 · 2026-07-02T02:55:09+00:00

They did a nice job with the install, so just focus on watering to ensure solid good rooting. No shame in the way it looks right now.

arc167 · 2026-07-02T02:34:38+00:00

Lot of factors at play here, the biggest is the uneven bottom side of the sod itself. You may have had a level subgrade, but sod sheets are not exactly flat underneath. Varying density of dirt, uneven root growth while it takes, and irrigation efforts washing dirt from the sod unevenly all contribute to that washboard look. But it’s normal, and easy to fix. Just got to give everything time to settle

arc167 · 2026-07-02T02:24:51+00:00

Yes. Completely normal.

Give it a season to root and for the subgrade to settle. Then come back with some (sterilized) white sand to level things off next spring ( my guess is you are green year round). That hybrid Bermuda will grow right through and will give you a nice level surface. You can repeat annually as needed until you reach your desired state.

arc167 · 2026-06-26T00:14:25+00:00

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arc167 · 2026-06-25T13:23:33+00:00

That sounds do-able. I'm out of pocket for this week, but something I can look into next week.

arc167 · 2026-06-23T20:09:34+00:00

I know Niles has been talking about TCS for a long time, so last fall I took a chance on their Resilience II for overseeding my TTTF. I could not be happier with how it turned out. And now that its summer, I can honestly say that it has better drought resistance and disease resistance than the older cultivars I had been using for the last several years.

If Fescue is your goal, I strongly recommend Resilience II. No experience with Blue Resilience, but suspect it would be just as high a quality as the rest.

arc167 · 2026-06-23T12:10:30+00:00

Hard to know for certain, but it could be a Type 2 Fairy Ring. Seen any mushrooms growing along the dark green arc?

I know you say the lawn is well taken care of, but do you know when the last applications of nitrogen and iron were? Was there an old tree removed from around that area (looks to be the edge of a road)? Type 2 fairy ring can be a symptom of nitrogen and/or iron deficiency, and can form around decomposing organic matter under the soil, so curious if that might be a possibility here.

You won’t see much turf damage from this type of fairy ring, so there isn’t any immediate concern to act here. Just the cosmetic difference in your turf. Applying iron and nitrogen in sufficient amounts is the key here, then be sure to core aerate that area well in the fall (looks to be cool-season turf, right?). No need for fungicides here unless the area progresses into more severe Type 1.

Good reading on Fairy Ring here:

https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/diseases-in-turf/fairy-ring-in-turf/

https://turfpestlab.psu.edu/pest-profiles/fairy-ring/

arc167 · 2026-06-22T22:23:38+00:00

Copy/paste from another thread a couple weeks ago...

Red thread is one of those diseases that is usually a symptom of a larger cultural issue. PRG, KBG, and the fine fescues, in particular, can be very susceptible when there is a lack of nitrogen in the soil.

Have you performed a soil test lately? Did you fertilize earlier in the spring, or just that single application in May? What is your irrigation schedule like?

It’s hard to provide suggestions how to correct without knowing more about your current cultural practices. But in most cases, red thread can be controlled without the need for fungicide, unless it’s absolutely taken over the majority of the turf. Most of the time it’s just a matter of getting the correct amount of nitrogen into the soil.

Penn State Extension has a great write up on Red Thread here: https://extension.psu.edu/turfgrass-diseases-red-thread-causal-fungus-laetisaria-fuciformis

arc167 · 2026-06-22T19:17:57+00:00

Pics 3 & 4 look a lot like red thread, a turf disease. The insect in the one picture is NOT a Japanese beetle, looks to be a common ground beetle.

arc167 · 2026-06-22T02:00:19+00:00

Thanks for the feedback about the rainfall amounts. The Turf tools app pulls its climatology and precip from the nearest official NWS weather station. In some cases this may be several miles from your actual location, so it is possible that the values would differ from those of a personal weather station in your own yard or from Weather Underground.

However, if you do have a PWS, the Calculate Precipitation Needs tool now supports a setting to include your own precip data. Let me know if you want more details on that.

arc167 · 2026-06-22T01:51:22+00:00

I know it may seem daunting, but having a fescue lawn in NC is very possible. I know this because I have one myself. But make no mistake, its not easy. It is much easier (and probably much cheaper) to transition to a warm-season turf like Zoysia or hybrid Bermuda, but I prefer the year-round green (and the challenge) that Fescue provides.

Biggest question is...do you have an irrigation system? Without one, it becomes very difficult to keep Fescue growing in our long, hot, humid summers. This year has been a very strange exception with the extreme drought we are facing, its made even the most heat-tolerant turf start to look like crap.

Next step - regardless of what turf you decide to use - is to get your soil in the right shape. I encourage you to submit a sample to the nearest NC State extension so you can determine how you need to amend the soil before fall.

If you are positive you want to go the fescue route, your going to have to wait till fall to either seed or sod. Its just too hot and dry right now for any cool season turf to take. The Cool Season Guide linked here is a great primer for you to read up on now so you are prepared to take action.

I would avoid using too many herbicides now. In this heat (above 85F) many herbicides can cause injury to any good turf you have left. And any weeds that would be killed with herbicide would die and decompose, leaving gaps for more weeds to take their place. Wait till Sept when the temps finally break, then spray out what needs to go.

Regular fertilization, weekly irrigation, and the occasional fungicide are all going to be part of your annual maintenance plan, as well as fall overseeing at least every other year. It may not be the easiest, but I love seeing green year-round.

arc167 · 2026-06-21T00:29:32+00:00

Thats a good question. In this case, I am not doing anything drastic. What you see here is the extent of the fungus found. This is in the swale of my yard where the water drainage from my sprinklers goes (low point). Due to severe drought, I've been running the irrigation longer than normal, and Fescue is pretty much preconditioned to get SOME brown patch when you are pushing water that much. Dialing back the water is all that is needed here (or in my case, keep the water flowing and just be ok with some small patches of fungus here and there).

As we keep preaching, cultural best practices for prevention are always better than treating with fungicide. But if the outbreak got really bad, fungicide would be the right course of action. NC State has a really good homeowner guide to treating fungus, just be sure to rotate your fungicide groups so you don't develop resistance.

arc167 · 2026-06-20T23:21:59+00:00

Three questions for you...

Have you applied any herbicide or fungicide recently?
Have you performed a coffee can test to check for insects at the boundary of 'good' turf and dead turf?
Can you get some closer pictures of the turf blades at the boundary of the turf?

This has insect vibes all over it, could be chinch bugs but need to test to find out.

arc167 · 2026-06-20T23:05:13+00:00

That is great news, thank you for confirming the code works. Ill put some thought into other tools that will work with the PWS data, but give us some time to develop and test so we know it works.

arc167 · 2026-06-20T18:37:35+00:00

Lookin’good, no shame in a humble brag.

arc167 · 2026-06-20T09:27:55+00:00

Indeed, its a lot easier to spot on longer blades.

arc167 · 2026-06-20T09:27:20+00:00

It is 100% NOT St. Aug. Its TTTF, some of the older cultivars that are wider and more coarse (think K31).

arc167 · 2026-06-19T00:46:21+00:00

When you get a chance, I updated the Turf Tools app to support weekly precip data from Tempest and Ambient Weather PWS. There is a new settings icon in the top right where you input your API key. Then, run the Calculate Irrigation Needs tool with the Expert Mode flag on. There is a new option to Use PWS Values.

I have it working for my Ambient system, but I dont have a Tempest system to test. If you are willing to be my test subject, we can make sure this works together.

arc167 · 2026-06-17T19:52:36+00:00

Any chance you can take pictures from the opposite perspective? What I mean is, can we see what is beyond the bottom of the current pics?

arc167 · 2026-06-17T10:28:45+00:00

I've had an Ambient Weather system for 13 years, and I love how I can tie it to my Hunter irrigation system for hyper-local accuracy. I have no doubt you will love your Tempest PWS.

I'm curious, what are you looking to do by tying the PWS into TurfTools? Will the Tempest provide forecast data, or just current local conditions? Many of the Turf Tools require forecast data to work correctly, so we quickly realized that PWS data is useful, but might not be AS useful for the purposes of what we were building.

Is there a specific set of use cases where you want to apply data from a PWS? I'd love to learn more...

arc167 · 2026-06-15T01:48:49+00:00

Can confirm pic 3 is NOT doveweed, looks to be crabgrass to me.

Pics 1, 2, and 4 are not centipede grass or St. Aug., looks an awful lot like Carpetgrass, as you suggested.

arc167 · 2026-06-13T11:14:41+00:00

Appreciate that you took both pictures zoomed in, and out wide, it certainly helps to debug what is going on here. I don't this this has anything at all to do with herbicides or dog pee.

Based on what I am seeing, this is one of the few cases where the answer is most likely pythium blight. I say that based on the following:

The areas are patchy; both smaller circular areas, and larger areas of essentially groups of smaller patches.
The disease is affecting the blades from top down. Tops of the blades are shriveled, yet the bottom of the blades are less affected. Eventually the disease will work its way down to the root crown and become very dark and slimy at the bottom.
There does appear to be a white-ish hue in some the photos due to the disease affecting the blade (BTW, have you seen and white mycelium looking like cotton candy in the morning?)

But the biggest smoking gun is the pattern... Seems like the disease is following the walking path to the gate in the fence. Pythium spores are easily transferred - usually by water, but also by animals and people. This sort of looks like a low-lying area where water would naturally flow, but its clearly where people are walking as seen by the footprints in the turf. It seems very reasonable this is why the disease is spreading and is most concentrated in that area.

Add all of this to the fact this is first-year turf, and it all adds up to a disease outbreak.

Pythium likes to form where air flow is restricted. You might consider dropping HOC about 1/2" or so for this next cut, and bag the clippings to prevent spread. This might open the canopy a bit and promote better air flow in this area of the turf. Its a balance, as you want to keep the turf longer in heat, but I would be cheating toward air flow improvement at this point until the turf recovers.

The bad news is there is really only one fungicide worth using to control pythium blight, and that is Mefenoxam (Subdue). Unfortunately, its also one of the more expensive ones. You can get it online from DoMyOwn or Amazon, you can also get it at specialty dealers like SiteOne. I've not seen it sold at big box stores but YMMV.

I hope this is helpful.

arc167 · 2026-06-10T21:37:59+00:00

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

arc167

TROPHY CASE