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2023 Red Thread Warning
An early warning to expect red thread as the weather warms in moist and humid conditions.
Early Disease Warning for Red Thread
The Red Thread fungus seriously disfigures lawns in the right conditions; thunderstorms, heavy rain and warm weather combine to raise humidity levels making you, me and the lawn feel a little sticky! This is an ideal environment for fungus to grow and eat the leaves of your lovely lawn!
So, what's on the cards:
- Expect Red Thread - it's already active in many places
- Rain and warmth will increase humidity and therefore the severity of attack
- The spores can spread so limit lawn maintenance to mowing and feeding
- It will kill the grass leaves but not the plant so don't panic
What does it look like?
- Large and small irregular shaped patches of lawn will go straw coloured
- When the disease is active it will have a pinky hue as well
- It looks like the lawn is suffering from the effects of drought
- Get down on your hands and knees with a magnifying glass and it looks like the image above
- It may have pink 'candy floss' like blobs as well as the pink needles
What to do about it:
- Fertiliser is the main defence, promoting growth so that fungal damage gets mown out relatively quickly
- If you've recently fertilised with our slow release granular fertiliser your lawn should be green and prepared
- If you haven't fertilised then the timing is now perfect for a treatment at the highest recommended rate
- If you're between treatments or want to give your lawn a boost use Soluble Fertiliser, however, Soluble Fertiliser alone will not provide sufficient nitrogen to promote the amount of growth required
Ideal Fertilisers are:
- Spring & Summer for Clay Soil
- Spring & Summer for Sandy Soil
- Spring & Summer Natur
- Soluble fertiliser if between feeds
Other things that reduce severity:
- Remove clippings after mowing
- Water deeply and infrequently only if conditions are dry
- Do NOT water in the evenings
- Refrain from using fungicide - you will reduce resistance in your lawn and next years attack may be twice as bad!
Warning:
DO NOT rake or scarify the lawn as you will increase damage and spread the fungus!
Once the disease has ceased being active, usually August or September, aerate and possibly scarify the lawn to improve drying and remove thatch that harbours fungal spores. Finish with an Autumn feed.