How to Identify & Treat Brown Patch 

Brown Patch is a lawn fungal disease that commonly attacks warm-season South Carolina lawn grasses. These include St. Augustine, Zoysia, Bermuda, and Centipede. This fungal disease is caused by different strains of rhizoctonia solani. It has most likely been growing in the soil since well before the Brown Patch symptoms became visible. Symptoms of the fungus infestation usually start to appear due to high temperatures and high levels of humidity that help the fungus grow strong enough to begin to invade the surface of your lawn rather than just the soil.

Symptoms of Brown Patch include:

• discolored/brown irregular shapes of turf in an otherwise green lawn. 

Once Brown Patch has been properly identified, it must be treated with a chemical fungicide like azoxystrobin or propiconazole. However, there are plenty of preventative measures you can take to avoid a run in with Brown Patch. Keeping your lawn properly mowed and your garden properly pruned will help with airflow circulation. This prevents a rise in humidity levels in your lawn’s soil.

You can also help lower humidity levels by watering your lawn and garden during the early-mid morning hours rather than in the afternoon hours. Avoiding fertilizer applications that are high in nitrogen is also a good idea to help keep your lawn’s soil healthy and balanced to help fight against fungal infections. Preventative fungicide applications can also be used to help your lawn fight against fungal diseases like Brown Patch.