(By Jared Hoyle; KSU Turfgrass Research and Extension)
Have you ever walked across your lawn or through a grassy area and when you stopped looked down and your feet were orange? (imaginary response – “No”) Ok, never mind then. Just kidding, well if you do then you might have rust in your lawn.
I received this picture the other week from one of my good friends in North Carolina with the quote underneath the picture that said “What the heck (it wasn’t that word but another one) is on my grass?”
I went through lots of questions with him and determined that he had rust. This is a disease that can occur just about anywhere. From a distance it can look like it has a yellow-grew cast to the lawn in large irregular spaces. It can leave your shoes orange and most commonly have outbreaks in the spring when the temperatures are milder. Well, we have had some of those temperatures around here too. So I got online and search through some of the KSU Agronomy blogs and found one that reported rusts on cool-season grassy crops. Then the reports started coming in from Kansas on turfgrass.
Even though this sample was from North Carolina keep a lookout for it around here. There are some cultural and chemical control options out there and can be found in the link below.
http://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/EP163.pdf
And here is some more information from Purdue.
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/bp/bp-110-w.pdf
All in all, a DMI or Qol (strobilurin) should give you good control.
***Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is solely for identification purposes and does not imply recommendation or endorsement, nor is criticism implied of similar products not mentioned by Kansas State University.***
Don’t forget to follow me on twitter @KSUTurf.
Also, visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/KSUTurf
