Looking for a fungicide to keep your Augustine grass glowing and healthy this summer? Well, you have started the hunt at the right time because the fungus has just begun to find the conditions favorable for growth. It’s high time to use a fungicide to prevent it from happening in the first place. So, Let’s have a look at the best possible options that can help you this summer to rid your St. Augustine lawn of diseases.
When Should You Use a Fungicide on St. Augustine Grass?
A fungicide should be used on St. Augustine grass when signs of fungal disease such as brown spots, gray leaf spots, take-all root rot, dollar spot, or southern blight are present. It’s important to treat the fungus in its early stages to prevent it from spreading and causing more damage to the lawn.
But if you are in a hurry, take a look at my top 2 solutions here…
Best Fungicide for St. Augustine Grass Reviews
1. Heritage G Fungicide – Best or Brown Patch (Spot)
The active ingredient (Azoxystrobin) in Heritage G fungicide is a great invention for all types of grasses grown on golf courses, parks, athletic fields, residential, commercial, industrial, and landscape areas. As well as for centipede-type grasses such as St. Augustine.
This granular systemic strobilurin fungicide is formulated to target the most common 28 fungus diseases including brown patch found in St. Augustine grasses. The advantage of using Heritage G fungicide is that it doesn’t require much water to disperse.
The Heritage granular fungicide can be used to cure red thread, brown spots, leaf spots, take-all-patches, summer patches, and necrotic ring spots. This all-rewarding Heritage granular fungicide is proven to show spectacular long-lasting results.
2. Bonide Infuse Systemic Disease Control Fungicide
Bonide has been providing simpler and more effective lawn solutions since 1926. Bonide infuses systemic disease control fungicide is another great invention that has been giving relief to several garden and lawn owners across the globe.
The Bonide infuse systemic disease control fungicide’s versatile nature allows it to be equally useful for grasses, trees, shrubs, and garden plants. It absorbs well and doesn’t get washed away by rain.
Bonide infuses systemic disease control fungicides offer full coverage against black spot, dollar spot, rust, brown patch, leaf spot, powdery mildew, snow mold, and several other fungus diseases.
It can be sprayed with any pump-up, dial-style-hose end, or water-style sprayer.
3. BioAdvanced Ready-To-Spread Granular Fungus Control For Lawns
BioAdvanced Ready-To-Spread Granular fungicide is an Amazon choice because of its supernatural results and positive reviews.
It doesn’t just help the gardeners with common fungus diseases but also rewards them with 14-day protection.
It is specifically formulated to kill and heal the lawns from the aftermath of dollar spots, brown patches, rusts, summer patches, and anthracnose.
It absorbs in the grass in no time and doesn’t get affected by the weather conditions. The one giant advantage of having BioAdvanced fungicide is that it can be used for both preventive and curative purposes.
One 9.88 pounds BioAdvanced fungicide can treat up to 5000 square feet of lawn. To use it as a curative fungicide, add the granular when the signs become noticeable and for preventive purposes, try using the product when the conditions are favorable for fungus diseases.
4. Propiconazole Pint Select Fungicide
Propiconazole pint select fungicide has also been in Amazon’s choice several times because it provides the best preventive and curative fungus disease control. This rewarding fungicide can be used on both ornamentals and turfgrasses.
It does not spectacularly control fungus diseases by disrupting the fungal growth but also minimizes the impacts and effects of these deadly diseases.
The propiconazole fungicide is listed to treat and prevent brown patch, red thread, powdery mildew, stripe smut, pink patch, leaf spot, melting out, gray leaf spot, take-all-patch, poa patch, spring dead spot, yellow patch, zoysia patch, dichondra patch, fusarium patch, necrotic ring spot, and snow mold gray.
4. Earth’s Ally Ready-To-Use Natural Fungicide Spray
Earth’s Ally ready to use all-natural fungicide spray got the advanced gardeners and lawn owners’ admiration because it’s safe for the environment. The no-harsh chemical formula can be used to treat grasses, flowers, vegetables, fruits, ornamental trees, and shrubs.
This OMRI-Listed formula treats and prevents powdery mildew, canker, black spot, blight, downy mildew, leaf spot, and several other common diseases.
The one-big fat advantage of using Earth Ally’s ready-to-use all-natural fungicide is that it doesn’t harm bee pollination. 100% non-toxic can be used around kids and pets.
5. Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide
Southern Ag Liquid copper fungicide is proven to treat and prevent almost all bacterial and fungus diseases. It can be used on grasses, ornamentals, vegetables, and fruit trees.
Contains copper diammonia diacetate complex as an active ingredient. To get the best results, apply when the weather condition is dry for at least 6 hours.
The balanced copper sulfate amount makes it super effective and less toxic. However, it still requires you to follow the directions properly. It can be used with hose-end sprayers.
6. Spectracide Immunox Ready-To-Spray Fungus Plus Insect Control For Lawns
The dual-action Spectracide fungus and insect control are formulated to give Augustine and other popular lawn grasses a healthy boost. Using it every two weeks would bring fruitful results.
This all-in-one fungicide is proven to prevent common lawn fungus diseases like black spot, rust, powdery mildew, scab, brown patch, blights, and molds, etc.
To allow it to show its magic, shake the bottle well, connect the garden hose to the sprayer nozzle, turn on the water, switch on spraying and let the product handle the rest.
To get supernatural results, try using the product at the first earliest signs. The spectracide fungicide is specifically made to meet the requirements of outdoor plants and lawn grasses. One bottle is enough to cover 2500 square feet of lawn.
How to find the right Fungicide for St. Augustine Grass?
Augustine grass, like Bermuda and Zoysia grasses, gets affected by brown patches more than any other fungus disease. Almost all commercial fungicides are listed to give relief from brown patches.
A fungicide is used on brown spot in St. Augustine grass to control the spread of the disease caused by the fungus. The fungicide helps to protect the grass from damage, promotes healthy growth, and improves the overall appearance of the lawn.
The first thing that you need to be sure of before placing an order is, what exactly is bringing your Augustine grass down. You can not cure the fungus disease properly if you haven’t found out yet where the problem lies.
There are several fungus diseases but usually dollar spot, brown patch, gray leaf spot, red thread, rust, and snow mold affects grasses the most.
Here is a breakdown of common fungi found in St. Augustine grass along with the reasons for their occurrence and methods for prevention:
- Brown Spot: caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani and occurs due to high humidity and poor air circulation. Prevention: proper irrigation, mowing, and removing infected grass clippings.
- Gray Leaf Spot: caused by the fungus Pyricularia grisea and occurs due to prolonged periods of high humidity and temperature. Prevention: reducing shade, proper irrigation, mowing, and removing infected grass clippings.
- Take-All Root Rot: caused by the fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis and occurs due to poorly drained soil and over-watering. Prevention: proper drainage, avoiding over-watering, and applying fungicides.
- Dollar Spot: caused by the fungus Sclerotinia homoeocarpa and occurs due to low soil fertility and high humidity. Prevention: fertilizing regularly, proper irrigation, and applying fungicides.
- Southern Blight: caused by the fungus Sclerotium rolfsii and occurs due to high temperatures and high humidity. Prevention: removing infected plant material, avoiding overhead irrigation, and applying fungicides.
While ordering the fungicide you need to look for the following few things:
Ingredients
The first thing that needs your attention is “ingredients”. The ingredients should be non-toxic and must not harm the environment and bee pollinators.
Make sure the fungicide you are purchasing does not contain sulfur, even the slightest amount of sulfur is toxic for humans, pets, and planet earth. The fungicides that contain a noticeable amount of neem oil, rosemary oil, jojoba oil, and bacterium bacillus subtilis works well for St. Augustine grass.
How much area it can cover
The next important thing that should be bothering you is ” how much area the fungicide you are about to order covers”.
You can only judge the quantity you are ordering is enough for your lawn or not when you know how much area your lawn is holding on to.
Fungicides are usually expensive, so try finding a product that can cover the entire lawn.
What’s it made for
Once you are done looking at ingredients and the area one fungicide bag can cover, it’s time to check what’s made for. It would be mentioned on the package whether it’s made for grasses or not. It’s impossible to find a fungicide that is specifically made for Augustine grass, so you have to compromise on the fungicide that is listed to work for all kinds of grasses.
Liquid or granular?
Fungicides are usually in ready-to-use liquid form but there are a noticeable number of granular ones as well.
Liquid fungicides are admired for working faster than granular ones. So, if you are impatient for the results already granular fungicide is not the right choice.
Liquid fertilizers are more rewarding and easy to use.
Budget
Like shopping for major to minor necessities, it’s important to look at what you can afford. If the expensive option is covering more area you can also consider it the right option.
As winter is almost gone, fungus attacks are about to bring the true beauty of your lawn down. Half knowledge is dangerous, now that you know what you need to look for and what the best options are, let’s discuss how you can treat the fungus-infected Augustine grass.
So, before the fungus disease attacks your lawn you must know the cure already.
The simpler and most suggested way of dealing with this problem is to detach the heavily infected grass and spray the rest with a natural or nontoxic fungicide. To begin treating your lawn you must remove the heavily infected grass leaves and follow the below-mentioned general rules;
- Finding the right fungicide: You can treat and prevent fungus diseases by either finding the right fungicide or making a DIY fungicide at home. It’s important to follow the instructions written on the fungicide packet for various unavoidable reasons.
- Suitable Time: Fungicides are mostly a combination of harsh chemicals. Going above or below the recommended quantity or the suggested time would not bring fruitful results and you would end up wasting your money.
- Weather Condition: To cure the fungus disease, it’s mandatory to spray the fungicide in the afternoon or early in the morning. The weather conditions for at least the next 6 to 7 hours should also be clean and dry. So, make sure the day you choose is sunny and the grass should not be celebrating the pleasant summer sun.
Bonus Tip
Commercial fungicides are mostly expensive and the cheaper ones are not always good for the job. The most experienced gardeners are making and using DIY fungicides to treat the grasses grown in residential and commercial areas. The DIY fungicides are cheap and effective. The most popular recipe is;
Mix four tablespoons of baking soda to 4 liters of water, stir it well, pour it into a sprayer. There you have a natural non-harming fungicide.
My recommendation
I would like to suggest in the end that if the fungus control is minor try using the DIY fungicide but if the whole lawn is infected with the disease already, there is no other option than to invest in a commercial fungicide. All the above-mentioned options are good for the job but it’s hard to suggest anything without judging the condition of the lawn.
What worked for us may not work for you. Please take professional help if the situation is getting out of control and ask them to suggest anything. If the situation is manageable, be the judge, go through the labels and pick what suits your needs.
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