Typically in October we find "Large Patch" fungus in many of our lawns. This October was extremely dry. The fungus will only thrive in moist soils so we did not see much of it. We are starting to see more of it as we head into November, and we will have to treat it throughout the rest of the year.
Sod Webworms, Army Worms and Chinch Bugs were still active. As we head into November I'm seeing almost zero Army or Sod Webworms in our lawns. Chinch bugs will cause damage throughout the year. In fact, with October being as dry as it was we actually saw a slight increase in chinch bug activity.
Some of our lawns were even showing slight drought stress. We recommend watering once a week throughout October, but if we get little rainfall it is a good idea to increase watering. It is extra important to mow your lawn high this time of year. Short lawns lose their color more rapidly going into dormancy. We don't have much control over turf color going forward as lawns have to be actively growing to take up fertilizer. St Augustine is a warm season turf and it is natural for it to go dormant and lose color this time of year. Tree cover, mowing height, and water all factor in to how long your grass will stay green.
As we lose hours of sunlight going into winter turf in the shade may thin out. Mowing high will help reduce this, and as long as their is no major change in tree cover it will return next year.
Chickweed, hawksbeard, clover, and dollar weed will thrive this time of year and do no go dormant. They will take over a lawn if proper weed control is not applied and in addition to large patch will be our focus over the next few services.
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