Can Over-Irrigation Lead to Fungal Diseases on St. Augustine Lawns in South Florida?
Over-irrigation in South Florida can increase the risk of large patch disease on St. Augustine lawns. Excessive moisture creates ideal conditions for the fungal infection to thrive, leading to brown patches and weakened grass. Proper irrigation management is crucial to prevent the spread of large patch disease in this region.
Excessive rains cause fungus root rot damage on lawns.
The occasional rain shower is great but not 10 inches of rain in two week, excessive rains cause fungus root rot damage on lawns.
The average lawn only needs about one inch of rain or watering per week any less you start having drought stress and anymore and it could be wasteful and unnecessary but in excess of three to six inches in a week and you start to have fungal issues and even root rotting.
Lawn fungus is mostly triggered by environmental stresses, too much rain, over cast, sudden temperature drops or spikes can trigger a fungus outbreak. It rained all night and it was overcast the next day all day or the temperature went from 85 degrees in the day to 65 degrees at night this is enough to invoke a full blow fungal out break and you will see the effects in the following two weeks.
Improper cultural practices such as scalping, mowing the lawn lower than the cultivar can handle or allowing it to over grow and removing more than thirty percent will cause stress on the lawn and make it more susceptible to disease pest problems.
Homes with no gutters allow hundreds of gallon to fall on parts of the lawn with poor drainage, down spots that don’t drain away from lawns and gardens cause serious damage.
Irrigation systems that do not have active working rain sensors cause further damage by not shutting off the water supply in heavy rain situations exasperating the problem.
