Bermuda Grass Blades Turning Red

Spring arrived and the bermuda grass came back to life.

Bermuda grass blades turning red.

Occurs in late spring summer and fall. The spots may merge into large affected areas. Then the rain stopped for a couple of days and the tips of the grass turned red. As the red thread becomes well developed light pink to red fungus strands or threads 1 4 or more in length begin to grow from the tips of the blades and the leaf sheaths these threads are the reason for the disease s common name.

Small silver dollar sized spots of tan brown grass appear over the lawn. It rained about every third day and the grass was growing fast. 2 at higher ph levels centipede is very sensitive to iron deficiencies which can cause leaf blades to turn light yellow. Overall patches of the grass will become thin and weak.

Also the grass just seemed to stop growing. I put pre emergent fertilizer down but the grass didn t turn red until a little later about the time we started mowing. Your yard s grass commonly covers a large percentage of space compared to other garden plants like flowers or vegetable. Affects bent grass bermuda grass ryegrass bluegrass and fescue.

Red thread is a growth of the fungus laetisaria fuciformis and appears in two forms on the blades leaves of infected grass. It tolerates acidic soil with ph as low as 4 5 to 6 0 much lower than most grasses prefer. Dollar spot doesn t usually cause permanent damage. The blades will be coated with orange red to yellowish brown dust or spores.

The grass is usually tan or light brown beneath the red thread growths. At least it s not dying yet. The wind moves bits of these threads to non infected plants to spread the disease. Grass blades will have tan brown areas on them.

One form has thread like branches sometimes compared to antlers called sclerotia. The ph is 6 0 6 5 and the soil is nutrient poor. Maybe its my imagination but i don t think so. The spores can be rubbed off the grass blades with a finger.

I live in inland south carolina zone 7.