The shade and reduced air movement cause relative humidity and moisture levels to remain high for longer periods on the turfgrass leaves which creates more favorable conditions for diseases. The trees and shrubs should be pruned or removed to make conditions more favorable for the growth of turfgrasses and less favorable for diseases. If trees cannot be removed, the best solution to the problem will be to redesign the landscape and use mulch or ground cover plants in the shady areas in place of grass. The long-term solution to this problem is to decide which is more important, trees or grass, in your landscape because it is very difficult to grow good quality turf in shady areas. Pesticides should be considered as a last resort for a long-term disease management practice.
Fungicides are available that can be used to control diseases on turfgrasses in lawns.
However, these chemicals will be needed frequently under favorable disease conditions, such as hot-wet weather for brown patch on tall fescue. The cost for fungicides may exceed the normal cost of a professional lawn maintenance program and homeowners must choose between this extra expense and less than desirable turf quality in late summer with reseeding in the fall. Turf quality of tall fescue will usually be acceptable in later fall with good management without the use of fungicides. Fungicides are seldom needed on warm-season turfgrasses. Nematodes may cause serious damage on some turfgrasses growing in very sandy soils in the Eastern and Sandhills regions of the state.