Rust in my lawn...?

Question

My lawn is filled with rust!!! My whole yard is grass, and on top of the grass is like a layer of rust. Its orangeish red, and when you run in it the rust flies up into the air! What is causing this?

Answer 1

It is a lawn fungus that is caused by excessive moisture and moisture at night.  There are fungicides that treat it and applying fertilizer will help.  I had it real bad one year and then by fertilizing it got better and after the next growing season it was gone.

Answer 2

Rust is caused by high humidity and is spread by spores that ride the wind. Once started its difficult to control. In Georgia and the rest of the deep south its a problem specifically with the soybean crop. If you got it , they will make you pull and destroy the crop for a 5 mile radius - that serious.........

In a lawn it will stress it out and its so tough to control I would just wait it out and prevent next year.

Washing it in does not good as that just grows more spores to ride the next wind

Pick your battles............

Answer 3

As the others have said it is caused by too much moisture.  You can't control nature, but try to avoid watering your grass too late in the evening as the the water will not be able to evaporate fast enough to prevent the spores from forming.  The best time to water is in the morning.  If you water mid-day too much water will evaporate and will have no time to absorb into the soil.  If you don't have time in the morning try to water in the late afternoon after the sun has started to descend...i believe it's around 4 hrs before sunset, but don't take my word for it.  Try to referance web sites like Scotts.

Answer 4

One huge factor contributing to rust in a lawn is poor fertility.  The solution is often as simple as applying an inexpensive lawn food to reverse the fertility lack until the environmental conditions change to eliminate the rust.  Rust itself will not usually harm northern lawns.

Bug Doc