Below is an email from Schill that addresses some of the “brownout” issues homeowners may have been experiencing in parts of their yards.

Hello All,

I received a phone call today in regards to some browning and yellowing rings in the lawn areas so I came out to inspect and what you have going on is a Fungus called Red Thread. It is caused from a lot of moisture and humidity from the weather we had for 3 weeks and now that we have gone into a drought the Fungus is really kicking in and showing up.  The property is scheduled to be fertilized in the next 7-10 days but I am trying to schedule the application to be done sooner to help grow out the Red Thread.

While I was walking the property I also noticed quite a bit of stressed lawns due to the quick increase in temperatures and lack of water. In times like this I recommend you do early morning watering (not in direct sunlight) this will help with the recovery when we do get rain. If homeowners choose not to water the grass is going to start to go dormant and the chances other fungus and disease cropping up increases. We put grub control and surface insect control down last application but without proper watering we open ourselves up for other problems.

I don’t expect everyone to water every day (2-3 time per week) but when they do water make sure you are deep watering and getting enough down which in turn will help with the color and health of the lawn. This process is even more important for all of the new homeowners that recently had their lawns installed. If you don’t water you will end up getting Rust (fungus in new lawns) and Pythium (which will kill a new lawn will completely melt the grass away) so I would recommend those homeowner to water daily in the current weather conditions (not in direct sunlight) to avoid burnout. You also don’t want to water late at night as you will increase the Red Thread activity. I have been on over half of our properties over the last couple of days and have not seen an active bug or insect activity so this is all stemming from the Red Thread.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email Bill and let him know and we will be available to come out and check it out before it comes a major issue. Also the homeowners with the new lawns it will take some time for the weeds to die back we cannot or shouldn’t spray any weed killer until after the lawn has been mowed at least 6-7 times. Also you will be seeing signs of Crabgrass and Barnyard Grass which is very common in lawns that are planted in the summer months and the heat.  Lastly, please make sure you are watering you plants and trees as they need deep watering and should be done every other day until we cool down. If it rains for more than a couple of hours you should be fine for that day. Thanks again for allowing Schill to be a partner with your HOA and if there is anything you need go through Bill Sweeny and we will be out to follow up.

Jim Schill