TARR Update!

The Sperry lawn as it appeared March 26, 2011.

The Sperry lawn photographed late June, 2010, after treatment with a 1-inch layer of sphagnum peat moss. It looked similar to the photo above in April 2010.

The Take All Root Rot fungus, commonly known as TARR was uncommonly nasty in spring and summer 2010. Lawns all across Texas were ravaged, and St. Augustine owners are fearing a repeat this year. We have all the facts, as provided by the master, Dr. Phil Colbaugh, retired Plant Pathologist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Phil is still working actively to find even better ways of dealing with this serious fungal outbreak.

You see the Sperry home lawn as it finally regained its vigor by mid-summer 2010. But, it was a struggle. Half of the problem came in finding peat moss to apply as my treatment. Supplies ran short as the problems worsened from late April on. My advice to you would be to buy the necessary peat moss now. Store it dry until you need it. Better to have it for a while than not to be able to find it when you do need it.

Because I am taping television programs on my lawn, I jumped the gun by a week or two and applied peat to our grass a few days ago. Before I did,  however, I took this photo of a portion of the same turf, as it appeared less than one week ago today. As we begin to warm back up again over the next couple of weeks, my bet is that this grass will respond very quickly.

For tons more information directly from Dr. Colbaugh’s research, here’s a link to the TARR info on my website: http://www.neilsperry.com/maq/lawns/my-st-augustine-looks-like-it-is-fading-away.html