Rust on grass?

[TOM KAN PA]

My brother has it. And he says there's really nothing you can do about it. What is it? What causes it? And is there anything that can be done about it?

[Pat Kiewicz]

It's a fungus, doesn't overwinter well in very cold climates, and the best solution is to fertilize the grass and keep it growing vigorously.

I haven't had it in my lawn until this year, when the 'restoration' after the street paving involved bringing in really poor, sandy dirt with a thin layer of weird, black crusty 'top soil' and then hydroseeding. One patch of cooler than normal, moist summer weather and whammo! the new grass had this disease. Mow the infected area separately from the rest of the lawn, wash off your shoes and mower afterward, and apply a slow-release organic fertilizer on the rust infected area.

We are so dissapointed with the 'restoration' that the township has not signed off on the project and we are not yet being billed for the paving project.

See the following selection from the MSU extension service:

[Phisherman]

Fungus diseases are nearly impossbile to control once started. I neglected to use preventative measures on my roses and all got black spot. I cut down the roses half way to allow more air circulation. The following spring I regularly applied funginex to the roses and giant grasses and have no rust, despite all the wet and rainy days. I tried the baking soda sprays, but I found them not very effective and they leave ugly white residue on the plants. When you trim plants use clean sharp tools.

[Beecrofter]

Well you have to wash your sneakers more often to get the color out--- Its a fungus. During seasons where the temp and moisture are just right and the grass grows long into the weeks where it would be dormant (cool season grasses) is when you see rust. A light feeding helps get things back to normal as it seems to attack turf that has run low on nutrients. I have never seen rust kill a lawn .