By Tamara Galbraith

Americans are renowned for pampering their lawns. We are obsessed with our turf's height, thickness and green coloring.

Unfortunately, such fussiness can lead to problems, especially during the summer months. You may think excessive watering and fertilization will give you a greener lawn when in fact, it can get you a nasty case of brown patch.

Caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, brown patch commonly attacks St. Augustine, Kentucky Bluegrass, Centipede Grass and ryegrasses during the warm, humid months of summer. Brown patch looks just like what the name suggests: large brown patches appear in the lawn and gradually spread outward in a dark, wilted circle or horseshoe pattern. Sometimes the middle of the circle will start to recover a little, resulting in a doughnut-shaped brown and green area.

Lawns can also be afflicted with take-all patch. Caused by the fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis var. graminis, take-all patch is a serious disease of St. Augustine grass and can also cause problems in Bermuda grass. The causal organism seems to be most active during the fall, winter and spring when there is abundant moisture and temperatures are moderate.

So what should you do? Here are a few tips:
* If you water your lawn in the evening, stop. Early morning irrigation is best.
* Cease the use of all high-nitrogen fertilizers.
* Set your mower to cut a little higher.
* Have a lawn service company perform a core aeration.
* Apply an organic fungicide, such as a corn meal-based product, and finely sifted compost, after aeration.
* Apply a chemical fungicide like Ferti-lome F-Stop.

Brown patch tends to shut down when temperatures rise above 90, so gardeners in hotter areas of the country may have to wait until early fall before applying fungicide, as it won't have any effect on a dormant fungus.

And finally, the good news is that brown patch fungus attacks the base of the blade but does not kill the roots. So if you can get a handle on it, your grass will most likely recover...it's just a matter of adjusting your grass pampering methods a little.

As the cooler weather takes over, give your lawn a good feeding with Nicholson-Hardie Lawn Food or Ferti-lome Winterizer or Ferti-lome Winterizer Plus Weed Preventer.