How to Treat Curvularia in Your Lawn

Curvularia thrives in warm, moist environments, making it more common in Australia during the late summer and early autumn. It’s caused by the fungi Curvularia spp. and like other diseases, it’s likely to be triggered during wet summers where humidity, an abundance of nitrogen from over-fertilising and plenty of above ground water trapped in the thatch layer combine for a fungi breeding zone.

Data shows that Curvularia is most likely to affect turf grasses including Kentucky Bluegrass, Bentgrass, Fescue and Couch.

For the home lawn owner, this makes it most likely to affect those keeping shortcut Couch or maintaining a Bentgrass putting green at home, as the shorter leaf length and the stress of regular mowing can open the lawn to a Curvularia outbreak.

There are a number of ways to manage a Curvularia outbreak, including commonly available fungicides as well as a raft of cultivation practices that act as a deterrent, in lieu of any preventative fungicide.

Tombstone Duo is registered to control Curvularia. It’s applied at a rate of 20mL per 100sq.m of lawn, and is sprayed directly on to the leaf of the plant where its active ingredients Tebuconazole and Trifloxystrobin will curb the outbreak of the Curvularia fungi.

Tombstone is registered to control several common diseases including Dollar Spot, Helmo and Brown Patch, making it a handy tool in the arsenal of any lawn lover.

Lawn Maintenance Practices

As well as fungicides, some cultural practices can help stave off lawn disease like Curvularia, and increase a lawn’s chances of successfully recovering from an outbreak.

Immediately increasing the height of cut will take stress off the plant and help stave off the outbreak, but even before an outbreak occurs, managing your thatch layers with a scarifier or dethatcher will allow plenty of air flow throughout the canopy of the plant.

Alleviating compaction and aiding drainage through core aeration is also important, so if you notice any water struggling to drain from the surface of the lawn after irrigation, consider hiring a core aerator in conjunction with your dethatching at the start of Spring as part of an annual ‘Lawn Renovation’.

During the warmer months, particularly if there are Summer storms in your region, dial back your irrigation and avoid applying excessive nitrogen if you know the leaf of the plant is going to stay damp for days on end, as this combined with the humidity is a potent combination for any fungal outbreak.

Treat Lawn Diseases with myhomeTURF

Lawn diseases like Curvularia can be confounding, as until they manifest as varying shapes and sizes of affected leaf, they can be hard to spot. Luckily, they’re easy to treat with readily available chemicals, and even easier to manage with good cultivation practices.

myhomeTURF’s online store has a wide variety of specialty lawn products to help you care for your lawn and get rid of common lawn diseases like Curvularia. myhomeTURF is Australia’s best network of premium turf growers.