On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 15:03:24 +0200, Suzie wrote:

I've been told by my garden centre guy that I've got rust on my lawn.
He's given me ant killer as he reckons this is the cause - not over
watering or lack of nutrients.
I've followed the instructions yet have seen no improvement (over 2
months) Nor have I seen many ants!
The symptoms are as follows, the blades of the grass get small marks on
them and then seem to lose their colour until finally dying.
I have two variants of lawn and only the Kikuyu lawn seems affected
whereas the Buffalo isn't effected at all.

Does this sound like lawn rust? Any idea as to what I can do to over
come the problem. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Suzie I'm not going to be of much help, but I usually feel that we
that have Kikuyu lawns would have to practically sell the house and
move to be rid of Kikuyu. By that I mean Kikuyu is very hardy. :-)

Is the whole lawn area dying off or only in patches. Rather than blame
Ants I would be more inclined to ask if you have any Pets?

I visited the following site and read a little about Rust.
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/te...intenance.html

Under Diseases.
"Rust diseases occur on grasses growing under stressful conditions.
Typical stresses include drought, nutrient deficiency, low mowing and
shade. Initial symptoms of rust attack are light yellow flecks on the
leaf. These yellow areas enlarge and may cover the entire leaf."

I have Kikuyu as a front and back lawn. The front is more exposed to
the elements and doesn't grow as fast as the back lawn, the front lawn
also dries off during Summer.
The back lawn is always green despite never being watered and I have
two dogs who use it as their toilet.
--

Lindsay.