Dr. Phyto

Feather reed grass

Calamagrostis ×acutiflora

Diseases & pests on this plant

• crown rust of oatPuccinia coronata

  Bright orange-yellow pustules on leaves with characteristic crown-shaped teliospores in late season, severe infection causes premature leaf death + lodging, kernels do not fill properly leading to shrivelled grain, in epidemic years 50%+ yield loss with poor grain quality.

• sheath blightRhizoctonia solani
• Miscanthus blightStagonospora sp.

  On ornamental Miscanthus (and related grasses), reddish-brown spots and oval streaks develop on the leaf blades and sheaths, mostly on older leaves first. The spots enlarge and run together so leaf margins and tips turn brown and die back, and in bad years the whole clump can look scorched. Young, soft plants can be killed outright. The blight worsens in warm, wet, late-summer weather.

• Leaf spot and common root rotBipolaris sorokiniana

  Small dark brown to black leaf spots, often with a yellow halo, that enlarge and merge to blight whole leaves in warm, humid weather; on close-mown turf this becomes a general thinning and bronzing. Below ground the same fungus causes a brown rot of roots, crowns and stem bases, so plants are easily pulled up and the turf melts out in diffuse, irregular brown areas. Most damaging in warm summer spells on stressed, thatchy lawns.