Turfmate Turf Library

Know your turf.
Grow with a mate.

Real identification cues. Practical field knowledge. The right next step for your lawn or professional surface.

Find your problem ↓Plan for the season ↓
A close-up of green turf with a reel mower in the background
Professional experience. Practical help for your patch.
Across Australia · through the year

A mate for every season.

Choose the climate closest to your site and a month. Find what to watch, what to check, and a relevant next step.

Regional watch points · offset markers have leader lines. Not measured incidence.

Temperate southern and cooler elevated sites. Watch cool wet turf in winter and warm humid spells in summer.

Choose a month

October · Temperate south

Diseases watch

Dollar spot

Mild dewy weather: look for dollar spot and review leaf wetness, airflow and balanced nutrition.

Identification & next steps ↗
Patriot 1L
For confirmed, labelled dollar spot; plan resistance management.
Pests watch

African black beetle & lawn grubs

Review previous grub damage and local egg-hatch timing. Confirm the larval target before planning protection.

Identification & next steps ↗
Liquid Acelepryn
Listed larval pests; target-specific timing and watering apply.
Weeds watch

Summer grass & crabgrass

Plan for annual summer grass before seedlings emerge. Remove or identify existing weeds first.

Identification & next steps ↗
OxaFert 3kg / 20kg
Confirm target species and turf; prevention will not remove existing plants.

Typical watch windows, not a live outbreak map or a spray calendar. Conditions can occur outside these months and across state borders. Grass type, recent weather, irrigation and a confirmed diagnosis take priority. For a site-specific program, email sales@turfmate.com.au.

Look closer. Get the right help.

What’s happening in your turf?

Search by name or symptom. Open a guide for visual cues, lookalikes, seasonal conditions and suitable solutions.

56 guides · identify first, treat second.

You’ve got a mate in turf.

Not sure what you’re looking at?

Send a close-up, a wide photo, your grass variety and location. Tell us when it started, how you water and anything already applied.

Email us for product advice ↗sales@turfmate.com.au

Managing a school, sports field or commercial site? Talk supply & apply ↗

Get the foundations right

Better decisions start here.

Measure your lawn

Break the area into rectangles and triangles, subtract beds and paths, and record the total in square metres. An accurate area is the starting point for product planning and label rates.

Find a lawn program ↗

Check the root zone

Compare moisture in healthy and stressed areas before changing irrigation. Review drainage and water penetration. Disease, dry patch and root-feeding pests can all look like a watering problem.

Investigate dry rings ↗

Send useful photos

Take a wide view, a fresh patch edge and a close-up of the leaf, weed or insect. Add your grass type, site climate, recent weather and treatment history. A photo is a starting point; some problems need a sample.

Ask your mate in turf ↗
Photography & technical sources

Images are licensed for reuse and attributed below. Some identification photographs were taken outside Australia. Card crops fit the layout. Full images and source details are linked in each guide; cropped research details are labelled. Photographers and reference authors do not endorse Turfmate products.

  • Dollar spot — Photo: Glenobear · source · Public domain. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Brown patch — Photo: Scot Nelson · source · CC0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Fairy ring — Photo: Scot Nelson · source · CC0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Winter Fusarium / Microdochium patch — Photo: William M. Brown Jr., Bugwood.org · source · CC BY 3.0 US. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • African black beetle & lawn grubs — Photo: kikuyu · source · CC0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Lawn armyworm — Photo: Richard Fuller · source · CC0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Black cutworm — Photo: W. M. Hantsbarger, Bugwood.org · source · CC BY 3.0 US. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Bindii — Photo: Harry Rose · source · CC BY 2.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • White clover — Photo: Hans Hillewaert · source · CC BY-SA 3.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Capeweed — Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Catsear / flatweed — Photo: Tony Rebelo · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Creeping oxalis — Photo: Vengolis · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Winter grass — Photo: Sam Kieschnick · source · CC BY 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Summer grass & crabgrass — Photo: Rasbak · source · CC BY-SA 3.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Nutgrass — Photo: Rickjpelleg · source · CC BY 2.5. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Paspalum — Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz · source · CC BY 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Rust — Photo: Jerzy Opioła · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Red thread — Photo: bjoerns · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Slime mould — Photo: Peta McDonald · source · CC0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Spider mites — Photo: CSIRO · source · CC BY 3.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Crowsfoot grass — Photo: Harry Rose · source · CC BY 2.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Mullumbimby couch — Photo: edurafi2 · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Dandelion — Photo: Famartin · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Plantains — Photo: Stefan.lefnaer · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Cudweed — Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz · source · CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Common chickweed — Photo: Kaldari · source · CC0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Burr medic — Photo: John Tann · source · CC BY 2.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.
  • Khaki weed — Photo: Harry Rose · source · CC BY 2.0. Displayed at reduced size; card crops fit the layout.

Educational illustrations: Turfmate. Technical references and product labels appear on the individual guides. Reviewed 11 October 2026.

Syngenta photographs are reproduced in full with attribution. Source grass species and settings are identified where supplied; photographs support identification and do not replace diagnosis.

Bureau of Meteorology climate zones · Climate classification · Australia outline: Natural Earth, public domain. Regional climate references: Sydney / coastal NSW · Albury–Wodonga / Upper Murray · Mildura / Sunraysia & Murray · Tasmania / cool temperate sites · Rockhampton / Central Queensland · Cairns / tropical coastal Far North QLD · Adelaide / Mediterranean South Australia · Canberra / ACT & nearby elevated sites. These station records support broad climate context, not local disease incidence. Australian disease context: Syngenta turf disease guide. Problem-specific technical references and Australian labels are linked in each guide.