How To Identify Lawn Fungus Diseases
Its not always easy to tell whether or not your lawn has a fungal disease or if theres some other issue. However, most fungal diseases have tell-tale signs that will tell you whats going on.
Some signs that your grass may be dealing with a fungal disease are:
- Patches of grass that are white, yellow, brown, or slightly gray in color that are growing in diameter. Or, patches of frayed, mangled, or dried out grass blades.
- Possible diseases: Brown patch disease, summer patch disease, rust lawn disease.
There are other fungal diseases that we havent listed that may be a little less common. Consult a lawn care professional for a diagnosis!
Toadstools Are A Main Source Of Lawn Diseases
Toadstool spores are the main source of lawn diseases, including brown patch, dollar spot and other turfgrass diseases. These fungi can live in your lawn for years until they find an opportunity to spread through the grass. Toadstools also produce toxins that suppress growth and weaken your lawns defenses against disease.
Learn How Long Fungicide Take To Work
Grass takes 24 hours to 48 hours to startcome outing from Fungicide sometimes its takes more than 3 days to recovers bare spots dead grass algae and fungus-like brown patches. You need to continue your effort and application excellently fungicides at least 3 times in two weeks. This will be helping you to recover your grass-like green lawn.
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Diy Lawn Fungus Control Vs Professional Treatment
If you discover fungus on your lawn, you want to address it right away. But should you DIY it or call a professional for help?
If the issue is a simple fix, and you know exactly what it is and how to go about killing the disease, doing it yourself can save time and money. However, if you dont choose the correct treatment, you could do more harm than good, and end up spending more in the long run. Not to mention, lawn fungus treatment products designed for consumer use arent always as powerful as those used by professionals, so it may take longer to solve the problem on your own.
Lawn fungus and disease is a common problem, and it doesnt have to mean that all of your hard work was in vain. Sometimes its due to factors out of your control, but taking the right steps to prevent and treat disease can keep your grass looking beautiful all season long.
What Is Brown Patch
Brown patch is a soil-living fungus which becomes active in humid months where temperatures reach the mid 80s during the day, and mid to upper 70s overnight.
Like the name would lead you to believe, brown patch causes a brownish discoloration of your turfgrass. More specifically, it starts out with lesions on the grass blades .
As brown patch develops, these lesions spread to cover the entire grass blade, causing thinning and matting of the turf. On shorter lawns, these patches may appear to have a smoke ring of dark gray around the outer edge.
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Lawn Fungus Treatment How To Get Rid Of Fungi In My Garden
Posted on 15.10.2020
So you’ve spent time and money on buying and laying your new turf and other bits to make your garden the envy of all your friends and now disaster has struck – you have found mushrooms growing amongst your beautiful lawn!
Fungi are one of the most active of all micro-organisms found in turf and can have a positive effect on your lawn as they supply it with nutrients that are important for growth and wellbeing. Whilst it is not a good idea to try and remove all traces of fungus from your turf, you need to be able to identify and manage them as they can lead to diseases such as red thread, fusarium patch and rust disease.
Your Ultimate Guide To Lawn Fungus And How To Get Rid Of It
If youve been trying to get a beautiful green lawn but its looking brown and patchy, you could be dealing with lawn fungus.
While fungal spores are present in every lawn, and they can even benefit your lawn when they start to multiply and spread they can become a real problem for your lawn.
Wont lawn fungus go away on its own? Although it would be great for your lawn fungus to disappear on its own, unfortunately, it wont you will have to treat it with effective removal methods.
If youre not sure how to do this, dont worry. Heres your ultimate guide to lawn fungus and how to get rid of it once and for all.
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What Can Be Done To Help Your Yard
- Core aerate to reduce thatch buildup
- Keep mower blades sharp
- Mow grass to a height of 2 1/2 to 3 inches
- Do not mulch your lawn if you have ascochyta
- Keep mower wheels and shoes used when cutting the lawn clean, as this can spread the fungus
- Water in the morning so leaf blades can dry quickly
- Water the affected area with more water less often
- Use a soil conditioner such as REVIVE to improve your lawns water efficiency
What Does Dollar Spot Fungus Look Like
Dollar spot fungus first appears in your grass as spots about the size of a silver dollar that are tan or light brown in color. Straw-colored spots on the grass blade may be ringed with reddish-brown. When viewed closely, especially when moisture is present in the grass, you may be able to see fuzzy, cobweb-like white strands on grass blades. This is the Sclerotinia fungus itself.
If not treated early, the small straw-colored spots can grow to 6 inches or larger in diameter. Large patches of grass can be killed by the fungus if left unchecked.
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Simple Treatment And Prevention Strategy
Heres the deal for cool season lawns you should mostly be concerned about fungus during the heat of the summer. Thats when your lawn is most vulnerable and fungus can overtake your lawn and kill infected areas.
During the spring, even though diseases such as Red Thread can take hold, your grass is usually strong enough where most of the damage is minimal.
Since its the summer that you need to be most concerned about, apply Scotts DiseaseEx in late spring/early summer right before the real heat kicks in. Apply at 2-3 lbs per 1000 s/f. to your entire lawn. If you are already starting to see fungus pop up then apply closer to the 3-4lbs per 1000 s/f rate.
Also, for a curative treatment have the Propiconazole a tank sprayer on hand just in case you see signs of disease. Some diseases are widespread, while others may appear as specific patches. If you notice specific problem areas, or patches, then spot treat those areas with Propiconazole mixed at the curative rate of 2 oz per 1 gallon of water. If you see a widespread fungus such as leaf spot throughout your lawn, then spray your entire lawn with the Propiconazole. Just note that you should wait a couple days after applying Scotts DiseaseEx before spraying Propiconazole. If disease problems continue I would do a follow up treatment with the Propiconazole about 20 days later.
By the end of the summer, most cool season lawn fungus problems should fade as your lawn begins to strengthen again as soil temps decrease.
When To Get Rid Of Brown Patch Fungus
Begin your efforts at brown patch control in the spring, with aeration and dethatching. Application of fungicide should be done when the fungal patches appear, usually mid to late summer, Reseeding with different grass species, where necessary, can be done by over-seeding over several fall seasons, or, if you want quicker results, eliminate the old turf grasses in spring and reseed immediately.
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Fungicide Spray For Trees Shrubs And Grass Is Importantbut So Are Your Actions
Its easy to get caught up in a treatment that you plan to employ to fix your fungal problems. But you need to keep in mind that your actions can also have a big impact on the likelihood of a fungal outbreak . Theres no question that the hot and humid weather is a contributor to fungal growth here in Texas. These conditions can create an incubator for fungus to thrive in. But as a homeowner, you can be cautious not to contribute even further to these problems by avoiding watering your lawn or landscape at night when that water is just going to sit. You want to water in the early morning when you can allow ample time for evaporation.
Mowing at the Proper height and proper frequency are also really important. The more stress that you put on your lawn, the more likely its going to suffer from fungus rather than just ward it off. You also want to be sure that you mow with a sharp blade which is going to make a clean cut.
How Do I Get Rid Of Red Thread Disease
Almost any lawn is susceptible to this turf fungus. However, it isnt uncommon for some lawns to have more issues than neighboring properties. Property owners often wonder what can be done to get rid of Red Thread on lawns when it shows up. The remedy is to disrupt the disease triangle so that this fungus stops growing. The disease triangle is used to illustrate how fungi grows on plants, in this particular case, your lawn. The susceptible host are grass plants that are lacking in nitrogen and have started to not grow as aggressively as they have in the months prior. The pathogen is present in the thatch layer of a lawn and impossible to completely remove. When the plant is weak, and the temperature and relative humidity is favorable, Red Thread will begin and continue to grow.
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How To Identify Lawn Diseases
Something looking not quite right on your lawn, but youre not sure what it is? Use this guide to common lawn diseases to help you ID it and learn how to treat it.
Anytime you grow a bunch of the same plants together, disease problems can take hold and begin to spread before you even notice theyre happening. This can be a real challenge for lawns, because lawns are made of hundreds of thousands of the same type of grass plants. Even when you give your lawn excellent care, the grass can still become infected with various lawn diseases that can lead to dead or discolored areas. Disease spores can float by in the air or hide in the soil, and when conditions are right, they multiply. Thats why its a good idea to protect your lawn, or fight back if disease has already taken hold, with Scotts® DiseaseEX Lawn Fungicide. It starts to work in just 24 hours to prevent and control 26 different lawn diseases for up to 4 weeks .
Here are some of the most common lawn diseases and how to identify them.
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How To Treat And Heal Lawn Fungus
If you are looking to limit the development of fungus, we recommended that you:
- Scarify the lawn in order to reduce thatch.
- Reduce the amount of fertiliser that you are applying.
- Check underneath the lawn for any residue or buried debris that may be there – use a knife to dig under the toadstools and remove any debris you find. You can also remove any existing toadstools simply by pulling them out by hand, whilst wearing a pair of gardening gloves of course, if there are a lot then mow them out using a collection box.
- Mow your turf to a recommended height
- Aerate soil compacted areas.
- Mix a small amount of washing up liquid into a watering can and dilute with water and pour this on the affected areas.
In terms of prevention, there are several things that you can do in order to try and fend off fungal issues. It’s a good idea to aerate your lawn at the end of summer as the extra use and footfall during the warmer months means that the ground will be hard and compacted. You should also rake your lawn in order to remove any thatch and allow the grass to breathe. It’s also important to be careful when watering your lawn to ensure that you are not leaving soggy patches or puddles in your grass. In order to develop a strong root system that can protect itself against fungal diseases, you should water thoroughly but less frequently.
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How To Treat Lawn Fungus Naturally 3 Ways To Do It
Do you observe patches in your grass lawn where the grass is dormant to grow? Then most probably it is a fungal infection taking place in your lawn which maybe you are unaware of.
To treat lawn fungus naturally, you can take baking soda mix with water and spray twice a week in the lawn or you can use neem oil which works as a fungicide in the lawn which can be sprayed once a week or twice a month. There are other ways like spraying milk and water mixture, which is also an organic and natural way to eliminate fungus from your lawn.
Now you know what are the natural ways but there are some other things that you need to know like how to identify the fungus and cure them according to type. What are the causes that result in fungal colonization? Lets discuss these in detail.
Does Cornmeal Work For Grass Fungus
For brown patches in your lawn, you can rely on horticultural cornmeal. This remedy helps with the fungus, and also provides the grass with healthy nutrients. So, how does the cornmeal treatment work? Essentially, it attracts the Trichoderma fungus which helps kill the harmful fungi in your lawn.
For every 1000 square feet of lawn, you would need about 10-20 pounds of cornmeal. The results should be visible in about three weeks. Apply 10 to 20 pounds of cornmeal per 1,000 square feet of lawn.
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How To Get Rid Of Brown Patch Fungus
After assessing the brown patch disease on your lawn, you might decide its time for treatment. If you want to get rid of these unsightly patches for good, these are the steps to take:
- As soon as you see any brown patches arrive, apply your chosen fungicide to them. This will usually be in the warmer months, like mid to late summer, and should be treated immediately.
- Reseed over the dead grass patches with a grass species that are more resilient to fungus. This can take a year or two to work and will need to be over a few fall seasons.
- If you want to start fresh, remove the old turf and reseed it with your chosen grass species. Commit to a schedule of growing the grass, including daily watering and grass rolling.
Be Careful Mowing Your Yard
Check the settings on your lawnmower. Cutting the grass too close to the root will weaken it and make your grass more susceptible to fungus and other diseases.
You might find yourself cutting it closer in some areas than in others, which is probably because the soil is uneven.
If you have this issue, you should get a heavy lawn roller and try to get the yard as even as possible.
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Three Common Lawn Fungal Diseases
Certain diseases strike specific lawn varieties and others thrive during certain times of year or weather conditions, for example brown patch usually strikes during hot and humid weather. Dollar spot tends to arrive when nights are cool and the dew is heavy, whereas during drought conditions in hot weather fusarium blight springs into action.
Because not all fungicides are created equal, youll have to figure out exactly which pest youre dealing with. Dean is Wild Horse Turfs chief pest inspector and if youre not sure what youre dealing with, he can probably help, so take a photo of the problematic area and send it to us for identification.
How To Tell If Your Lawn Has Been Infected By Fungus
There are a few sure-fire ways to find out if your lawn mower is spreading fungus.
The most common signs of fungal disease are:
- Discolored patches of grass
- Brown, yellow, or white rings that increase in size
- Orange, black or grey spots found on the blades of grass
- Slimy looking areas of the grass
- Small web-like parts on the grass and
- Orange, yellow, or rust-like powder on the grass.
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Does Lawn Fungus Control Work
The short answer is, yes, lawn fungus control products definitely work when applied properly to treat various types of fungal diseases. Of course, the timing is important.
Getting fungal activity under control quickly is important. Thats because it can be highly destructive in a short amount of time, even overnight. The type of products utilized also matters. Obviously, professional-grade products are going to work better than store-bought ones.
There are various formulations for disease control products. While a lot of companies utilize liquid fungicide products, we have found a top-of-the-line granular product that is ultimately more effective and accurate.
Instead of mixing up a huge tank of product and hoping we have the right amount from property to property, we can apply just the right amount of granular product exactly where it needs to go.