Identifying Lawn Diseases Part 1

As with any living organism, grasses can get sick. It is important to treat lawn diseases as soon as you recognize them, and there are many products on the market that will easily help you to fight the disease. The tough part is figuring out which disease your lawn has. This comprehensive list of lawn diseases comes in two parts; here are diseases whose names start with A-K. Included are the types of grasses each disease affects, the symptoms and treatment options.

• Anthracnose: Affects all species of grass. Symptoms include irregular reddish-brown patches of grass and spots on the grass blades. If left untreated, this disease can kill turfgrass. You will need a fungicide to treat this.

• Brown Patch: Affects fescue, blue, centipede, rye, St. Augustine, bent and zoysia grasses. Symptoms include circular areas of dead grass, the leaves being easy to pull off and the area appearing sunken. You will need a fungicide to treat this.

• Dollar Spot: Affects bent, bermuda, rye, blue and fescue grasses. Symptoms include small silver dollar-sized spots of brown grass and the grass blades having areas of brown or tan coloring. You will need a fungicide to treat this.

• Fairy Ring: Affects all turf grasses. Symptoms include a dark green circle or semi-circle of grass and possible mushrooms. You will need to dig up and reseed the entire affected area.

• Fusarium Blight: Affects bluegrass. Symptoms include color change from light green to brown to tan before dying. You will need a fungicide to treat this.

• Fusarium Patch (Snow Mold): Affects cool-season grasses and zoysia. Usually occurs after snow melts. There are two varieties: One starts as a yellow-green and turns pink, and the other starts yellowish and turns grayish white. There are fungicides that treat this disease, but since it is not likely to kill your grass, it’s best to just wait until the climate conditions are more suitable for the grass, and it will recover on its own.

Read Part 2 next week for more lawn diseases. If you are considering getting new grass or would like to talk to a professional about options and advice, contact The Grass Outlet today.