Lawn disease can be a real pain in the neck. They can do serious damage to your lawn in a very short time. The main culprit for lawn disease is fungus. You can recognize fungus from the emergence of spots, circles, patches or the presence of different colors like brown or yellow or red in your lawn. It is essential that you take care of lawn diseases without any delay. Here are some common disease that you know about and how you can eliminate them or at least put them under control.

The first lawn disease we would be looking at is the Dollar Spot. It is commonly found in Kentucky Bluegrass, Bent Grass and Bermuda. It thrives in humid climates. As the name implied, it looks like a small dollar sign and is usually brown or straw colored. Dollar Spots appear in your lawn quickly during drought conditions as well as in lawns which has low level of nitrogen.

For prevention of Dollar Spots, the best thing that you can do is to aerate frequently and water your lawn thoroughly in the morning hours. You should also remove excess thatch and fertilize your lawn based on a regular schedule. That would increase the nitrogen level of your lawn. If you wish to use fungicide, you can consider benomyl, anilazine, and thiophanate.

Rust is another common lawn disease. If you find your leaf blades turning orange or rusty, it is likely that Rust has appeared in your lawn. Rust is often found in Ryegrasses and Kentucky Bluegrass. Morning dew, shade, high soil compaction, and low fertility are factors that contribute to its growth. To determine if your lawn is infected with Rust, you can take a white tissue or paper towel and rub a few grass blades with it. If the orange or rusty color remains, it is most probably Rust.

The best way of getting rid of rust is by aerating your lawn. You should water your lawn well in the morning hours and reduce shade to the grasses. You should also mow your lawn more frequently with bagging of the grasses. In addition, you can increase the nitrogen level of the soil by following a regular fertilization schedule. If you intend to use fungicides, you can try Triadimefon and Anilazine.

Another lawn disease that is quite common is Red Thread. It is most commonly found in Fescue, Ryegrasses and Kentucky Bluegrass. It generally thrives in moist and cool weather. Red Thread is characterized by the pinkish-red thread that forms around the leaf blades binding them together. Grasses infected by Red Thread will turn brown very soon. The red threads are most visible when the lawn grasses are wet.

By aerating more often as well as removing thatches in your lawn, you can quite easily put Red Threads under control. If you prefer the use of fungicide, you can consider the use of Chlorothalonil.

As you can see, you can cure or put lawn diseases under control by properly caring for you lawn. Mowing too low, watering improperly under fertilizing and other undesirable lawn care techniques will contribute to the growth of lawn disease. By spending some time and effort to learn and implement good lawn care techniques, you will always to a few steps ahead of the lawn diseases.

Article by Jack Greenwood