Preventing Common Lawn Diseases

The wet and cool weather common in spring, fall and winter around Vancouver provides optimal growing conditions for a variety of molds and fungus that can cause damage to your lawn. The best prevention is consistent lawn maintenance including the services provided by Nutri-Lawn Vancouver. Some lawn diseases are unsightly but harmless, while others will continue season after season and take over your yard.
Prevention is better than any cure, and the following tips are the best way to help your lawn stay strong, healthy and resist to lawn diseases.

1. When mowing, leave the grass longer and mow more frequently (leave 1/3 of the grass blade intact).
2. Don’t overwater, or water your lawn at night.
3. Aerate and dethatch your lawn for proper circulation of air and consistent growth.
4. Ensure the proper fertilizer is applied at appropriate times and is well watered into the soil.

Here are some of the common lawn diseases found around Vancouver.

Leaf Spot

There are a few varieties of Leaf Spot and they flourish in humidity. You’ll notice small purple spots which will spread to the entire stalk and kill the grass. Lawns kept too short are especially susceptible. While the optimal conditions exist, it is almost impossible to get rid of Leaf Spot, however a healthy lawn will be more resistant.

Fairy Ring

Fairy Ring is really hard to treat as it spreads as deep as 30cm in the soil, and even digging out the affected areas is no guarantee that you’ve gotten rid of it. Fairy Ring is a fungus growth that causes a dark green almost vigorous growth in the outer edge while the centre of the ring temporarily dies. If left untreated, the Fairy Ring will grow bigger with each season.

Aeration or poking holes in the soil and saturating the area with water is often helpful. Overseed with a more hardy grass variety.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms spring up wherever there is abundant decay or rot in your lawn. This could be something buried in the soil, old stumps or roots, etc. Mushrooms also thrive in areas that are consistently wet or low lying. While unsightly, mushrooms will not damage the lawn.

The only way to truly get rid of mushrooms is to remove the decay or rot they’re feeding off of.

Red Thread

Red Thread is a fungus presents as irregular circular patches that become brown and appear dead. Red thread is easily recognized by the small pink or red horns on grass leaves. Red Thread is common in wet humid weather in spring, fall and winter. While Red Thread looks bad, it doesn’t actually kill the grass that’s infected. Lawns that lack nitrogen are prone to Red Thread, but the problem will usually disappear with warmer temperatures.

Not sure if a lawn disease has afflicted your lawn? Is your lawn under attack from one of the diseases mentioned above? Contact the experts at Nutri-Lawn Vancouver to diagnose and treat your lawn problem before it spreads to your entire property.