Common Lawn Diseases

The official start of spring is upon us, which means your lawn will start to emerge from dormancy as the temperatures rise.  Unfortunately, there are plenty of lawn diseases that plague yards around the country.  As you are planning your lawn care regiment for the season, it’s important to be able to recognize the signs of these diseases so that you can begin treating them before too much damage has been done.

Dollar spot is a common lawn disease that can attack many different types of grass. When this disease is present, blades of grass will have light colored patches on them.  This disease typically shows up when the weather warms up because it remains latent through the winter.  Poor lawn maintenance and low levels of moisture in the soil can allow for this disease to take hold.  Dollar spot can cause severe and long-term damage to your lawn because it destroys the grass all the way to the root.

Another common disease, brown patch, is also known to show up primarily in the spring and summer under warm conditions. Many different types of grass are susceptible to brown patch.  One of the most frustrating aspects of brown patch is that once it takes hold it spreads very quickly and can destroy your lawn in a very short period of time.  This disease creates dark rings of brown grass around your lawn.  You may notice rings of different sizes and some may be connected. Certain fertilizers can be a cause of brown patch, therefore you should consult a lawn care professional about what type of fertilizer is least harmful.

lawn disease

Abnormalities in your grass are often a sign of lawn disease.

Fairy rings can also be a major problem for your lawn.  This is a lawn disease that results from a type of fungi.  Similar to brown patch, fairy rings occur in a circular pattern and can spread around your lawn.  It remains to be determined how exactly you prevent fairy rings, but proper lawn maintenance is one of the keys to staving off this disease.

These are just a few of the lawn diseases that you may encounter in your yard. While there is no guaranteed way to prevent lawn disease, proper and continuous lawn maintenance is the best prevention method.  When your grass is adequately watered and appropriately fertilized, these diseases have a much lower chance of attacking your yard.