Recognizing Lawn Disease
by
Kelly Richardson, All About Lawns Columnist
One minute you have got a great looking, lush lawn
that is emerald green and feels great to your feet. The next minute, a
dreaded lawn disease can take over, ruining your hard work. Here are
some characteristics of common lawn diseases, how to spot them, and how
to treat them. The damage that lawn disease can
do to your grass is painful to see. There are a variety of lawn
diseases that come and go for various reasons. They can turn a once
beautiful lawn into a ghastly sigh for your neighbors to see. But
knowing about common lawn diseases is one step in fighting their
effects. Here are some of the more common ones.
- Summer Patch. This particular lawn disease is
caused by a fungus and attacks your lawn during the summer months.
Summer patch causes yellow patches of dead grass to form about 6 to 12
inches in diameter. Watering less will help rid your lawn of summer
patch.
- Powdery Mildew. The disease powdery mildew usually
forms on Kentucky Bluegrass lawns in shaded areas. Also caused by a
mildew fungus, powdery mildew rubs off of shrubs and plants. To clear,
make sure your shrubbery and plants are properly groomed.
- Mushrooms. This particular lawn disease is one of
the most common anywhere. Mushrooms don't harm your lawn in particular,
but they may be poisonous to pets or children who eat them. Mushrooms
should be raked up and destroyed when they are found on your lawn.
- Slime Molds. Slime molds attack your lawn where
there is heavy rainfall and high humidity. A slimly white substance
will appear and choke out the nutrients in your lawn. Brush them off
with a broom or rake to keep slime molds from infecting your lawn any
further.
- Moss and Algae. These primitive green plants
attack in densely shaded and moist areas of your lawn. The best way to
fight Moss and algae is to improve the soil damage and increase the
amount of sunlight that hits these areas of your lawn.
About the Author
Kelly Richardson has obsessive compulsive lawn disorder and is
afflicted with the need to share his knowledge with the world. Kelly
writes lawn columns for a variety of home and garden magazines and
e-zines.
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