Lawn Disease & Fungus Control: How To Get Rid Of Lawn Diseases
This page is a general lawn disease and fungus control guide. Using the products and methods suggested you can get control of any lawn fungus or disease. The lawn disease category pages provide additional information on the different types of fungus and disease and specific treatment instructions and options. Follow these guides and use the recommended products and we guarantee 100% control of all lawn fungus issues.
Has your lush green lawn all of a sudden started experiencing patches or has started to brown? It can be a cause for concern as there may be a lawn disease or fungus present. Lawn fungus and disease can come in a variety of forms. Some signs of disease include discoloration, brown and yellow patches of dead grass, the appearance of mushrooms, spots on leaves, or slimy/powdery residue among other examples.
Lawn diseases and fungi can progress on a yard quickly, starting out as yellow, tan or brown spots in your yard before degrading into something worse, potentially even killing your turfgrass if there is no intervention.
If your lawn is suffering from fungus-based diseases, we can help. By using our cost-effective lawn fungus killers and following the step by step instructions in our DIY lawn and fungus treatment guide below, youre guaranteed to make your lawn disease-free while saving money.
How To Treat Lawn Disease
You can treat lawn fungal disease by hiring a lawn care service or taking a DIY approach. You can also choose a chemical fungicide or try out an all-natural option.
Any of these methods can work, but some are more costly and time-consuming than others. To select the best treatment option for you, determine if youd rather pay more for a pro to diagnose and treat the issue or if you dont mind doing the research and manual labor yourself.
The next couple of sections will touch on some lawn disease treatment methods and how they can get your grass back in tip-top shape.
Contact A Lawn Care Professional Today
If youre concerned that your lawn is dealing with a fungal disease, the problem might be worse than you can see. You may have a lawn that is particularly susceptible to fungal disease due to geography, weather conditions, or lack of necessary lawn maintenance.
Contact Absolute Lawn Pros at and ask us about potential fungal infections and lawn treatment!
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How To Maintain Your Lawn To Help Reduce Brown Patch
A healthy lawn is a stronger lawn and will be better able to withstand fungal diseases like brown patch. Follow these guidelines:
- Plant disease-resistant varieties and seed mixtures. For example, Scotts® Turf Builder® Grass Seed Heat-Tolerant Blue® Mix for Tall Fescue Lawns combines improved turf-type tall fescue varieties with a heat-tolerant Kentucky bluegrass to help reduce the impact of brown patch on your lawn.
- Reduce the amount of time the grass blades are wet. When needed, water during the early morning hours. Dont water between 7:00 PM and 3:00 AM, as the blades will stay wet overnight.
- Feed the lawn regularly with Scotts® Turf Builder® Lawn Food. Be sure to follow label directions, as overfed lawns are more susceptible to brown patch.
- Unless it is a controlled-release product, dont apply nitrogen fertilizer when hot, humid weather is expected .
Since wet conditions help promote brown patch, make sure your lawn has good drainage and air flow, and consider pruning overgrown trees to prevent too much shade and increase air movement for faster drying. It may also be helpful to aerate and dethatch the lawn every 1 to 3 years to allow air, water, and nutrients to move more freely into the soil.
Is Lawn Fungus Treatment Effective
For the treatment to be effective, it is important that the person applying the treatment use the correct lawn fungus treatment. Contact fungicides do not penetrate the blades. Therefore, they must remain on the surface of the leaf blade for about 3-8 days to be effective. The primary purpose of contact fungicides is to form a barrier, which prevents fungus from entering the leaves, so it typically should be applied before the disease begins.
Systemic fungicides will enter the grass blade and go to the roots so, they work from the inside out. This type of fungicide is longer lasting than contact fungicides. This kind of treatment does require watering for the fungicide to reach the roots. One of the main disadvantages with systemics is the chance the disease will develop a resistance to the fungicide.
It is important to keep in mind that some fungicides can be dangerous to the environment. They can be especially dangerous if the user does not use it correctly. So, if you are not experienced with fungicides, it is a good idea to contact a local lawn care service. They will be able to evaluate the problem areas and apply the appropriate lawn fungus treatment.
For more information on lawn fungus or to schedule an appointment for one of our technicians to evaluate and apply lawn fungus treatment to your lawn, contact our team at Think Green Lawn Service by calling 648-2556.
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How To Identify Common Fungal Lawn Diseases
In order for fungal diseases to strike, three factors must be in play: disease pathogens, weather conditions that favor disease development, and susceptible lawn grasses. Without all three factors present, grasses keep the upper hand. While you can’t control the weather, you can recognize fungal threats, learn how to identify lawn and grass diseases, and take action.
Active fungal disease usually occurs in times of stress, which vary according to grass growing regions. For example, warm-season grasses are hit when abnormally cool temperatures slow their growth cool-season grasses are most vulnerable under warmer than normal conditions. Excessive rain, drought and overcast skies all impact your lawn’s ability to fight back.
You can identify the following common fungal lawn and grass diseases for warm- and cool-season grasses with the lawn and grass disease tips that follow:
Close-up view of symptoms of Brown Patch in grass.
- Circles of dead, sunken grass appear that can vary in size up to 3 feet wide.
- Grass blades darken, wilt and die, leaving the circle’s perimeter smoke-gray in color.
- Perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, bentgrass and Bermudagrass are hit by brown patch most often. Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue grasses and St. Augustine grass are commonly affected, too.1,2
- In the spring and fall, warm to hot weather conditions set the stage for brown patch lawn disease.
- Wet leaves, high humidity, overfertilizing and excess water facilitate the spread.
Red Thread close up.
Home Remedies For Lawn Disease Treatment
Below are some home remedies for fungus control. These methods are meant to be used on smaller areas of infected turf or as preventive measures. Unfortunately, chemical fungicides may be necessary if your lawn is severely affected by fungus.
Compost Tea
Compost tea is a liquid version of compost made from water and microbial matter. The liquid is brewed in a machine to multiply beneficial bacteria and create a nutritious turfgrass treatment.
Compost tea is best used as a preventive turf treatment because it adds good fungi to the soil to aid in nutrient uptake, keeping your lawn healthy and strong. The beneficial bacteria also build soil structure to help reduce compaction that can lead to fungal infection.
Neem Oil
If youd prefer to go the all-natural route and avoid spraying chemicals on your lawn, you can buy a neem oil spray to fight fungus on your turf.
Neem oil is a naturally occurring insecticide and fungicide found in neem tree seeds. According to the National Pesticide Information Center, neem oil and its components are used in over 100 pesticide products.
Neem oil works by preventing fungal spores from penetrating plant tissue. While the oil wont cure already infected grass, it does help contain the spread of disease.
Baking Soda Solution
You can apply a baking soda solution to your turf to treat small areas of lawn fungus. To use this treatment effectively, youll need to mix sodium bicarbonate with water.
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Lawn Fertilization And Fungicide Treatment
The best way to combat a lawn fungus is by maintaining a healthy lawn. Lawn care and lawn fertilization programs keep your lawn healthy throughout the year and is the best way to keep it fungus-free. If its too late and your lawn is under attack from brown patch or other lawn fungi, then a fungus control program may be your best answer.
How To Treat Red Thread Disease
One of the causes of red thread, and a contributor to its severity, is poor, under-nourished turf, so your first line of defense is to give your grass regular care. If red thread disease continues to be a problem in your lawn, treat it with a fungicide. Like other lawn diseases, red thread will likely leave behind some damaged areas that may need to be patched. The easiest solution is to use a three-in-one seed repair once you have the disease under control.
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When To Apply Fungicides
Fungicides are most useful when applied right before times of stress. For cool season lawns this is without a doubt right before the heat of summer. Whenever we get those first really hot days, our cool season lawn instantly gets weakened. Again, think of your immune system. You are more likely to get sick if you are hot and dehydrated since your immune system is weakened.
Applying preventative fungicides right before these harsh conditions is a lot like feeding your body essential vitamins and nutrients right before an outbreak of seasonal cold or flu.
For warm season lawns theres really 2 times where your lawn is most stressed. The first time is heading into summer when rain and humidity ramp up. The second time is when soil temps start to decrease after the peak of summer, heading into fall. Apply preventative fungicide leading up to these 2 transitional times.
Common Types Of Lawn Fungus
Curious about what type of fungus you might have? While the strategies outlined above apply to most lawn fungus and disease problems feel free to learn more about some of the more common diseases and how to identify them:
Dollar Spot Appears as small, round patches of light tan grass about the size of a silver dollar.
Brown Patch Mostly circular patches that start out as yellow and can turn into brown, dead grass. Patches can be several inches to several feet in diameter.
Powdery Mildew Appears as white powder along leaf blades. Usually doesnt cause a lot of destruction in grass.
Leaf Spot Leaf blades will have spots that are brown/purple.
Red Thread Easy to identify by its reddish pink threads that appear at the top of leaf blades. Usually doesnt cause a lot of destruction and can be fixed with improving cultural practices.
Summer Patch Irregular circular patches of dead grass. Grass blades die back from the tip.
Rusts Blades will be coated with orange-red spores that give it a rust color.
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How To Repair Lawn Spots Damaged By Brown Patch
Once brown patch has been treated and is under control, its time to fix up any bare spots left by the disease. A simple way to do this is to use an three-in-one patch and repair mix like Scotts® EZ Seed®. Formulated to absorb water to keep the seed moist and protected, it has everything you need to patch and repair bare spots. Just be sure to choose the formula designed for your grass type, follow the directions on the bottle, and apply during early spring or fall for best results.
To thicken up lawns that have had large areas thinned out by brown patch, overseed your entire lawn during the late summer or early fall with Scotts® Turf Builder® ThickR Lawn Sun & Shade or Scotts® Turf Builder® ThickR Lawn Tall Fescue Mix . Both formulas contain a combination of seed, controlled-release fertilizer, and soil improvers.
With a little care and Scotts by your side, your problems with brown patch will be a thing of the past.
Does Milk Kill Fungus
Milk is an organic fungicide and can be very effective at killing powdery mildew. You can create a spray by mixing the following two ingredients:
- 1 cup skimmed milk
- 9 cups of water
Every other week, apply this mixture to the lawn. Using too much milk can result in sooty mould, so stick to the exact recipe.
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How To Treat Lawn Fungus
Choose the Correct Product
Some lawn fungicides are broad spectrum, meaning they can control the spread of many diseases while others are narrow spectrum, meaning they only affect a few disease.
Choosing the right product is where disease identification is important. Using the wrong product for a disease that was misidentified may have no effect on the disease at all.
Carefully read the product label to make sure you are choosing the right fungicide for your needs.
Apply Fungicide
Lawn Fungus can be tricky to cure and may need more than one application of fungicide. Most fungicides can be reapplied every 14 28 days, but be sure to read the product label.
If you apply the same fungicide many times, your lawn can build up a resistance to the active ingredients. Due to this resistance, fungus may appear in your lawn even if you put down a preventative treatment.
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How To Treat Leaf Spot Disease
Leaf Spot Disease can be prevented by ensuring that you dont cut your grass too low. Long, thick-bladed grass is more resistant to damage to the grass blades. Adding nitrogen to soil during a leaf spot infection can entirely kill an area affected by leaf spot. Avoid overwatering infected grass and aerate the soil in order to promote water drainage during rainy conditions. Fungicides are an option for treating leaf spot, but they are only effective when applied to infected lawns during the diseases initial stage. If a fungicide is applied during the melting out stage, it will have little to no effect. Optimally, fungicides should be applied once in the early spring and again in late spring.
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How To Identify Lawn Fungus
You may not be able to control the weather, but you can still recognize fungal threats and take action. Three factors are needed for a lawn disease outbreak: pathogen-rich soil conditions, an appropriate climate where high humidity is key susceptible grasses that thrive in this type of environment with ample rainfall or heavy droughts between watering sessions lastly we need hot summer days when temperatures exceed 85 degrees F so our turf experiences above average heat levels followed by cool nights below 75°F which gives off enough moisture again just like rain does naturally every night without any additional effort required from us human Hosts who live on top thereof course!
The most common form of fungal disease is active, meaning it’s on the move and can spread quickly. This usually happens in times when there are more stresses to our environment like during periods with excessive rains or droughts for example these lengthy weather conditions affect grass growing regions differently depending where you live which affects its ability to fight back from infections caused by fungi. Warm season grasses have higher resistance to fungal disease than cold season grasses because warmer temperatures slow their growth and make them more susceptible to infections while cool seasons force them towards survival.
You can identify some common fungal lawn and grass diseases for warm and cool season grass disease with these tips below:
How To Get Rid Of & Treat Grass Fungus
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How To Identify & Treat Lawn Fungus & Disease With Pictures
The grass is greener on the other side, right? Well it may not be so green if you have a lawn fungus or disease. Fungus and diseases can devastate your yard and make it look like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. But all hope is not lost! There are ways to identify and treat these pesky issues before they take over your entire lawn. You’ll find everything you need to know in this blog post on how to identify & treat lawn fungus or diseases!
How To Treat Lawn Fungus With Baking Soda
Sodium bicarbonate or baking soda is another effective fungicide. It helps in destroying the fungal spores as it is an alkaline which disrupts the fungal cells ions. You can also use it as a preventative measure against fungi.
However, be careful not to use too much baking soda as it can alter the pH levels of the soil. Simply mix one tablespoon of baking soda with one gallon of water. Spray the infected area for three days.
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