Several fungal diseases attack lawn grasses in the summer months. You can easily go from having a beautiful, green lawn in the spring to a patchy, dead lawn in the summer with one of these diseases.
Brown Patch
Brown patch is a disease that is common during the warm and humid weather of summer. Brown patch presents itself as dark circular patches on your lawn that grow outward as the disease progresses. There are fewer things more unsightly than brown patches on a once healthy, green lawn!
Here are some causes of brown patch:
- Mowing your lawn too short (less than 3 inches)
- Watering too much or in the evening
- Excessive high Nitrogen fertilizer
Here’s how to prevent brown patch:
- Fertilize your lawn properly — use blended fertilizers and get it on a consistent schedule.
- Water your lawn deeply but infrequently. Try to water in the early morning between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. so the water can get to the roots without saturating the soil.
- Remove thatch from your lawn to let your grass breathe. You should aerate your lawn in the fall, which will help to improve nutrient uptake.
- Aerate and over seed your lawn in the fall to help it recover after a long, hot summer.
- Apply preventative fungicides during summer months.
Call our Troopers if you have questions about fungal diseases.