Common Summer Lawn Diseases

Tip of the Week: Lawn Diseases – Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, and Pythium Blight

Often times when home owners see brown, brittle, or dying grass they immediately water and fertilize trying to bring their lawns back to life. However, sometimes the issue isn't water at all, in-fact when it’s hot, wet, and humid, it’s more likely that your lawn is suffering from disease. Common lawn diseases such as Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, and Pythium Blight thrive in hot and humid environments. With record rain fall and hot and humid weather, our area is breeding ground for these common lawn diseases. Here are a few tips on how to identify and treat them.

1) Brown Patch: Brown Patch is just one disease your lawn is susceptible to during rainy, hot, and humid summers. Left untreated it will ravage your entire yard. Be on the lookout for large irregular circles of brown grass – often several feet wide. Grass often starts out as a purplish/blue and then turns brownish red and looks sunken compared to healthier surrounding grass.

How to treat: Water this spot very sparingly and remove excess thatch. Aeration and mowing on a higher setting is generally the key to curing Brown Patch. Do not water in the evening when water will sit for long periods of time, and feed grass with low level nitrogen fertilizers. If symptoms persist, a fungicide may be effective.

2) Dollar Spot: Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with your lawn dispensing money. Dollar Spot is a lawn disease common during humid periods, and appears most often on lawns that are mowed too short on a regular basis, and lack proper nutrients. It is a very aggressive disease and can lie dormant during the winter months and come back in spring and summer. Be on the lookout for silver dollar sized spots of faded grass. Typically infected grass will have distinct lesions across the body of grass blades in an hourglass shape.

How to treat: This disease responds well to regular watering, fertilizing, aeration, as well as fungicides.

3) Pythium Blight: Another fungus that loves hot and humid weather and is truly a blight or plague on your lawn is Pythium Blight. It can spread quickly, and unfortunately you and your lawn equipment can do most of the spreading. Be on the lookout for small / sunken patches of matted grass often with an orange or dark gray greasy appearance. Sometimes a cottony fungus forms around the outer ring.

How to treat: This disease spreads rapidly and responds well to fungicides. I highly recommend seeking the advice of a professional if you suspect your lawn has Pythium Blight.

It’s best to get ahead of these common lawn diseases through routine lawn maintenance and a great lawn care program. If you suspect your lawn is suffering from disease, before treating it on your own, I recommend seeking the opinion of a lawn care professional. Feel free to send me your questions or reach out for additional information.

Happy Landscaping!

Aaron Gorski

Owner, The Greener Side Lawn & Landscaping, LLC

Got a landscaping question?  Send it my way: mailto:PatchQuestions@GreenerSideLLC.com

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