Common Grass Diseases
Lawn disease control requires extensive knowledge and experience with the conditions specific to your region. Different kinds of lawn fungus cause different types of lawn diseases. Some of the more common lawn diseases are: Dollar Spot, Summer Patch, Brown Patch, and Leaf Spot/Melting-out Disease.
Leaf Spot and Melting-Out ranks among the most important fungal disorders of turf grasses.
This disease is characterized by two phases of development occurring first in the cool wet months of spring and late fall, and the melting out portion of the disease in the dry summer months where the crown and root-rot phase dominates.
Brown Patch is a major disease of turf grasses in Northern New Jersey.
It thrives in extended periods of high temperatures and under proper conditions turf will become severely thinned. Initially brown patch appears as irregularly shaped patches ranging from a few inches up to two feet in diameter.
Dollar Spot
is most common on bentgrass, but it also affects all cool season turf grasses. Environmental conditions favoring dollar spot lawn disease are warm days and cool-warm nights with high humidity or prolonged dew. It’s generally
thought of as a summer lawn disease, occurring primarily from June to September.
Summer Patch
Summer patch on home lawns may appear as distinct rings ranging from six inches up to two feet in diameter. Summer patch can easily be confused with other disorders such as heat stress, insect injury or other like diseases. Often develops on compacted or poorly drained sites or in areas where turf has been exposed to full sun, extended periods of drought, or excessive irrigation. Control measures rely upon stress avoidance such as reducing soil Ph with acidifying fertilizers, aerification (aerator) to reduce compaction and increasing rooting, raise the cut height of turf, and irrigation to avoid moisture extremes along with fungicides watered into the root zone to prevent infection.
