How To Kill Lawn Fungus

Lawn fungus, in addition to being an eyesore next to your home, destroys grass. Typically it shows up as brown splotches on your lawn. Unfortunately, once it takes root, it spreads pretty fast. Furthermore, once established, it can be hard to get rid of. Therefore, the sooner you get to work fighting it, the better chance you have of ridding it from your lawn.

If you happen to live in a rainy area such as Seattle, odds are that you will encounter more problems with lawn fungi than those living in drier areas of the country. Damp and moist surroundings are the perfect environment for enemies of your lawn such as mold and fungus. If a lot of moisture is present, you can have mold growing in under 24 hours.

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Fungus sort of creeps up on you without notice. In fact, the biggest problem with lawn fungus is that it starts out unobtrusive and almost unnoticeable. You’ll see a brown patch and think nothing of it. Then suddenly, two days later, patches of brown spots are overlaying your lawn.

As always, the absolute optimal remedy for lawn fungi is to prevent it from getting a foothold. If you are able to prevent it from getting a foot hold in the first place, you won’t have it to worry about. A healthy lawn has a healthy immune system and is unlikely to be susceptible to fungus. A healthy lawn means that it’s getting enough food or nutrients, and water.

It also means that the soil has a pH that is difficult for fungus to take hold. Fungi loves soil with a low pH. Keeping your pH between 6.6 to 6.8 is perfect for your plant and helps to prevent fungi from getting a foothold. Ensuring that your soil has proper pH can also help your lawn recover from fungus. To test your soil’s pH, you can get a soil test kit from your garden center.

Another fungus preventative technique is to water in the morning, not at night. This way the lawn can take advantage of the sun to dry it out and prevent it from getting water-logged. Watering at night tends to promote fungus. The exception is if you live in an arid area, then watering at night does not increase conditions for fungus growth. Also, avoid mowing a wet lawn as this is more conducive to spreading any fungus.

A fungicide is any agent that destroys or prevents the growth of fungi. It can be man made and chemical or natural in origin. To get rid of your lawn fungus, take your fungicide and follow the manufacturer’s instructions which usually involves spreading it over the infected area. Many homeowners will apply a maintenance application of fungicide once a year to their lawn to reduce the incidence of the disease.

Normally, lawn fungus is something that you try to get rid of. But, recently, scientists have developed many varieties of grasses called endophytic grasses. These grasses are purposely cultivated with live fungi growing inside of their leaf blades.

The fungi is naturally poisonous to many types of lawn pests – including bill-bugs, fall army-worms, chinch bugs, and a host of other critters. The purpose for developing these strains of grasses is to reduce the amount of pesticides that would be required to fight these pests. If the grass can use it’s built-in protection to defend itself, it doesn’t need as much poisonous chemical help from us.

Alex Murphy is webmaster and writer of lawn care related issues. Please visit his site for information on zoysia grass plugs, Scotts grass seed, as well as additional lawn and grass care topics.

By: Alex Murphy

Watch this video about how to control lawn fungus: