Tips for Identifying Fungal Invasions

There is nothing worse for your lawn than fungus. Nearly every single lawn disease is caused by fungus, and while there are many different types of fungi, it’s important to make sure you understand how to prevent, control, and eliminate fungal infections on your property.

How to Know When A Fungus is Affecting Your Lawn

Before you look at your lawn, it’s important to know the reasons that fungi appear. Fungi are more likely to affect your lawn if you have weak grass, or you overwater, or the thatch protecting your yard isn’t thick. That’s one of the reasons that proper lawn care is so important. Great lawn care will choke out all invaders, and make it much harder for fungus to grow.

If these conditions are affecting your lawn, you are already at risk for fungus. You can also help identify fungal invasions with the following:

Signs of Mushrooms – Not all lawn fungi cause mushrooms. But any visible mushroom is a clear sign that there is a fungal problem. If you see even one mushroom, or mushroom-like growth, your lawn has a fungus.
Pattern Dead Grass – Remember, all fungi can cause different problems. But dead grass that appears to be in some type of set size or pattern may be a fungal infection. For example, you may see silver dollar size spots, or you may see a ring. All of these are fungi.
Broad, Unpatterned Dead Grass – Of course, in some cases the lack of a pattern may be telling you something as well. A single dead spot doesn’t necessarily mean fungi (it could be dog urine or poor watering, for example), but dead grass that appears to be spreading despite proper watering and maintenance may be fungi.
Discolorations on Grass Blades – Many fungi attack the blades of grass individually. Keep an eye out for spores, discolorations, lesions, and more on a grass blade. Usually when grass dies, the whole blade dies together. But if the blades have strange colors or unexplainable problems, it may be a fungi.

Every type of fungi has its own unique features, which is why at Green Lawn Fertilizing, we know how hard it can be to identify the type of fungus affecting your yard when you do not have experience. If you’re concerned about lawn disease at all, give us a call today. We’re happy to go through your lawn with you and determine what is causing your lawn problems.