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.
Fungus has a tendency to develop right under you nose without you even noticing. It starts out unobtrusive and just about unnoticeable. You will notice a brown patch and think nothing of it. Then all of a sudden, two days later, patches of brown spots are all over 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 simply won't have fungus to be concerned about. If you have a healthy lawn with a healthy immune system, it is not likely to be susceptible to fungus. A healthy lawn means that you are giving it enough food and nutrients to allow it to protect itself.
In addition, it means that the soil has a pH level that makes it difficult for fungus to take hold. Fungi likes soil that has a low pH. If you keep it high, say around 6.6 to 6.8, this will be perfect for your plants as well as helping ou to keep fungi from obtaining a foothold. And, if you lawn already has fungus, ensuring that your soil has proper pH can help it to get rid of the fungus and recover. It is easy to test your soil's pH. Simply, get a soil test kit from your garden center and follow the instructions.
Another technique to prevent fungus from infecting your lawn is to not water it overnight. Instead, water it in the morning. This allows the lawn to take advantage of the sun to dry it out and prevent it from getting water-logged. Watering the lawn at night tends to promote fungus. The exception is if you live in a dry or desert area. In that case watering at night is ok because moisture will not accumulate on the grass because of the heat. In addition, avoid mowing a wet lawn. If you have fungus, this will just help it to spread easier.
Simply put, a fungicide is any type of agent that demolishes or prevents the fungus from growing. There are natural fungicides as well as synthetic ones made by manufacturers. If you want to rid yourself of your lawn fungus, take your fungicide and follow the manufacturer's instructions. This normally involves simply spreading it over the infected area. A number of homeowners will apply a maintenance application of fungicide once a year to their lawn to cut down the chances of their lawn getting fungi.
Now, usually, lawn fungus is something that you don't want and you will try your best to rid your lawn of it. But, in the past decadte, scientists have developed many varieties of grasses called endophytic grasses. These grasses are deliberately cultivated with live fungi growing inside of their leaf blades.
This type of fungi is by nature, toxic to a variety of the lawn pests that you will find in your yard. For example, insects such as billbugs, fall army-worms, chinch bugs, and a host of other critters are affected by it. The rationale for coming up with these strains of grasses is to allow gardeners to reduce the amount of pesticides that would otherwise be needied to fight these pests. If the grass can use its built-in protection mechanisms to defend itself, it won't need as much poisonous chemical help from other sources.
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.
Fungus has a tendency to develop right under you nose without you even noticing. It starts out unobtrusive and just about unnoticeable. You will notice a brown patch and think nothing of it. Then all of a sudden, two days later, patches of brown spots are all over 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 simply won't have fungus to be concerned about. If you have a healthy lawn with a healthy immune system, it is not likely to be susceptible to fungus. A healthy lawn means that you are giving it enough food and nutrients to allow it to protect itself.
In addition, it means that the soil has a pH level that makes it difficult for fungus to take hold. Fungi likes soil that has a low pH. If you keep it high, say around 6.6 to 6.8, this will be perfect for your plants as well as helping ou to keep fungi from obtaining a foothold. And, if you lawn already has fungus, ensuring that your soil has proper pH can help it to get rid of the fungus and recover. It is easy to test your soil's pH. Simply, get a soil test kit from your garden center and follow the instructions.
Another technique to prevent fungus from infecting your lawn is to not water it overnight. Instead, water it in the morning. This allows the lawn to take advantage of the sun to dry it out and prevent it from getting water-logged. Watering the lawn at night tends to promote fungus. The exception is if you live in a dry or desert area. In that case watering at night is ok because moisture will not accumulate on the grass because of the heat. In addition, avoid mowing a wet lawn. If you have fungus, this will just help it to spread easier.
Simply put, a fungicide is any type of agent that demolishes or prevents the fungus from growing. There are natural fungicides as well as synthetic ones made by manufacturers. If you want to rid yourself of your lawn fungus, take your fungicide and follow the manufacturer's instructions. This normally involves simply spreading it over the infected area. A number of homeowners will apply a maintenance application of fungicide once a year to their lawn to cut down the chances of their lawn getting fungi.
Now, usually, lawn fungus is something that you don't want and you will try your best to rid your lawn of it. But, in the past decadte, scientists have developed many varieties of grasses called endophytic grasses. These grasses are deliberately cultivated with live fungi growing inside of their leaf blades.
This type of fungi is by nature, toxic to a variety of the lawn pests that you will find in your yard. For example, insects such as billbugs, fall army-worms, chinch bugs, and a host of other critters are affected by it. The rationale for coming up with these strains of grasses is to allow gardeners to reduce the amount of pesticides that would otherwise be needied to fight these pests. If the grass can use its built-in protection mechanisms to defend itself, it won't need as much poisonous chemical help from other sources.
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