The Most Common Fungal Diseases in Lawns

Does your lawn have a disease, but you’re not sure what it is or how to remove it? Let’s take a look at some common lawn diseases and discuss the best ways to remove them.

Why Do I Have Lawn Disease?

Prevention is key in stopping turf diseases from appearing. So, in most cases, we recommend addressing the cause of the disease first before applying fungicides.

Prevention and techniques to eliminate disease can include aeration, thatch removal, fertilising and watering adjustments, and shade reduction.

If your lawn’s disease persists after around two weeks of removing the cause, you may need to consider using a fungicide for removal.

Do I Have Dollar Spot?

As its name suggests, the appearance of this disease is usually identifiable as dollar sized spots of discoloured grass appearing within your lawn. Up close, the discoloured leaves will have straw-coloured lesions with red/brown edges to them. If left to spread, the spots will get larger and form bigger patches of affected grass.

Another identifying feature of Dollar Spot is the web like fine threads. These form through the leaves of your lawn on colder mornings. These webs will disappear as the day warms up, but these threads are called mycelium threads and are a product of the fungal pathogen known as Sclerotinia Homoeocarpa.

Dollar Spot can occur when there is additional moisture present on warmer days and cool nights. Excessive amounts of thatch build up, poor drainage and watering your lawn too often are common factors that can result in the spots appearing.

Usually, Dollar Spot will go away on its own when the cause of disease has been addressed, however if it doesn’t go away on its own you can look at using a fungicide for removal.

When removing Dollar Spot, we recommend using Tombstone Fungicide.

Do I Have Grey Leaf Spot

Grey Leaf Spot first appears as small brown leaf and stem lesions. These spots will then grow rapidly into round oblong spots. When these lesions mature, they will have a tan to grey colour with brown to purple borders.

To remove Grey Leaf Spot, we recommend using a fungicide like Mancozeb.

Do I Have Brown Patch?

Brown Patch is a fungal disease found in warm, wet conditions which produces brown, circular patches ranging in size from very small up to a few metres in diameter. The patches are sometimes surrounded by a grey, smoky outer ring, or sometimes there is just an outer ring surrounded by green grass in the middle. This ring is caused by mycelium fungus. Leaf blades have thin brown edges and yellow spots and lesions.

To remove Brown Patch, we recommend using Tombstone Fungicide or Heritage Maxx.

Fungicide Products

Heritage Maxx

Heritage Maxx is a liquid broad-spectrum fungicide for the control and prevention of turf diseases including – Pythium, Anthracnose, Brown Patch and Spring Dead Spot. This fungicide provides consistent protection of new growth for up to 28 days after application. This makes it a great option as part of a preventative plan.

Begin applications before symptoms occur when conditions first favour disease and continue applications while conditions remain favourable for disease development.

Mancozeb

Mancozeb is a dry flowable preventative fungicide formulation for the control of certain fungal diseases including – Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Grey Leaf Spot.

Apply as a protective spray schedule at 7-day intervals throughout the susceptible season or climate.

Tombstone

Tombstone Fungicide is a broad-spectrum fungicide. It can be used on Lawns, Azaleas, Roses, other general ornamental garden plants.

Tombstone provides systemic and contact disease control, both on a preventative and curative basis, controlling Anthracnose, Brown Patch, Winter Fusarium, Leptosphaerulina, Curvularia and Dollar Spot in lawn situations.

Whenever you are using products like these fungicides, it is always important that you follow the safety directions provided on the product and wear the recommended protective clothing. So, make sure you take some time to read the instructions in full before opening the product for application.