Mon-Fri: 06:00AM - 6:00PM
02 Jun 2020
Prevent lawn fungus - Bluegrass Lawn Service

Common Types of Lawn Fungus

Are brown patches starting to pop up in your yard? You could be dealing with one of many types of lawn fungus that naturally occur in your lawn. Your lawn naturally contains millions of fungi spores, many of which never cause problems. However, things like long rainy seasons, over watering, too many cloud days, droughts, and subpar lawn care can cause the fungi can spread out of control.

What Does Lawn Fungus Look Like?

Lawn fungus, which can sometimes be misidentified as weeds, appears in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Summer Patch

Summer Patch

Symptoms of summer patch include rings and circular patches of dead or dying turf grass. Most likely there is a center or surrounding area of healthy grass in or around what we call a doughnut style patch. Therefore, allowing those dead spots to become full of many forms of weeds. You may see this during mid-summer, after heavy rainfall or consistent rain.

Red Thread

The symptoms and signs of red thread are distinctive, most common among morning dew, water from rain or irrigation issues. A coral pink or reddish layer of fungal growth knows as mycelium can be seen on leaves and sheaths. Development of this type of disease is prompted by cool, wet weather (65-70 degrees). The most obvious times you may see this is in the spring or early autumn. As most fungus Red Thread can be seen during long wet weather and damp lawns.

Dollar Spot Lawn Fungus

Dollar Spot

Long periods of high humidity or frequent rainfall may cause the most severe outbreaks. Watering your lawn at the wrong time may extend or increase the incidence of disease. Therefore, the most common outbreaks occur when temperatures are moderately warm and change rapidly. Such as warm days turn into cold nights. Infected areas 4 inches or larger may run together, allowing for much larger patches. Although, patches growing to 12 feet wide are not uncommon.

Lawn Care Tips for Preventing Lawn Fungus

Don't Cut Your Grass Too Short

Not only does it help to prevent weeds from growing, but cutting no more than one third of the length of your grass off keeps it strong and healthy. Cutting your grass too short weakens the grass, which increases the risk of a fungal disease.

Hire a Reputable Lawn Care Company

Keeping your yard healthy requires regular lawn maintenance. It’s essential your lawn care company is well aware of the types of fungal diseases that are common in your area. For over 35 years, we have kept our community's’ yards beautiful and healthy in Bucks County and the surrounding areas. Over that time, we have learned what to anticipate throughout the year and our lawn care plans reflect that!

Apply Only as Much Fertilizer as you Need

Giving your grass the nutrients it needs is key to promoting a strong root system. However, applying too much or too little fertilizer stresses the grass. A strong, healthy lawn is the best defense against fungal diseases.

Get Rid of Dead Grass

Dead grass can build up in the soil over time, which chokes out healthy grass blades and increases the risk of developing a fungal disease. Using a dethatching rake, you can remove the dead grass. However, it is time consuming process. If your yard is big, you might want to rent a power detatching rake or purchase a dethatching attachment available for some types of riding mowers.

Sharpen the Blades of Your Lawn Mower

Your lawn mower blades should be sharpened in the Spring before the mowing season starts. Dull lawn mower blades tear off the tips of your grass instead of actually cutting them. The resulting frayed grass blades are more likely to develop fungal diseases compared to clean cut, sharp blades of grass.

Quit Worrying About Lawn Fungus!

Our lawn care plans have kept our customers’ yard healthy and beautiful for over 35 years! Our experts will treat your yard to ensure it stays beautiful and disease free year-round! Explore our lawn care programs or call us today today and see why the grass is always greener at Bluegrass Lawn Service!

Get the latest tips to keeping a healthy lawn on our Facebook Page!

07 May 2020
Get Rid of Weeds the Right Way!

Get Rid of Weeds the Right Way!

Sick of seeing weeds pop up on your lawn? You’re not alone, homeowners everywhere are watching dandelions, crabgrass, and clumps of clover mess up their beautiful yard. Luckily there are several simple ways you can get rid of weeds in your yard…

What Are Weeds?

A weed is basically any unwanted plants sprouting up in your yard. These troublesome plants fall under one of three categories: broadleaf, grassy, or grass-like weeds.

Getting rid of broadleef weeds

Broadleaf Weeds

The leaves are broad and flat as opposed to needle-like or grassy. These plants could be dandelions, clover, ground ivy, oxalis, chickweed, dollarweed, henbit, plantain, or thistle.


Getting rid of grassy weeds

Grassy Weeds

Grassy weeds look similar to grass and grow one leaf at a time. The leaves closely resemble grass blades. However, these could be crabgrass, foxtail, annual bluegrass, or quackgrass.

 

 

 

 


Getting rid of grass-like weeds in your yard

Grass-Like Weeds

These may look like grass blades from a distance. However, a closer look shows the leaves are triangular or tube-like and hollow, not flat like a grass blade. These weeds could be nutsedge, wild onion, or wild garlic.

 

 


How to Get Rid of Weeds in Your Yard

The best way to control weeds in your yard is with a proper lawn care schedule. Our eight treatment plan is perfect for ensuring your lawn is uninterrupted by pesky weeds. If you only have a few weeds, hand-pulling may be an option. Crabgrass, chickweed, and other annual weeds tend to have shallow roots making them easily controlled with hand-pulling. However, perennial weeds, such as dandelion and thistle, have deep roots. If you miss even a small part of the root while hand-pulling, the weed will grow back.

 

Preventing Weeds From Growing in Your Hard

Keeping your yard weed-free is can be a battle. However, with a proper lawn care schedule and these simple tips, you can keep your yard beautiful year-round!

Treat at the Right Time

Your lawn care schedule should include treatment for annual grassy weeds in the spring. In the spring, the seedlings are tiny and vulnerable. This makes it a great time to treat so they don’t become a problem in the summer.

Keep Your Yard Healthy Year-Round

Proper lawn care is the best defense against weeds. We have a variety of lawn care treatments backed by over 35 years of experience to keep your yard beautiful year-round. A thick and luscious lawn leaves little space for weeds to grow.

Mow Higher

Any great landscaping company will tell you: when you mow, raise the mower height. Weeds require sunlight to sprout, just like any other plant. Mowing at a taller height allows the grass to grow higher and shade the soil. As a result, the weeds are less able to sprout.

Water Your Lawn Deeper

Frequent and shallow watering encourages shallow root growth in your yard. The periods of heat and drought can cause thin, bare spots in your yard that weeds will happily sprout up in. Watering deeper, less frequently, encourages deeper grassroots. This allows the grass to grow thicker and occupy more of the space weeds normally would.

Leave it to the Experts!

With over 35 years of experience, our experts will treat your lawn regularly to ensure your lawn stays beautiful all year! Explore our lawn care programs or call us today and get rid of weeds the right way!

Get the latest lawn care tips on our Facebook Page!

17 May 2019

Lawn Treatment Tips

Weather and lawn treatments go hand and hand.

Too much moisture and cloudy days allow most fungi to grow and compromise your lawn. Here at Blue Grass Lawn Service, we want to share 4 common lawn problems for you to look for that will hurt any lawn treatment.

1 Summer Patch:

Symptoms of summer patch include rings and circular patches of dead or dying turf grass. Most likely there is a center or surrounding area of healthy grass in or around what we call a doughnut style patch. Therefore, allowing those dead spots to become full of many forms of weeds. You may see this during mid-summer, after heavy rainfall or consistent rain.

2 Red Thread:

The symptoms and signs of red thread are distinctive, most common among morning dew, water from rain or irrigation issues. A coral pink or reddish layer of fungal growth knows as mycelium can be seen on leaves and sheaths. Development of this type of disease is prominent by cool, wet weather (65-70 degrees). The most obvious times you may see this is in the spring or early autumn. As most fungus Red Thread can be seen during long wet weather and damp lawns.

Pro-Tip when cutting grass while getting lawn treatments:

Lawn height while cutting is a huge factor to ensure a healthy lawn. Most professional recommendations to ensure the best and healthiest growth are as followed. During spring it is recommended to keep you lawn height at 3 ½ inches, for the summer 4 inches is recommended. Fungi and other lawn related issues are more common in areas where lawns are cut too short or “scalped”.

3 Dollar Spot:

Long periods of high humidity or frequent rainfall may cause the most severe outbreaks. Watering your lawn at the wrong time may extend or increase the incidence of disease. Therefore, the most common outbreaks occur when temperatures are moderately warm and change rapidly. Such as warm days turn into cold nights. Infected areas 4 inches or larger may run together, allowing for much larger patches. Although, patches growing to 12 feet wide are not uncommon.

4 Leaf Blight:

Leaf blights are present in every established lawn. Therefore, this lawn disease will cause serious damage during extreme weather conditions, such as frequent wet weather, high temperatures and when improper lawn practices aggravate the disease. Mostly known, mowing is the main factor for increasing the infection in several ways, wounds are made that allow easy penetration for the fungi. Especially when the leaf blades are shredded by dull mower blades and foot traffic to spread spores.

We have been providing the best services and customer care for over 30 years, Give us a call for any questions!

Contact us! Here

Facebook Blue Grass Lawn Service