Fungus Treatment for Grass

I’ve dealt with lawn pests for years and just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, my turf is now plagued with grass fungus.

When it comes to lawn fungus, there’s good and bad news. The good news is that fungus spores are beneficial and live in most lawns.

However, when your lawn is stressed, and under the right conditions, these spores begin to multiply and cause myriad different problems like mushrooms, brown patches, and slimy areas.

There are several different fungus treatments for grass, some of which work and others that are really not worth the effort.

Effective fungus treatments for grass include baking soda, mowing your turf with sharp mower blades, watering properly and under the right conditions, and applying the right fertilizer products.

How To Treat Fungus In Grass?

The best fungus treatment for grass can vary across lawns but here are 8 effective solutions to remedy an infected grass lawn.

Pro Tip: It’s important to identify your lawn fungus type to make sure you apply the appropriate treatment.

1. Water Your Lawn at the Right Time (Hint – In the Early Morning)

The best time to water your lawn is early in the morning before 10:00 a.m. and never in the evening and nighttime.

Watering your lawn under the hot temperatures of the day causes wasteful evaporation and is truly a waste of effort and resources.

And watering blades of grass and healthy grass during nighttime increases the chances of lawn fungal diseases given that the droplets cling to the grass overnight.

Many homeowners say that watering your grass in the early evening provides the same results as watering in the early morning because the sun’s not out to cause evaporation.

But this is a myth and could cause more harm than good regardless of the weather including humid weather, rainy weather, and wet weather.

People often say that watering the lawn in the evening saves water since there’s no evaporation and even though this is true, here’s why it doesn’t benefit your lawn.

When you water your lawn in the early morning, it is absorbed by the plant’s roots and evaporates from the grass blades during the day.

However, when you water your lawn in the evening, the pores on the grass blades do not expel moisture, leading to plant rot and other common types of lawn diseases.

2. Make Sure Your Mower Blades are Sharp

Aren’t we all in a hurry to finish the daunting task of mowing and get on with our day? But wait, not so fast!

Mowing your lawn with dull mower blades causes mower blade injury because you’re tearing or shredding the grass blade tips and not slicing the individual blades cleanly, making your turf more susceptible to disease.

How often to sharpen your mower blades depends on how often you cut grass and the size (square feet) of your lawn, but I’d say sharpen the blades of your mower after every 20 to 25 hours of use time. You can sharpen a dull blade easily with a bench grinder or a sharpening tool.

3. Cut Only One-Third of the Grass Height

I hate to admit but I’ve made this mistake (a costly one) more than once. Different grass types should be cut at slightly different mowing heights but you should should always aim to take off no more than one-third of the grass height each time.

This removes just the right amount to prevent different types of fungi and keeps your grass healthy. Adding to this, cutting just 1/3 of the grass height prevents scalping injury, which causes grass stress and consequently types of fungus.

4. Apply the Right Amount of Fertilizer

Your lawn can get affected by fungus when you under-fertilize or over-fertilize your lawn. Under-fertilizing your lawn means a lack of nutrients and over-fertilizing provides excess nutrients for the soil, which in both cases makes your turf weak and susceptible to disease.

Before applying any fertilizer to your lawn including nitrogen-rich fertilizer or products from organic fertilizer manufacturers, ask yourself a couple of questions – is this the right fertilizer for my lawn and how much fertilizer should I apply in the mid-summer and late summer? 

The best way to get the answer to these questions is by performing a soil test and then referring to the usage instructions on the product label.

5. Remove Dead Grass and Excess Thatch

Thatch is the loose, interwoven layer of dead and living plant material including stems and roots that’s located around the base of the grass plants. A thatch layer that’s one-half inch is beneficial for your lawn’s health and will keep common turf diseases at bay.

But an excess layer of this spongy layer of living and dead turf material that’s more than one-half inch can be detrimental to your lawn’s health and can cause yellow patches, fungal patches, brown, irregular patches, and brown patch fungus.

Thatch reduces the overall drought resistance of the turf and when moist can harbor fungi that cause turf diseases. You can use a thatching or lawn dethatcher rake to pull the excess thatch upwards. First, mow your lawn to its normal height and avoid fertilizing before starting the process.

6. Loosen Compacted Soil by Aeration

Aeration is probably the best and most effective way to loosen compacted soil. Other aeration methods include spiking, but these don’t work very well and often make your compaction issue worse than it was earlier.

The process of core aeration entails pulling out tiny cores of plugs throughout your yard to create space and soften your soil. Once the soil is loosened up, water will flow easily to the grassroots and help with your fungus control efforts.

Loose soil doesn’t need to be aerated very often, somewhere between one and three years. But since you’re dealing with compacted soil that’s causing poor drainage and lawn fungus, you’ll have to aerate more frequently especially if you have thick grass like tall fescue.

7. Add Soil Amendments

Soil amendments and fertilizers are often confused with each other but they serve different purposes.

To explain briefly, soil amendments are designed to improve your soil’s physical condition including soil structure and water infiltration, whereas fertilizers supply nutrients to the soil, directly affecting grass growth.

There are plenty of soil amendment options to choose from including organic materials like grass clippings, wood chips, straw, and compost.

8. Fungicide Application

If you’ve tried the aforementioned treatments for fungus on lawn in summer or even cold weather conditions or you just want to skip them altogether due to one or more reasons, your best bet is to try a fungicide application.

Fungicides are a type of pesticide that should be applied under favorable conditions to eliminate fungi from your lawn and other spaces in your home.

Antifungal products kill and some can be used as preventative applications for fungal mycelium including cobweb-like mycelium.

How Do You Treat Grass Fungus Naturally?

If you don’t want to take the chemical route to treat lawn fungus, you can try a few natural ways to try and get rid of the disease.

One of the most effective methods is to use baking soda. 

You probably already have baking soda tucked away in your kitchen cabinet, which can be used to create an alkaline environment to kill fungus in lawns.

There are two ways to use baking soda to kill lawn fungi:

1. Simply spread the powder over your grass, particularly in areas where lawn fungus exists, or
2. Mix it with water and spray it on your turf.

Other natural solutions for lawn fungus include:

• Vinegar,
• Lemon juice,
• Dish soap, and
• Hydrogen peroxide.

Best Grass Fungus Killer

When shopping for the best grass fungus killers, you’ll be spoilt for choice given the many options to choose from. But here are 3 grass fungus pesticides to get rid of brown-patch and brown-patch symptoms from your lawn.

1. Fertilome (11380) Liquid Systemic Effective Fungicide II RTS

No products found.

The best thing about the Fertilome fungicide is that it is formulated to cure all types of lawn fungi including dollar spot, brown patch, and leaf spot. It is a ready-to-use product that can be used in lawns and garden beds.

No products found.

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2. BioAdvanced Fungus Control

BioAdvanced manufactures a wide range of lawn care products like the fungus control bottle. It can control brown patch, dollar spot, and several other lawn care diseases and is absorbed by grass quickly and doesn’t wash off.

Affiliate links and images pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on: 2024-10-15

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3. Bonide Infuse Systemic Disease Control

Bonide protects your lawn from a variety of fungal diseases and is a ready-to-spray product. It can be used to treat up to 3,200 square feet and can be used with your hose-end sprayer.

Affiliate links and images pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on: 2024-10-15

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How to Prevent Turfgrass Disease in the Lawn?

They say “Prevention is better than cure” and this statement certainly applies to lawn fungus. The best way to prevent fairy ring disease or brown patch disease is by adhering to good lawn care practices.

Start by maintaining your lawn care equipment such as sharpening your mower blades and mowing at the right grass height. Next, aerate your soil when needed and immediately if it’s compacted as air and nutrient flow to the soil will be restricted in this poor condition.

When you spread fertilizer, make sure you’re not overdoing it by applying too much because it will cause fertilizer burn and invite disease and pests.

Spread fertilizer with a broadcast spreader for even application to avoid brown circular patches, discolored patches, and dead patches in areas of your lawn.

Feed your lawn regularly to prevent rust disease or any other type of disease and stick to a proper watering regime.

Apply fungicide if needed but take safety precautions when working with any fungicide sprays, chemical fungicides, natural fungicides, or any fungicide treatment such as wearing protective glasses and gear.

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FAQs

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Final Thoughts

The fungus can spread quickly and create havoc on your lawn. But there are several steps and treatments for lawn fungus you can try to eliminate the disease.

Most of the treatments relate to good lawn care practices like mowing with sharp mower blades, cutting no more than one-third of the grass, and watering and fertilizing your grass properly. You can even apply a fungicide for faster results.