By DoMyOwn staff
Leaf Spot is a turf disease caused by fungi that can move into plant death at the roots, causing your lawn to die. Learn to prevent and treat for this disease with these tips.
Hey I'm Trisha with DoMyOwn.com. Today, we're going to talk about how to get rid of leaf spot in turfgrass.
Leaf spot is a turf grass disease caused by fungi in your lawn. To monitor for leaf spot, make sure to look for small brown lesions on the grass blades. You may also notice the spots may increase in size and have purple edges. You may also notice wet, decaying grass near the roots of the grass which can lead into melting out, which is the second stage of leaf spot. Melting out can effect the crowns, sheaths and structures of the overall plant. You may notice yellow and wilting. and it will eventually die – rotting from the base of the plant.
To prevent and treat for leaf spot diseases, it's best to apply preventative fungicide. Diseases are always easier to prevent than cure. While there are options to do both, you always want to make sure you apply when conditions are favorable for the disease to thrive. When applying, you want to apply to the affected areas as well as the surrounding areas to prevent any spreading. This is also important if you've dealt with turfgrass diseases in previous years. If melting out is at the beginning stages, applying a fungicide formulated for leaf spot may provide some curative improvement. If it is advanced, curative may help limit the spread of melting out to other areas. The disease will leave you with thinned out grass but you can always re-seed after you have completely eliminated it.
When treating for diseases, you want to make sure that you rotate your fungicides after every 2-3 applications to prevent resistance build-up. You may be treating throughout the season if conditions continue to be favorable for diseases to thrive. So read the application instructions on the product label you're using carefully.
To prevent leaf spot in your lawn, there are steps you can take to prevent the conditions that allow it to thrive. You want to avoid overwatering your lawn which can cause over-saturation which allows the fungi to develop. You wanna avoid any thatch buildup on your lawn and only cut 2 inches from your lawn each time you mow. Making sure you also fertilize your lawn correctly is important. Over or under fertilizing can cause your grass health to not be optimum which can allow diseases to thrive.
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