Fairy Rings

• Properly aerate your lawn. Aeration allows oxygen into the soil and also allows water to disperse freely.

• Expose area to direct sunlight to reduce shade and excess moisture--two of a fungus's favorite living conditions.

• Thatching will remove growth that traps moisture.

• Do not overwater your lawn.

• Water your lawn in the morning so the sun can dry up excess water quickly. If you're unable to water early in the day, consider investing in a lawn irrigation system with a timer. These systems will be cheaper than treating your lawn for disease.

• Do not over-fertilize or over-seed. Soft, lush blades created by high nitrogen levels and dense grass make it easy for many fungal spores to jump from blade to blade.

• Once a fungus is identified, find out if it prefers high or low levels of nitrogen and implement a fertilization programs that delivers the opposite.

• Consult a licensed lawn care professional before using a fungicide. Some fungicides can be dangerous if not handled or applied properly.

• Note that some preventative measures for lawn fungus may create other problems. A comprehensive lawn care program is necessary in order to keep your lawn free of fungi, weeds, pests and diseases simultaneously.

Identifying Your Fungus:  

• Brown Patch latches onto many types of grasses in humid and highly shaded areas with high levels of nitrogen. It often begins as a small brown or yellowish spot and quickly spreads outward in a circular or horseshoe pattern up to a few feet wide. The grass inside the circle will usually recover on its own, leaving a brown outer ring, which should also recover within a few weeks.

• Dollar Spot usually attacks Kentucky Bluegrass, Bentgrass and Bermudagrass in humid climates. Named for the silver-dollar shapes that it creates, Dollar Spot can often merge to form large patches several feet wide. Usually brown or straw-colored in appearance, Dollar Spot is also identifiable by the hourglass-shaped lesions that it leaves on infected grass blades. Dollar Spot is most common during warm, wet weather with heavy dews and in lawns with low levels of nitrogen.

• Fairy Rings can thrive in most grasses and are distinguishable by mushroom rings and/or brown grass around fast-growing, dark green grass. Fairy Rings typically grow in soils with decaying wood debris, logs or tree stumps, and with low levels of nitrogen.

• Leaf Spot (or Melting Out) appears as brown or purple lesions on many common grasses when weather is cool and wet (early spring or late fall). Spotting is often followed by irregular thinning of grass and dead patches. To control Leaf Spot, you should thatch, keep nitrogen levels low, maintain the soil's optimum potassium and pH levels, and keep grass mown to its recommended height.

• Red Thread (or Pink Patch) usually creeps up in the spring, preferring its hosts--primarily Fescues, Ryegrasses, and Kentucky Bluegrass--wet and cool. Pinkish-red threads form around the leaf blades and then bind them together. Red Thread attacks leaves and leaf sheaths and is rarely serious enough to kill a lawn, but the disease will spread and dot your lawn with sickly looking patches that will eventually turn brown. Follow a regular fertilization schedule (with nitrogen and potassium) to help control Red Thread outbreaks.

• Rust is named for the orange "rusty" appearance that it gives to leaf blades. Usually affecting Ryegrasses and Kentucky Bluegrass, Rust flourishes in morning dew, shade, and high-compaction soil with low fertility. Check for Rust by rubbing a white paper towel on a few discolored grass blades. If an orange color transfers to the paper, then it's probably Rust. Remove grass clippings to prevent Rust from blowing to and infecting other sections of your lawn, and keep soil's nitrogen levels high.  

Rock Your Garden

Last month's newsletter had the incorrect link to Joe Tuttle's tips for using rocks in your garden. Along with our apologies, here is the correct posting: Borst's Joe Tuttle recently shared his tips and recommendations for introducing rocks and bricks into gardens with The Record and NorthJersey.com. Rocks create interesting borders and visual breaks for flowers and plants--as well as welcoming resting pads for colorful frogs, birds and butterflies--and different varieties of stone will have different effects on your garden. See Joe's take on some of these varieties here.

Borst Introduces Another New Intern 

Borst recently welcomed another new intern to our internship program. Matt Smith, a native of Westwood and soon-to-be senior at the University of Rhode Island, has been working as an understudy to Borst's senior designers. Click here to read an article about Matt and the Borst internship program. 

A well-loved member of the Borst team moved on to a warmer climate with her family recently. For those of you who worked with Mary and spoke with her on the phone, we know you will miss her as much as we do.  

Best wishes, Mary!