There’s nothing quite as great as having a full, lush, green lawn in the spring and summer months. Unfortunately, though, there’s always something that can threaten the health of your lawn. Lawn pests and diseases are prevalent just about anywhere you go for a variety of reasons. If your lawn has poor drainage, a lack of nutrients, or isn’t getting enough air movement, it can easily be overrun by pests and diseases if you don’t consistently take care of lawn maintenance. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most common ones and how best to avoid them!
Common Lawn Pests and Diseases
- Slime Mold – In honor of the season, we’ll take about slime mold first. It is most prevalent in late summer and throughout autumn due to lack of drainage. Slime mold won’t actually harm your lawn, but it isn’t pleasant to look at or to touch. You can prevent it by making sure that you regularly aerate your lawn. You can also remove slime mold by spraying it with a hose (preferably with a high pressure function).
- Chafer grubs – Grubs and worms in general can be problematic for your lawn simply because other animals like to make meals of them and tear up your lawn. The chafer grub in particular also likes to eat grass roots, which can make it difficult to grow new grass during the spring and summer. There are chemicals available to kill them, but if you’d rather not use chemicals on your lawn, you can also order nematodes.
- Red thread – This is likely a disease that you’ve seen in your grass or someone else’s grass. Your likely to deal with red thread after a particularly rainy summer or fall. Red thread causes your grass to become slightly red tinged, turn brown, and eventually die. The easiest way to avoid red thread is to make sure that your lawn is getting enough nitrogen. Use ammonium sulfate and aerate your lawn to avoid this problem.
- Salt damage – While this isn’t necessarily classified as a pest or a disease, it’s something to be aware of before winter hits full force this year. Salt will damage your grass and other plants by sucking the moisture out. Try to avoid getting any salt near your plants or lawn when your de-icing your driveway this winter. If you can’t avoid your lawn, try a non-sodium de-icer to help protect your greenery.
Lawn Maintenance Experts
Preparing your lawn for the cold months ahead and making sure that it’s safe from pests and diseases is an important task. By following the tips above, you can make sure that your lawn will come back next spring even better than it did this past summer. Have questions or want to schedule professional lawn maintenance this fall? give Lehnhoff’s Landscaping a call at 443.921.5789 or visit LehnoffsLandscaping.com today.
Source: HGTV, Becker Landscape