How to Prevent Fungus and Diseases in Turfgrass

Mushroom in grass — Too much water can lead to fungus like mushrooms. Photo Credit: Timothy Dykes

Maintenance tips and advice for healthy turfgrass are everywhere you look on the Internet. However, how do you know which ones are the best and most important practices to follow? To have a beautiful and healthy looking lawn or field, it’s important to catch fungal diseases before it starts to infect your turfgrass. Here are the best maintenance tips that will help you prevent fungus and disease before it hits your grass.

The Best Maintenance Tip Is Prevention

The best way to protect your turf from fungal diseases is to take preventative measures. It’s much easier and more cost-effective to prevent fungus and diseases in the first place than it is to enter an ongoing battle to cure ailing turf. In fact, if your turf gets infected, you’ll discover that the treatments are expensive, time-consuming, and messy. While some cures can rid your turf of fungus for a while, it’s preventative care that will keep fungus from returning. The time, effort, and expense that goes into maintaining healthy grass is far less costly than what’s needed to bring diseased turf back to health.

Practicing Turf Disease Prevention

Turfgrass is only as healthy as the maintenance routine employed to keep it that way. If a lawn is looking unhealthy or is disease-ridden, then it’s probably because there was a lapse in ongoing maintenance. Fungus and disease prevention should be as much a part of maintenance as regular trimming and care, but it’s often forgotten. Here are some prevention tips to start using now in your turfgrass maintenance routine.

Make sure you’re feeding your turfgrass regularly. Disease is common in nutrient deficient lawns, as deficiency leads to a weakened plant. Maintaining the right nutrient levels is essential for preventing fungal diseases.
Water the right amount at the right time of day. Many diseases need a moist environment to thrive, so only irrigate when necessary. Furthermore, it’s best to water at the beginning of the day so that the grass can dry throughout the rest of the day.
Always mow at the right height and with properly maintained equipment. Otherwise, you’ll be tearing the grass rather than making a clean cut, which leaves your turf weak and vulnerable.

Applying Fungicides and Herbicides to Your Turf

Following a smart prevention and maintenance routine will help in disease prevention and keep your grass looking beautiful. However, in those instances where a disease is hard to fight off or if you’ve been infected in the past, fungicides and herbicides can also be applied to help prevent fungal diseases. It’s a good maintenance practice to uphold, and Modern Turf has licensed experts who can advise you on the specific best practices you can follow to get your turf healthy and keep it looking beautiful.