Fortunately Dollar Spot Disease is quite easily treated - and prevented - for it is mainly a disease associated with Fescue Grasses which are added to most lawn grass mixtures and turf mixtures these days. There is an increasing tendency for grass seed suppliers to include Creeping Red Fescue in many of their mixtures, so Dollar Spot Disease could well become a little more common than in past. I noted recently that out of seven lawn mixtures available on a garden centre shelf, five contained Creeping Red Fescue.
| It does not normally
cause a problem with utility grade turfed lawns,
though again, Creeping Red Fescue is increasingly
added to even the most basic Ryegrass turf mixes.
Dollar Spot - Sclerotina etc - is usually prevalent in
dewy periods. Spring and Autumn being the most
troublesome times for this lawn disease.
|
Dollar Spot disease starts as small circular patches of dead grass - usually around a couple of inches across. On neglected grass that is not regularly cut, these spots may show up with larger spots in the turf. Sometimes in early morning dew, a white fungus growth can be visibly in the spots. The spots can spread in an untreated lawn, so treatment with a Carbendazim spray quite early in the outbreak, is important.
Again, a good lawn maintenance and care regime is quite important, together with brushing early dews off the grass in affected areas. Removal of Thatch, as a part of your maintenance schedule will do much to prevent the Dollar Spot Disease.
