At the moment, June 2021, we are seeing a number of lawns being affected by “Red Thread/ Pink Patch” disease(s), if its in your lawn you can guarantee its also in many lawns in the area at the same time.
Red Thread is the most common of all lawn fungal diseases, it occurs when conditions are humid and damp so the weather over the last couple of weeks has been near perfect for the fungus to become active.
As with any other lawn disease, early and correct diagnosis is important. It is commonly seen as little red needles emerging from the leaf of the affected grasses or as a pink ‘cotton wool’ on the surface of the lawn.
Whilst Fescue grasses are most prone to the disease most grass types can be affected, although many modern grass cultivars are bred to be more resistant.
Affected areas will usually be small and circular but can merge into larger areas.
The disease affects the leaf rather than the root and once conditions improve the good news is the grass will recover as it grows.
If you spot the disease make sure you clean your mower blades after each cut and dispose of the cuttings away from the lawn.
To help prevent disease always make sure your mower blades are sharp, follow good irrigation practice, if your lawn is affected by this disease we may suggest scarification and / or aeration in the autumn to reduce the thatch layer.
A fungicide can stop the spread of the fungus and is best applied in the early stages, it will provide some ongoing protection but that is time limited and if warm and humid conditions return so can the fungus. Bayer do produce a product, Provanto Lawn Disease Control, this is available to you from garden centres and will control this disease. We have professional products that will also do the trick but as we said earlier the lawn should recover in time, fungicides can speed this process up.
As we have said the roots of the plant are not affected by the disease so good growing and drier conditions can see the plant quickly recover but the damaged leaf has to grow and be mowed out so remember to water if it goes dry to keep growth rates good.
Red Thread is the most common of all lawn fungal diseases, it occurs when conditions are humid and damp so the weather over the last couple of weeks has been near perfect for the fungus to become active.
As with any other lawn disease, early and correct diagnosis is important. It is commonly seen as little red needles emerging from the leaf of the affected grasses or as a pink ‘cotton wool’ on the surface of the lawn.
Whilst Fescue grasses are most prone to the disease most grass types can be affected, although many modern grass cultivars are bred to be more resistant.
Affected areas will usually be small and circular but can merge into larger areas.
The disease affects the leaf rather than the root and once conditions improve the good news is the grass will recover as it grows.
If you spot the disease make sure you clean your mower blades after each cut and dispose of the cuttings away from the lawn.
To help prevent disease always make sure your mower blades are sharp, follow good irrigation practice, if your lawn is affected by this disease we may suggest scarification and / or aeration in the autumn to reduce the thatch layer.
A fungicide can stop the spread of the fungus and is best applied in the early stages, it will provide some ongoing protection but that is time limited and if warm and humid conditions return so can the fungus. Bayer do produce a product, Provanto Lawn Disease Control, this is available to you from garden centres and will control this disease. We have professional products that will also do the trick but as we said earlier the lawn should recover in time, fungicides can speed this process up.
As we have said the roots of the plant are not affected by the disease so good growing and drier conditions can see the plant quickly recover but the damaged leaf has to grow and be mowed out so remember to water if it goes dry to keep growth rates good.