What we’re seeing:

  • We’re all going to be seeing lawn disease (fungus) if we haven’t been seeing it already.
    • What causes lawn disease? “Festering” for lack of a better term. Hot and wet weather. We’ve had and will have the worst “festering” conditions I’ve seen forecast in the next week…
  • Woof… So what are we seeing and what will we be seeing?
    • Rust (Not seen yet but I’m sure it’s coming)

What we’re doing:

  1. We’re working to get our next round of Nitrogen fertilizer down (it’s actually much more than that but Nitrogen is a help with disease)
  2. Mosquitos are also thriving in the wet weather. We’re starting our next round of ProSquito treatments.
  3. There are no diseases on home lawns that require Fungicide
    • These diseases are typically very fleeting – they’re gone in a week or two and/or can be culturally managed and/or normal weather will control them.
    • Fungicides get rid of all the GOOD bio-activity in the thatch as well as the bad. Once you start fungicides you’re addicted. The bio-activity that manages thatch and protects your grass is destroyed and you’ll need a fungicide program the rest of the summer to manage diseases (golf courses do fungicides every 7-14 days for this reason – they also cut the grass at 0.25″, water heavily every night and have 4 feet of ideal soil)

What you can be doing:

  • Mow regularly and lower (FOR NOW!!! WHILE WE HAVE THE RAIN ONLY – NOT WHEN IT GETS DRY). Tall grass promotes Rust. We have had abundant rain and have it in the forecast as well so mowing lower is beneficial for now – yes opposite of our position for the last four years.
  • DO NOT run your sprinklers. We have so much abundant rain that sprinklers have been unnecessary and actually harmful this year (as far as disease goes)
  • Please consider if you’re seeing a fleeting disease, caused by mother nature, vs “ProLawns must be doing something wrong” when you see patches in your lawn. There’s no company or lawn that is responsibly controlling disease in these conditions. Disease is random patches. Product burn (misapplication) is very geometric – in lines or in one specific area. Check out Misconception #6 here for a similar topic (our father’s day post from last year. Happy father’s day!).