During this time of year, homeowners have plenty to be grateful for. This includes, but is not limited to, cooler temperatures ensuring ideal sleep conditions, colorful leaves that enhance every family walk or picnic and optimum environmental conditions to ensure that the energy and moisture that your gardens need to flourish next spring is absorbed. Pretty amazing, right?
While fall is certainly a great time to take care of the lawn and maintain houses in general, it still has its faults. Most fall diseases and insects bear their ugly heads in autumn and offer homeowners problems in preparing their grass for the coming season.
A Couple of Fall Diseases
Powdery Mildew
Kentucky Bluegrass is more severely impacted by the powdery mildew disease, however, the powdery mildew disease can also be found on fine fescue and perennial ryegrass. Powdery mildew is more unattractive than harmful. They can be recognized on the leaf blades through the white, dusty powder appearance. In cool, humid areas of the lawn, this fall disease is most prevalent. Extreme infection can even lead to a yellow or browning of the leaves.
Thankfully, the damage is usually minor and causes poor turf growth and thinning. As such there’s no need to break the bank to fix this issue. To correct this mildew, ensure as much air flow and sunlight as possible in the affected area.
Lawn Rust
Rust disease affects all cool grass species, but perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass are most susceptible. Rust disease appears on the top and bottom surfaces of leaf blades as small flecks. These spots can be rubbed off the surface with fingers or on shoes when walked across. They also have a yellow, orange or reddish color. Rust is seen as minor, persisting in late summer and into fall with full turf recovery expected!
If you would like to learn more about any of these fall diseases, any other disease or notice that your lawn is being afflicted by a disease you can’t recognize then please go to our contact page found here, email us here info@ecolandscapesok.com or call us at (405) 531-9105 to learn more or get more help.
