Lawn Pests and Diseases: [Detection, Causes and Solutions]

A well-kept lawn is ideal for keeping the garden in perfect condition: green and delicate.

Its care does not entail much work, beyond pruning. But as in other cases, it is possible that it becomes a victim of certain pests and diseases.

Knowing them will help you to be prepared to prevent them from being generated, while at the same time offering you the appropriate tools to deal with them.So, will you join us to find out what they are, what causes them and how to treat them? Go for it.

white worm

The white worm is the stage of the beetles in which they are in the form of larvae, a stage in which they are capable of causing considerable damage to the lawn.

They have a preference for the roots of grass , from where they obtain their food, although they could also take advantage of the roots of other plantations.

They are considered pests during the 3 or 4 years that they last in this phase, because when they become beetles they become harmless.They are pests that appear in the last days of summer and that remain in action during the coldest time of the year, so the effects will be noticed when spring enters.

The symptoms that will be seen on the lawn will be withered areas, weakness of the plant (being able to extract it from the ground without effort), among others.White worms have their predators that are also harmful to the lawn, such as moles, and there is a possibility that the problem will become greater.

There are different products that are possible to apply to your attack, such as a worm controller.In any case, it is best to consult an expert in the field to act with greater security.

anthracnose

It is a disease caused by a fungus known as colletotrichum graminicola that mainly affects the grass stem.

The symptoms are evidenced as rounded areas where the grass begins to turn yellow until it dies.

This occurs, above all, in older grass, but it becomes detrimental to the new shoots that are developing, turning them old quickly.

The causes of its appearance include an environmental environment that is high in humidity and where temperatures are also high. But human action could also be causal for the appearance when the lawn is excessively traveled or the pruning is done very close to the ground.

The treatment of anthracnose will be carried out based on fungicides approved for this specific disease, using, for example, chlorthalonil.

Ants

Ants are insects that are permanently present in gardens and do not cause direct damage to the lawn after it is developed.

However, at the time of sowing, it is necessary that the ants are kept under surveillance and, as far as possible, eradicated.

The reason is that their feeding needs and ease of detecting what is edible, cause them to steal the seeds from the sowing .This generates two possible damages in the structure:

Zones of the area that are left empty of grass.
Areas that can become uneven in the amount of grass because a seed has been abandoned near where another is planted.

The good news is that there are ideal products to deal with this inconvenience and that they are applied by spraying them on the surface of the ground.

moles

It is a herbivorous animal species that feeds on plant parts, such as stems and roots.

In the case of plants that produce fruits in the form of bulbs, they are also capable of consuming them, so it should be kept in mind when there are orchards.

For the lawn they could be considered a real problem, because in addition to their feeding preferences, they also lead an underground life.

This means that they are responsible for making galleries throughout the land , leaving small mounds of earth outside at the entrances.Their action occurs more frequently at night, so it is difficult to capture them easily.

To deal with them, there are products designed for them in the form of smoke that is introduced into one of the entrances made to drown them.It is important, of course, that other tunnel entrances be plugged to prevent moles and smoke from escaping.

dollar stain

Dollar spot is caused by a fungus known as sclerotinia homeocarpa that causes spots on different parts of the lawn.

These spots are brown and, in a first phase, reach 6 cm in diameter. However, later they increase this size.

As is logical, these spots have a devastating effect on the leaves, drying them out and leaving them to die in a short time.At first it can be difficult to determine if it is this disease or another with similar effects.

A trick to differentiate is to see the affected lawn very early in the morning , when it is common for the vegetation to dawn with dew.Thanks to the backlight effect, it will be possible to show a white powder on the leaves , which corresponds to the mycelium of the fungus.

Dollar spot is one of the most complex diseases around the causes that produce it because it can manifest at any temperature (except frost).What is necessary is that there is a high level of humidity in the environment.

As for the type of grass for which he has a preference, those with fine leaves are in greater danger. In addition to the above, it has the characteristic that its strain acquires considerable resistance to the use of certain treatments.

For this reason, it is best to make a variation in the product used if the disease recurs.Among the products that can be worked with are chlorthalonil, iprodione and fenarimol.

Perhaps the losses caused by pests and diseases in the lawn are not as complex as those that occur in the case of vegetables and fruits.However, nobody likes to have a lawn that looks bad, that looks neglected and, above all, has animals that are not welcome.