Lawn damage & lawn diseases: How to fix them
For many hobby gardeners, it is a shock: you walk through your garden and look at the condition of your lawn. Suddenly you discover damage to the lawn. Brown or bare patches have formed. Or weeds suddenly grow on your lawn and spread quickly. With most types of lawn damage, quick action is extremely important.
In this article, we will introduce you to the most common lawn diseases and explain what causes brown spots in the lawn. We will also show you common lawn weeds and give you tips on how to get rid of clover, millet and couch grass.
The most common lawn diseases:
Many lawn diseases are caused by a lack of nutrients, which you can prevent with regular fertilization.
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Brown spots & bare patches in the lawn:
Brown spots in the lawn are often caused by dryness or an incorrect pH value of the soil.
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The most common lawn weeds:
Many weeds settle on your lawn and should be removed as quickly as possible.
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Combating clover in the lawn:
Clover spreads quickly across your lawn and is easiest to remove by scarifying.
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The most common lawn diseases at a glance
If you have discovered lawn damage, various lawn diseases could be the cause. They are often caused by a deficiency and can usually be remedied easily. We have summarized the four most common lawn diseases for you:
Snow mold:
The so-called snow mold is caused by a fungus. It manifests itself in the form of gray-brown spots that rot. You can either remove the disease by scarifying or you can wait. If the temperature rises above 10 °C, the snow mold dies.
Red tip:
Red thread is also caused by a fungus, but is much more aggressive than other lawn diseases. The ends of the blades of grass turn red to brown, while the disease spreads quickly. Red thread is caused by a lack of nitrogen: fertilizing can therefore help.
Dollar spots:
You can recognize dollar spots by the small, white spots on your lawn. They appear when the days are hot and the nights are cold. Dollar spots are caused by dryness or an insufficient supply of nutrients. Immediate fertilization is therefore advisable for this disease too.
Fairy Rings:
The so-called fairy rings are also a fungal infection . Small rings with a brown discoloration form - the grass within the rings is often completely dead. If you have fairy rings, you should fertilize your lawn, because a lack of nutrients is the most common cause.
Lawn diseases are often unsightly and must be treated immediately. Otherwise they will continue to spread and the damage to the lawn will be difficult to repair.
If your lawn is not sufficiently supplied with nutrients, the risk of lawn diseases is particularly high. You should therefore add lawn fertilizer regularly to meet its nutrient requirements. You can find the right fertilizer for this at RasenExpert. We offer you both practical long-term fertilizers and products for the individual seasons.
Brown spots & bald patches in the lawn: These are the possible causes
If you invest a lot of time in lawn care and then discover brown spots on your lawn , then that is particularly annoying. The most important thing is that you first determine the cause of the brown spots. Once you have identified this, you can fix it so that your lawn can grow back healthy. There are various causes that can lead to brown spots on the lawn.
In summer, it is particularly the dryness that is to blame. If your lawn is not sufficiently moisturized, it will eventually turn brown and burn. You can therefore effectively repair lawn damage caused by dryness by providing your lawn with sufficient watering.
Your lawn can be damaged not only in summer, but also in winter. If you haven't prepared your lawn ideally for the cold weather, diseases can develop on the lawn. If you want to prevent lawn damage in winter, you should remove leaves, grass clippings or branches from the lawn and avoid walking on it when it is frosty.
If you have discovered brown spots in your grass, the cause could be an incorrect pH value. If the soil in your garden is too acidic (pH value below 5.5), your lawn will not grow properly and will turn brown. Simply carry out a pH soil test and lime your lawn if it is indeed too acidic.
Another cause of brown spots in the lawn can be pests. The larvae of various beetles and insects eat away at your lawn. The best way to combat them is to use nematodes.
If, however, you have discovered yellow spots in your lawn, there are a number of possible reasons. Often, the cause is incorrect fertilization: Too little or too much fertilizer can cause the grass in your garden to turn yellow. This also applies if you water your lawn too little or too much. Other causes of yellow discoloration are cutting the lawn too short, an incorrect pH value and lawn diseases.
Lawn grasses can be affected by various diseases, pests and deficiencies. To prevent lawn damage from occurring in the first place, you should learn how to care for them properly. You can find some helpful articles on this in our knowledge library.
Weeds: These are the most common types on your lawn
In addition to lawn diseases, lawn weeds make life difficult for many hobby gardeners. No matter how well you look after your lawn, you cannot completely protect yourself against weeds settling in. Dandelions , buttercups, broadleaf plantains and speedwell are particularly common. Many of them settle on your lawn via their seeds and then spread further.
How you treat weeds depends on the type of weed. It is best to remove broadleaf plantain, dandelion and buttercup along with their roots using a weed puller. Daisies, on the other hand, thrive in very compacted soil. In this case, you can aerate your lawn so that your lawn can grow better.
Speedwell, on the other hand, loves waterlogging. When watering, you should therefore make sure to adjust the amount of water to the condition of the soil. If a lot of moss is growing in your garden, then there may be a nutrient deficiency.
If you remove weeds from your garden mechanically, bare patches often remain. As a garden owner, you should immediately start reseeding so that no more weeds grow in your garden. For this, we recommend the high-quality lawn seeds from RasenExpert. Our lawn seeds not only germinate quickly, but also form a dense turf.
Combating clover in the lawn
The spread of clover in the lawn is particularly annoying and will spoil the overall appearance of your lawn in the long run. White clover is particularly common: it has long stems and white flowers. White clover spreads remarkably quickly and can take over your entire lawn.
Clover does not necessarily have to be removed: it is not poisonous or harmful. If it does not bother you, then you can let it grow. However, many garden owners are bothered by the fact that clover grows between the lawn and spoils the overall appearance.
If you want to get rid of clover, you can scarify your lawn. This will pull the weeds out of the ground along with their roots. If you have only discovered individual clover nests, you can dig them out and then reseed the lawn .
You should then focus on balanced lawn care to promote the growth of your lawn. Regularly provide your lawn with fertilizer and spread it evenly over your lawn. In summer, make sure you water it sufficiently and only sow high-quality lawn seeds.
Remove millet from the lawn
In addition to clover, millet is also a big problem in lawns . Millet has an easy time in your lawn if it is patchy or thin. The millet seeds nestle in the soil and start to grow there. So whenever you have bare patches in your lawn, there is a great risk of millet and other weeds.
If you want to prevent this, then balanced lawn care is essential. If your lawn is strong, dense and has a firm turf, then it is much more difficult for millet and other weeds to settle on your lawn.
If the millet is already growing, you should remove it and its roots with a weed puller. Make sure to remove the millet before it flowers. Otherwise, you will spread the seeds all over your lawn and more millet will grow.
Once you have removed the millet, you can also scarify and fertilize depending on the season. The stronger your lawn is, the less room you give to millet, clover and other lawn weeds.
What influence does lawn care have on the growth of weeds?
You can effectively protect your lawn from many diseases and weeds by taking balanced care of it. This includes fertilizing it regularly, scarifying it and only re-sowing high-quality grass seeds. All of this work promotes a dense turf. This makes the lawn particularly resilient. Fertilizing also ensures an optimal supply of nutrients and strong growth.
Combating Couch Grass in the Lawn
Couch grass is also known as field bindweed. It is an aggressive weed that spreads particularly quickly via rhizomes. The wild grass is characterized by its long stalks, which form ears with seeds in the summer months. Couch grass has few requirements regarding its location and can grow anywhere.
Fighting couch grass is not that easy: the roots spread widely and are difficult to remove from the soil. If you pull out the weeds, parts of the roots can quickly remain in the soil and the couch grass simply grows back.
You can only effectively remove couch grass by removing it and its entire root system. You can use a digging fork to do this. You can then scarify your lawn as a precaution to remove any remaining roots.
When it comes to couch grass, prevention is better than cure. Try to create the best possible conditions for your lawn. This will help it grow particularly densely and be able to defend itself well against lawn diseases and weeds.
How to get rid of grubs in your lawn
If you discover thick, white maggots on your lawn, they are probably grubs. They can be a major threat to your lawn and eat away the turf completely. Grubs are the larvae of various beetles - some species are harmful to lawns, others are not.
If you have discovered grubs in your lawn , you should act as quickly as possible. The larvae normally live about 10 cm underground: however, when it rains they come to the surface. So wait until it rains or help them out with heavy watering. Then collect the grubs and dispose of them in your compost.
To prevent pests in the future, you should attract their natural enemies to your garden. Set up feeding stations for birds and leave a pile of leaves for hedgehogs. You can also plant garlic, as the smell will drive away chanterelles and beetles. If there is an existing infestation, you can spread nematodes: they eat up small chanterelles.
Holes in the lawn: causes and tips for dealing with them
Do you dream of an even lawn and suddenly discover holes in the lawn ? These can have a variety of causes - it is important that you determine the cause and then fix it.
In many cases, holes in the lawn are caused by animals. If you have a dog, it may have dug in your garden. But wild animals, both very small and very large, can also be responsible for the holes.
Ants and insects live in the ground and build their nests there: in the long run, they can become a big problem. Ants in the lawn are particularly annoying because the insects are not actually pests. Because they build their nests underground and dig tunnels, they damage the roots of the lawn.
Ants and insects live in the ground and build their nests there. Moles, which cause sleepless nights for many hobby gardeners, can also be behind the holes. Mice, rats, hedgehogs or rabbits could also be the culprits. Even foxes and wild boars dig up lawns when they are looking for food.
There are various measures you should take. First, fence in your garden to keep unwanted visitors away. Then remove snails and grubs from the lawn to stop birds from pecking. Fill in abandoned passages and holes. Then you should reseed bare patches in the lawn.
Mowing with blunt blades: How to avoid lawn damage
Lawn damage does not necessarily have to be caused by diseases or weeds. It is quite possible that you are unknowingly causing damage when mowing the lawn . If you mow your lawn at the wrong time, it can lead to burns. Avoid mowing in the summer when the sun is shining. This can burn the freshly cut grass.
You should also check before every mowing whether your lawnmower blades are still sharp. If you mow your lawn with blunt blades, this can cause damage to the lawn. Instead of cutting, your mower will tear the blades off. This creates an unsightly cut pattern and can damage your lawn.
If you notice that your lawnmower blades are blunt, you should replace them. At RasenExpert you will find replacement blades for a wide range of lawnmowers. Our lawnmower blades are made in Germany from tempered steel and are therefore particularly durable. They also offer you outstanding cutting performance for an even cut.
Frequently asked questions about fertilizer, lawn care & reseeding
When reseeding, you should make sure to use high-quality seed. Cheaper mixes often contain not only grass seed, but also weed seeds. If you have just removed weeds and re-sow low-quality seed, you could make the problem even worse.
Fertilizer protects your lawn from damage by stimulating growth and promoting a dense turf. Many diseases and weeds occur when your lawn lacks nutrients. By fertilizing regularly, you can ensure good protection against diseases and weeds.
You can find out what your lawn is missing by doing a pH soil test. This will tell you whether your lawn may be over-acidic. At the same time, you can also take a look at the condition of your soil. If it is too compacted or too clayey, this can also have a negative effect on the growth of the lawn.
Conclusion: Protect your lawn from lawn damage with the right care
Lawn damage can be caused by a variety of reasons. You can't protect yourself from all of them: That's why you should focus on caring for your lawn as best you can. This will strengthen its growth and promote a dense turf. A healthy lawn is much more resistant to lawn damage and will recover more quickly.