Question

Scenario:

Last weekend a friend of yours and her neighbor were working in their yards when they both noticed a problem with their lawns. All of their lawns are getting full of yellowish-tan, dead spots about the size of a basketball or so. At first, when there was just a couple of spots, they thought it might just be a neighborhood dog urinating on the lawn, but there are too many spots now, and the spots are showing up in the back yard too. Knowing that you know about landscapes and gardens she asks for your advice.

She tells you that the lawns are a mix of bluegrass and dwarf fescue, and that they don’t really do anything to their lawns except mow and water. They mow it short because that is what the maintenance gardeners in the area do. She admits to you that despite the drought and the water restrictions, they water a little more than they should after they mow, because mowing always seems to make the grass a little yellow; they assume the extra water will help it green back up.

Assignment

Compare the symptoms listed above with the common lawn disease.

1. Based on the symptoms, what is your diagnosis?
2. What should they do to treat the disease and prevent it from coming back in the future?
3. Given the information from the above scenario, what two practices has your friend and her neighbor been performing that most likely led to their lawn problem?

Answer 1

Ans. Yellowing of the grass of lawn has many reasons like urination of the dog, attack by insect pest or fungus, or due to the deficiency of nitrogen in the soil or due to improper watering. But the case here shows that the urination of dog and deficiency of water is not the case here but as the whole lawn, is becoming yellow then it must be due to deficiency of nitrogen in the soil because my friends only mowed and watered the lawn but never added fertilizer to it. By adding little nitrogen fertilizer the lawn greenery can be restored. But if after adding nitrogen also the problem persists then it is due to pest attack by a fungus or some insects which can be solved bt the application of little pesticide to the affected area. By these methods, the greenery of the lawn will return.

Excessive watering to the lawn after mowing is the mistake my friend and his neighbor has been doing which have lead to decrease in the nitrogen content of the soil and making the grass prone to infection also. Ans not adding fertilizer periodically to the lawn can also be the cause.