Common Lawn and Turf Diseases

Learn how to identify, prevent, and treat many common lawn disease.

Grass, like all living things, can get sick. If left untreated, such diseases can easily kill your lawn or, at the very least, detract from its natural beauty.

In this part of the directory, you can find a list of common turf grass diseases that could affect your turf.

Identification is the first step in fighting a lawn disease. Below each disease is a list of common, easily identifiable symptoms to check for.

Within the individual pages, you will be able to find more detailed identification methods along with steps you can take to prevent and treat an outbreak of each particular disease.

Turf and Lawn Diseases

Brownpatch
Primary Symptoms: Brown, circular patches with grass leaves that are easily pulled up.

Dollar Spot
Primary Symptoms: Brown, circular, sunken spots roughly the size of a silver dollar, though can be larger on some lawns. Look for lesions on living grass near infection to differentiate from Brownpatch.

Fairy Ring
Primary Symptoms: A cluster or ring of mushrooms or a ring of highly stimulated, green grass.

Fusarium Blight
Primary Symptoms: Patches 2-6 inches in diameter that turn light green and, later, brown. Can appear as elongated streaks, crescent-shaped patches, or circular areas.

Leaf Spot
Primary Symptoms: Spots appear on the grass that have brown centers and purplish-red or purplish-brown edges.

Necrotic Ring Spot
Primary Symptoms: Circular patches, 6-24 inches in diameter, that may appear sunken and contain a mixture of normal, yellow, and red or purple grass within.

Powdery Mildew
Primary Symptoms: A white or light-grey growth that appears on the upper parts of leaves. The affected area might look as though someone has sprinkled flour on it.

Pythium Blight
Primary Symptoms: Water-soaked looking patches, from 1-12 inches in diameter, with a cotton-like growth that can be seen most clearly during the early morning or evening hours.

Red Thread
Primary Symptoms: This disease is characterized by a red, thread-like fungal growth that forms around grass leaves and binds them together. This symptom is most easily seen during periods of wet weather.

Rust
Primary Symptoms: Begins as small, reddish-brown flakes on leaf blades that eventually grow into oval or elongated pustules which contain orange or reddish-brown spores.

Take-All Patch
Primary Symptoms: Much like brownpatch, this disease appears as patches of yellow or brown dead grass up to 20 feet in diameter. Unlike brownpatch, however, grass leaves cannot be easily pulled from the roots.