Dollar Spot Disease

Q

I have small brown spots across my lawn, is this a disease and what can I do about to repair the lawn?

A

You are describing Dollar Spot lawn disease, which will appear as small spots on the lawn, which are usually straw or brown coloured and about the size of a dollar coin, hence the name Dollar Spot.

Dollar Spot can display as a dozen or so spots on the lawn, or may eventually increase in size and number to many hundreds of spots on the lawn, many of which may begin to group together to form a larger patch, which when looked at closely will reveal the formation of many spots and not just one large patch on the lawn.

A fungicide treatment is not necessary to cure Dollar Spot, but can be purchased and should be applied to the entire lawn surface to rid the current infestation of Dollar Spot disease. However, as with all lawn fungus problems, a chemical treatment is only a stop gap measure in treating and controlling this lawn disease. Without proper lawn care, the same or other lawn diseases will continue to trouble the lawn into the future. So always best to follow good lawn care practices and never have to deal with lawn disease at all.

Proper lawn care practices include only ever to water in the mornings and never at night, reduce watering if necessary to reduce soil moisture, fertilise regularly throughout the year with a quality lawn fertiliser, reduce shade by pruning surrounding trees, and by coring / aerating the lawn if the soil has become compacted over time.