Identifying and Preventing Dollar Spot in Texas Lawns

Texas homeowners love to show off their pristine and manicured lawns. But keeping your lawns in good condition takes a lot of work. Everyone has a different approach to their lawn care techniques but one thing is for sure; lawn diseases can ruin the entire look of your lawn. Some homeowners don’t mind a few weeds here and there, but lawn diseases can weaken and kill your grass. No matter how many beautiful features your landscape has, a brown spot on your lawn will draw the eye away. Most lawn diseases are fungal pathogens that lie in wait until favorable conditions cause them to grow. One of the most common lawn diseases in Texas is dollar spot.

Symptoms and Signs of Dollar Spot

Dollar spot is a disease that attacks the leaves of perennial ryegrass, fine fescue and centipede, Kentucky bluegrass, Zoysia grass, and Bermudagrass. Dollar spot is characterized by tan or brown patches that appear on your lawn. At first, these spots are the size of a silver dollar, but they can grow bigger and merge with other spots. Affected grass blades will appear wet with a cobweb-type growth appearing between blades.

What Causes Dollar Spot?

There are many contributing factors to dollar spots but it usually appears when hot humid days combine with cool wet nights. Poor soil drainage, drought, and excess moisture can also stress your grass and make it more vulnerable to dollar spots. The disease can worsen when the roots are dry and the grass is wet, especially at night.

How To Control Dollar Spot

Fighting dollar spot is not easy and can result in damage to your lawn that can take weeks or months to fill in.

Preventing dollar spot is key and all it takes is a few changes to your lawn care habits.

• Water Deeper Less Often: During conditions that favor dollar spot, be careful not to water too late in the day. Water deep earlier in the day to ensure your grass is dry at night.
• Aerate: Dollar spot often occurs when soil is compacted due to thatch and drought-stressed lawns. Core aeration can be an effective way to break up thatch and improve moisture penetration in your soil.
• Mowing: Raise your lawnmower to a higher setting during periods of drought to allow more water storage. Changing your mowing practices can stimulate healthy growth base on your grass type.
• Fertilize: Fertilizers rich in nitrogen can help mitigate the severity of dollar spot. Apply in the spring to prevent the disease from emerging in the summer.

Choose Disease-Resistant Grass

Overseeding your lawn with disease-resistant variants can help improve the defense of your grass. For best results, overseed after your lawn has been aerated. Fighting lawn diseases can be tricky and expensive. You can purchase fungicides from your local nursery but if you want to be sure, you should have a certified lawn care specialist look at it first.  

Hire The Lawn Care Experts at Gro Lawn

At Gro Lawn, we have over 20 years of experience dealing with Texas lawns and the problems they face. With Gro Lawn on the job, you won’t get the same cookie-cutter lawns you’d get with the big brands. Sign up for our 2021 lawn care program and take the worry of lawn care off your mind this year.

Have a pest problem? We also specialize in pest control solutions. Call and ask about our perimeter pest control program. 

Call us at (817) 447-7711 or request a free estimate here. Check out our monthly blog for more lawn care tips. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and check out our YouTube channel for helpful videos on lawn care, tree care, and more!