It’s all gone, but if your lawn, like ours, has been snow covered for a few weeks, it could be susceptible to a lawn disease commonly called Snow Mold or Fusarium Patch.
Fusarium or fusarium patch is the more common of the two lawn problems whilst snow mould, albeit slower to prosper, is exactly the same disease that occurs after prolonged snow cover. Fusarium is primarily a disease of fine or old turf generally occurring in the late autumn, but it is not uncommon in the spring after a prolonged snow covering. You may end up with small infestations and not notice it.
If you do notice it you will see small tennis ball size straw coloured spots. These get bigger in the right conditions. Whilst the disease is growing the perimeter has a slimy coating of whitish fungal mycelium. This can make the patches irregular in shape looking like fluffy clouds.
The disease generally strikes in cool weather with constant moisture (drizzle or fog). Consequently turf with a heavy thatch layer, compaction, poor drainage, clay soil or shade is more prone to attack.
New lawns can also suffer particularly after snow. This is primarily because they are still relatively tender and have not built up much resistance to disease and fungal attack.
We rarely see fusarium in lawns of the severity that require fungicidal treatment, but if you have a valuable lawn and the soil or lawn conditions make your grass prone to the disease then fungicide could be considered though preference should be given to addressing the cause rather than getting into a never ending cycle of fungicidal applications.
Preventative Maintenance
If you do get an outbreak you should treat it as a wakeup call that the lawn cultural conditions could be improved. Fusarium treatment should include inspection for thatch, scarifying as required (when conditions are right) and hollow tine, slit or spike to improve drainage. Applications of Ferrous Sulphate (Soluble Iron) will harden the turf thus helping protect it from such diseases.
Should you require any further advice please contact Greener Gardens.