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Mary Lougee

Mary Lougee is a writer in Texas who writes on a wide variety of subjects from home improvement to pet care. Her love of animals led to building a farm and caring for rescue animals from equine and swine to dogs and cats. She holds a bachelor's degree in management.

Sometimes it takes a bit of work in order to keep a lawn looking nice. They need watering in the heat of the summer and fertilizer in the spring, and both summer heat and freezing winters can take a real toll on a lawn. There are treatments for lawns that will correct most problems and help produce a lush green carpet of grass.

In the heat of the summer, water evaporates at a much quicker rate than other times of the year. A deep watering every two to three days will be more advantageous to your lawn than a shorter daily watering, and will aid in disease control by not keeping the lawn saturated for long periods of time.

When you mow your lawn it is best not to mow the grass too short to avoid damaging the roots and slowing down the growing process. Most lawns should only be mowed to three or four inches.

There are many diseases associated with lawn grasses. Some fungi will turn the individual blades of grass a light green to yellow color and then brown. Gray leaf spot and brown patch are the most common that occur. The affected areas are noticeable in shady areas or lower areas in the yard that hold water. Those are common diseases associated with tall fescue, ryegrass and St. Augustine grasses due to the thick root-thatch of such varieties.

De-thatching your lawn occasionally will prevent the growth of such fungi, but if they already are apparent, application of a fungicide should kill the disease. You can apply granules with a spreader and water them in, or use a powder diluted with water to spray on the lawn, or use a pre-mixed liquid and a sprayer. Some of the major brands include fungicides from Fungonil, Spectracide and Bonide.

Chinch bugs and grubs may cause damaze to lawns. Chinch bugs are very tiny at 1/5 of an inch long and have a triangle on their white wings. Grub worms are beetle larvae look like small, fat worms. If infested with such insects, the grass will start appearing brown next to sidewalks and driveways first and then spread through the lawn with large brown patches. An application of a liquid insecticide such as Diazinon, NPD or Propoxur will help treat the problem.

A common lawn disease in the humid wet summer is mushrooms. Many people will just kick them over and think their problem is solved. The underlying cause of the deterioration of grass by mushroom growth is that they deplete the soil of nutrients so the grass appears sickly. The only way to solve this kind of problem is to dig the soil up around the mushroom bottom and apply a weed killer to the area. The entire lawn does not need to be treated in this instance, but only the area around the mushrooms.

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