How to Prevent and Treat Gray Leaf Spot in Houston
Update in September 2018 – Because of the cool and very wet weather pattern we’ve seen over the last few weeks, there’s been a tremendous increase in reports of Brown Patch and Gray Leaf Spot in our area. We have the fungicides you need to prevent those issues. If you’ve seen evidence of Brown Patch and Gray Leaf Spot in your lawn, we have the Nitro Phos fungicides you need to treat the problem and prevent reoccurrence. Call us at 281-431-7441 for more information.
If you take good care of your lawn in the Houston climate, you may have to treat gray leaf spot to keep your lawn healthy. Gray leaf spot usually occurs in shady areas of your lawn — especially areas that tend to stay damp. The fertilization that you do to care for your lawn can combine with the shade and wetness to promote gray leaf spot. Houston Grass South Owner Michael Romine talks about gray leaf spot in established lawns and how to treat the fungus in this video. Call 281-431-7441 for more information.
Very knowledgeable and very friendly. Will definitely be back if I need sod again. – Bryan S – September 15, 2017
Summary of How to Prevent and Treat Gray Leaf Spot in Established Lawns
– – Hi, I’m Michael with Houston Grass and today we’re out in a backyard and we want to take a look and talk a little bit about gray leaf spot. Gray leaf spot is a fungus that comes around every year as part of the hot, humid Houston summer. It occurs especially in these backyards and areas where there’s not a whole lot of wind circulation.
We kind of want to talk about it on two different fronts. First I’d like to talk about gray leaf spot as it pertains to established ones and what to look for and how to treat it. And then I would like to talk about gray leaf spot in new lawns as well.
How to Identify Gray Leaf Spot
First, we’re in an established lawn, let’s talk about that. The first signs that you’ll normally see are these, we’ll put a picture up so you can see a close up, but these blades of grass that have kind of cigarette burns or I call ’em little brown freckles on ’em. You’ll start to see some of those and also patches of this chlorotic, yellow-looking grass. The shadier an area is, the more susceptible it’s going to be to gray leaf spot because this is a fungus. The more damp an area is going to be, the more likely you’ll see gray leaf spot because the area never really dries out.
You should be looking for signs of gray leaf spot during the summer months. If you see damage to your grass, you should know the difference between gray leaf spot and other problems like chinch bugs, or brown patch, or sod webworms. You can tell by the season, a lot, just what time of year it is. And, like I said, looking for this chlorotic yellow and these cigarette-looking burns on the pieces of grass.
How to Prevent and Treat Gray Leaf Spot in Established Lawns
There’s lots of things you can treat gray leaf spot with. Systemic fungicides are what most folks recommend. We carry Eagle Turf by Nitro-Phos, and we’ll put a picture of that here in the video so you can see it. It comes in a granular form, and you put it out with your fertilizer spreader and you water it in, about a quarter of an inch of water. That’s equivalent to maybe an hour with your sprinkler.
I believe that the treatment lasts two to three weeks, and then you’ll have to treat again. Unfortunately, you may have to treat gray leaf spot several times throughout the summer, but if you can keep it at bay, and if an area’s getting plenty of sunshine, your lawn can recuperate from the gray leaf spot.
But if the gray leaf spot really gets out of hand and the affected area of your lawn is in a shadier area, you’ll see the grass really go downhill and decay and become not much at all.
Houston Grass Delivers the Best Grass Sod in Houston
Our grass is grown on our family farm in Bay City, and we know that every piece of grass and pallet we deliver will be of the highest quality. Michael’s family has been in the grass business for more than 30 years, and he spent many hours working on the farm growing up.
We can deliver our grass to your project site or you can pick up the grass you need at our office. We can also arrange for installation if you need it.
Our office is located just off Highway 6 and a few miles east of Sienna Plantation.
Call us at 281-431-7441 for information or a price quote.
Articles Related to How to Prevent and Treat Gray Leaf Spot
- What’s Gray Leaf Spot
- Treating Gray Leaf Spot in New Lawns
- Nitro Phos Fertilizers & Other Products
- Best Chinch Bug Treatment for Houston
- Houston Brown Patch Treatment
- What Will Kill Sod Webworms
- Nitro Phos Product Page