Snow Mold Fungus on Cincinnati and Dayton Lawns

We saw it back in 2011, but usually Snow Mold Fungus on Cincinnati and Dayton lawns isn’t a big problem.  In 2011, we had snow that sat on the grass for many weeks and created the perfect environment to promote this winter fungus on lawns.  In Southwest Ohio, we occasionally see this lawn disease cause some unsightly patches in the lawn when Early Spring arrives.  Snow mold fungus can cause lawns to have circular areas of straw to grayish brown in color.  Sometimes you may even see pink areas that indicates that part of the lawn is suffering from Pink Snow Mold Fungus.  All snow mold funguses, while they do not look good, do not kill off grass too often.

Helpful Lawn Care Tips to Combat Snow Mold

• The last mowing of the season in Late Fall should leave the grass around 2 inches tall.  This will reduce the chance of having snow mold fungus affect your Cincinnati and Dayton lawn
• Do not promote shoot growth with your Late Fall Application.  You want to be promoting root growth at this time.  PureLawn puts down a root boosting late fall application on all our Cincinnati and Dayton lawns
• If you get snow mold fungus, then take a rake and “fluff” the grass in the Early Spring.  This will allow the grass to breathe and help the lawn bounce back quicker from this turf disease.
• Apply a balanced fertilizer in the Early Spring to help the lawn recover quicker.  PureLawn is out in March/April applying their first lawn applications of the year.  If the ideal conditions were present that Winter and some of our lawns got Snow Mold Fungus, then our turf applications help the grass recover quicker.