After a long winter, your lawn needs maintenance in order to avoid spring lawn diseases. Spring Dead spot is an extremely visible disease of Bermudagrass. Although this disease begins during the fall season, physical signs of damage are often shown in spring.

Physical Appearance

When winter dormancy is over, spring dead spots will start to appear on your lawn. The lawn disease becomes apparent as circular patches of bleached, grass appear as the lawn turns green in the spring. Some spring dead spots can be sunken into the lawn producing circular white patches of a diameter of 6 inches to a few feet as a result.

These patches are dead and can spread into surrounding areas.  After a few years, spring dead spots will also enlarge into surrounding areas. It is important to understand how to treat spring dead spots, because re-growth of healthy grass is slow once spring dead spots are present.

How to Treat Spring Dead Spots

Although there are fungicides available for spring dead spots, fungicide applications are expensive and not always effective in controlling spring dead spots. If you decide to use a fungicide application, consider using it when disease symptoms are in activity. Be sure to follow the product’s label instructions when using fungicides.

Good turf culture practices, including periodic core aeration and proper fertilization, will minimize the problem. If spring dead spots continue to be visible, please contact your local Lawn Doctor to inspect your lawn for recommended lawn treatments.