When you see small circular patches of dead or discolored grass on your lawn, it can be disheartening to learn that there are several potential causes for this condition. You have to solve the mystery of what the problem is before you can solve the problem! However, when your problem is Pythium Blight, you have the good fortune of an easy to identify concern.
Pythium Blight is Also Known as Cottony Blight
The reason Pythium Blight is known as Cottony Blight is due to the white, fluffy, cotton-like growth that this disease produces on your grass. Before you see that growth appearing, you may notice circular patches on your lawn turning dark green or purple in color. They might look like they’re wet – and if you feel the actual grass blades in this part of the lawn, they may have a greasy, slimy feel. These are the common signs of Pythium Blight.
Pythium Blight Looks Like a Fungal Disease But It’s Not
If you’ve read this far into this article, you’re likely a person who is already familiar with some other common lawn diseases such as Summer Patch and Brown Patch. Those are both soil-borne fungal diseases. Pythium Blight is significantly different. Rather than being a fungus, Pythium is an oomycete. Oomycetes are a type of pathogen that strongly resemble fungus but are, on a very small scale, much more mobile. This means disease spreads over your lawn in multiple ways, including through any water that’s lying on the surface and by traveling from plant to plant via direct contact.
This is important because you want to limit the spread of Pythium Blight as much as you can. Don’t run your lawn mower through infected grass & then go mow the rest of the lawn with it – you’ll be spreading disease everywhere. Controlling the disease means washing the mower blades off after mowing infected grass. Additionally, you’ll want to limit how much you’re watering the infected areas, and refrain from fertilizing these areas.
