Tips for Treating Snow Mold in Your Lawn

Snow mold is a common springtime disease that occurs in lawn areas that are continuously covered with snow for up to 3 or more months. This disease can be especially concentrated in areas of lawn that have the most shade. As the snow melts from a lawn, the homeowner will notice gray or pink-matted areas of lawn. This is snow mold. Fungicide used to control this disease is not recommended, because all you need is a rake and warm weather for the disease to die off and for the lawn to recover.

Treating snow mold is not difficult. As soon as the lawn is devoid of snow, take a leaf rake and lightly rake the lawn to remove any dead leaf tissue and to fluff the lawn. Raking the lawn in this manner (rather than doing nothing) will give it a head start in recovering. The fluffed lawn will allow more air and sun to penetrate to the soil level. This will help in drying out the lawn to the point where it is no longer a suitable environment for snow mold.

Some methods of prevention include:

• Keep mowing your lawn in the late fall to get the grass as short as possible without injury (about 2 inches). The short height will discourage matting and allow more air and sunlight to penetrate to the soil level the following spring.
• Rake up any leaves on the lawn so that it is exposed to air and sun light.
• Keep an eye on the thatch layer, a layer of dead/decomposing organic material that sits just above the soil. As this layer thickens, air, sunlight, water and nutrients are hindered from reaching the soil, which prevents the lawn from drying properly.

Snow mold may not appear in your lawn every year, but if it seems that the matted areas become too much for you to handle, or you do not have the time to properly address these troubled areas in spring time, please contact Bosch’s Landscape and Lawn Specialties so we can offer you our assistance in taking care of your lawn throughout the season. Call our office in Holland, MI at (616) 399 6861 to start the conversation about your lawn.