Contents
You might have noticed some brown and yellow patches appearing on your green lawn, despite you watering often and keeping a healthy lawn.
Leaving you wondering how your garden can have a lawn disease if you are taking good care of it? and that's where your lawnmower might be to blame.
A lawnmower can spread lawn fungal disease via diseased patches of grass, this is because lawn-fungi can attach themselves to the cutting deck of your lawnmower, therefore spreading it wherever you mow.
It's important to prevent fungi from spreading on your lawn straight away, whether it is from your lawn care practices or neighbouring lawn, so understanding how your lawnmower is spreadinmulg it is key to getting back to your fungus-free lawn.
We have put together a short guide below that will give you the essential information you need to know.
First of all, before we can get on to tackling the fungal diseases on your lawn, you should determine whether or not it is actually a fungus, or you just have bad growing conditions for your type of grass.
Too much water or a large amount of fertiliser can cause fungus to grow on your lawn too.
We have listed some common symptoms below that will show if your lawn has been infected by fungal diseases.
If you have diagnosed your mowing lawns grass with fungus problems, then you should understand how this disease spreads so as you can see how it develops if left untreated.
Fungus needs a host to live in, which is the natural conditions of your grass, they spread through their fungus spores which are commonly found on grass blades and soils, which can't be avoided, however, the spreading of this fungus is what happens when they find the proper environment to grow in.
Which in our case, could be the lawnmower. The fungus also likes to grow on types of grass such as wet lawns or damp lawns, they don't survive as well on dry lawns.
No matter the lawn care ideas you have to get rid of lawn fungus, if it's on your lawnmower, it will continue to spread. Fungal spores will make themselves comfy in the undercarriage of your lawnmower and grown on wet grass after your mow.
Infected grass can also happen from air-borne fungus spores or even be carried by your boots!
Mowing can also spread fungus on your lawn as it results in stressed lawns, this weakens it and makes it vulnerable to disease, especially if you cut the grass in the lawn too short or you have blunt blades which are resulting in scalped lawns.
Different types of fungus can be spread according to different lawn types, some of the most common fungus type to occur are -
To prevent your lawn mower from spreading fungus and avoiding unhealthy lawns, you can follow a few tips and methods that we will list below.
Don't use the grass clippings collected from your mower as mulch and bag the dead lawn clippings up as much as you can to prevent them from spreading more fungus, trying to mulch an infected lawn is not a good idea.
Also never mulch your lawn with wet clippings, as this can create a damp environment for the fungus to thrive.
Many people shy away from using lawn chemicals on their garden grass as it is not natural, and in some cases, can do more harm than good. But if your fungi are out of control on your lawn then you might not be left with a choice so as you can stop it before it spreads.
There are some improved lawn care practices you can be implementing to make fungus less likely to grow on your lawn and avoid chemical treatment.
Firstly, have proper watering times for your grass, this should be in the morning, also use the best lawn fertilization you can and never cut your grass too short. Sometimes bad weather conditions can encourage excess water but the likelihood of fungus growth is reduced when following the tips above.
After use you should take time to clean your mower well under the mowing deck and around the blades, this stops dry grass from sticking to your blades and encouraging rust or fungus growth.
Many mowers have wash ports to make this process easier, but you might have to tip your mower over, which means you should tip it with the air filter up to prevent fuel leaking and remove the spark plug during this cleaning process.
To conclude, bad weather conditions, improper lawn care and other factors can cause fungi to attach themselves to your grass and be spread around your lawn via your mower, but if you take the time to create a better environment for your lawn and clean your mower well, you should be able to get your garden back to being green and healthy in no time.
