Lawn & Turf Tips: Fairy Ring

Fairy Ring

Fairy ring can be found during the spring or summer. Typically, you will see a circle or arc in your lawn with mushrooms in the outside ring. The ring can range anywhere from a few centimeters to 20 meters in diameter. Most often, they are between .5 m and 5 m across. The fairy rings are caused by the release of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, caused by organic matter decaying in the ground.

Symptoms

There are three kinds of fairy rings:

1. The first type has no mushrooms. You will see the ring of grass growth which reveals the activity of the fungi in the soil.
2. This type of ring contains a ring of mushrooms as well a as the ring of stimulated grass growth.
3. The third type of fairy ring is only a ring of mushrooms and there is no evidence of unusual grass growth.
   

Typically, fairy ring does not pose any real threat to your lawn. Once you fertilize in the spring and early summer the symptoms are masked.

In extreme cases, there can be a ring of dead grass that occurs in addition to the ring of stimulated grass ring. This death is due to interference with the normal absorption of water caused by the

dense mat of fungus in the soil. Some of the gases that are escaping could also be from toxic substances and possibly even the direct effect of the fungi on the grass plants.

Fairy Rings normally reoccur each year and their diameter slowly increases in size.

Disease Cycle

• Initially, small rings appear in your lawn.
• The rings grow larger each year as the fungus grows in a radial pattern.
• The rings can increase in size up to .5 meters each year and can become very large over the years of the infection.
  

Control Strategies

Mushrooms only: If mushrooms are the only thing that is present without the stimulated grass growth, simply rake off the mushrooms and dispose f them. If you are handling them, make sure to wash your hands off afterwards.

Since the fairy ring does not cause serious injury in most cases, the most practical method of taking care of the problem is to do it through a cosmetic approach.

Disguise the symptoms by providing:

• Proper fertilization and lawn maintenance program.
• Provide adequate, deep watering down into the root zone.
• This stimulates and promotes the growth of the surrounding grass to mask the fairy ring.
• Avoid excessive watering and fertilization.
• More frequent mowings may help to mask the stimulated growth of the fairy ring.

In rare cases where the fairy ring is causing damage, complete eradication may be necessary. This is accomplished by removing the sod and underlying soil in a 40 -55 cm band in front of and in back of the ring. It is necessary to remove the soil down to a depth of 20 - 90 cm, depending on the severity of the ring. You will need to replace this with clean, preferably sterilized topsoil or soil mix. Once this is done, you can then seed that area.

Please contact us if you have any questions.