After the winter snow has melted, it is always refreshing to see a nice green and healthy lawn. One common disease that can be an eyesore in your nice green lawn is “snow mold”. Snow mold is a fungal disease that can be found it 2 different varieties, Grey and Pink. Pink snow mold is usually a little more severe and does more damage than grey snow mold. Snow mold thrives when there is at least 45+ days of snow cover on the ground. Although there are no ways to prevent snow mold from occurring there are some things you can do to help reduce the odds of snow mold forming, such as;

• Mowing the lawn at the correct length going into late fall
• Managing thatch level
• Clean up leaves in fall
• Spread out large snow piles to encourage rapid snow melt

This year, in the Dayton, OH area, we have seen significant amounts of snow cover and will probably see an increase in the amount of snow mold cases on lawns this year. We tend to see snow mold have a greater affect on newly seeded lawns but damage is seldom serious. To help speed up the healing process, infected areas can be lightly raked to promote drying. If you feel your lawn has been affected by snow mold, feel free to give us a call or visit our website at www.lawn-plus.com and we would be happy to assess your lawn and provide recommendations.