Strange Things Are Happening In My Yard

Some weird stuff has been happening on my home lawn this spring. Examples include:

• Small brown patches across my lawn.

• Tar like spots on the outside of our picture window.

• Something digging soil out of our flower containers and tossing it on our patio.

The brown patches on my lawn are a fungus called Red Thread. It gets its name from the tiny red and pink threadlike patches on the ends of grass blades. Usually, Red Thread occurs on lawns that are slow growing and nitrogen deficient. It has been more of a regular occurrence this year due to the cool, wet spring. Even lawns that receive a regular feeding program have shown signs of Red Thread this spring.

If you have noticed Red Thread on your lawn, there is no need to panic. Although Red Thread creates an undesirable appearance, it will not have any lasting effects on the grass as it does not harm the crown or the roots. A light application of nitrogen fertilizer will help the lawn grow out of this problem.

A little more frustrating to me, were the tar-like spots I noticed on my front window, as I was helping my wife wash windows. Not only were these spots on the glass itself, they were all over the window sill. I soon learned that these spots were also the result of fungus. The fungus known as Artillery Fungus, or shotgun fungus, appear when the spores of the fungus collect enough moisture and burst, spraying the sticky stuff as high as two stories. It is not so hard to understand where the name comes from now.

What is hard, is removing the brown spots. It is not too bad on glass surfaces, however. I used a razor blade glass scrapper with glass cleaner and it worked pretty well. The hard part was removing it from the siding and gutters. It is almost impossible to remove completely.

So, is there anything to do that can prevent artillery fungus? About the only option is to use mulch, other than hardwood mulch, as the fungus prefers decaying wood. Replacing mulch from year to year can also reduce the fungus.

The most recent strange thing I noticed on my lawn, was something digging out and scattering the soil from my flower containers. That one remains a mystery for now!