Is your lawn infected with snow mold?

Many people have probably never heard of this, but gardening experts are warning about snow mold this year.

Most signs of spring include warmer weather, green grass. But gray-colored circles on your lawn? Well, not so much.

As many across the region are gearing up their green thumbs with the hopes of a lawn to show off, there could be something lurking beneath.

“Snow mold is something that does exist, occurs when we get a snow late in the winter, and there are ways to treat it,” Kelly Blundell of KT Lawn & Landscapting said.

Snow mold is a type of fungus and turf disease that damages or kills grass after snow melts, typically in late winter.

Signs of a problem aren’t noticeable until the spring when the snow melts. It’s most problematic when you receive a heavy, deep snowfall before the ground has completely frozen.

All that weight on fragile grass, coupled with lots of wintertime moisture, not to mention cover from leaves, could bring on the snow mold.

Anyone working to battle snow mold or simply looking to get your lawn back in shape, experts say pre-emergents is the way to go.

“If you have more than three days of the weather at 55 degrees, that is when the weeds and grasses germinate in your flowers, so this is really the time to put down your pre-emergent,” Blundell said.

If you’re thinking about having your lawn mower and blowers tuned up for the spring, you’ll want to do it sooner rather than later.

“We’re receiving about anywhere between 15 and 20 lawn mowers for repair per day,” said Kylia Wilson of Centerville Gravely Lawn Equipment & Service.

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