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Dollar Spot Lawn Disease - You Don't Want To Collect These Dollars

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I recently received a picture sent in by one of our field staff in Niles, MI, John Metzner. John took this picture early in the morning of a lawn that had this white cottony-like growth covering sections of it, as you can see in the picture. This cottony-like growth is the mycelium, or growth structures of a disease called Dollar Spot. This lawn disease  forms during temperatures that range from 60 to 90 degrees with extended periods of leaf wetness. That description basically describes the weather that the Midwest has been experiencing for most of the summer. I have been working in the lawn care service industry since 1978 and I have only seen the mycelium once during that time. I told John that he was fortunate to see it since it usually dries up and is difficult to see once the sun comes out. What we usually see is the damage caused by the disease, which can range from small circles of grass that turn white from the tips down or larger patches of turf that appear blighted, such as what you see in this picture. Oftentimes you can see the characteristic hour glass lesion on the grass blade. One thing good about Dollar Spot disease is that it generally does not kill the grass plant. Depending on the growing conditions, the spots often recover on their own. Proper lawn fertilization, mowing and not watering at night will help this lawn disease recover quickly.