Black fungus on lawn? Help please.

Hi everyone, I am new here and this is my first post. I have recently bought a house and while giving the lawn its first cut the other day, I noticed some patches of black stuff that looked like dried leaves. Also, there are patches dead grass appearing on the lawn, it looks terrible
I wonder if anyone here has seen this before and knows what can be done to treat this? I will attach some pictures when I get home for you all to see

thanks in advance!

 

Hi Stuart,

My guess is that it's Dog Lichen. It is a fascinating thing, being a combination of two species ( a lichen and a fungi) living in symbiosis with each other.

I recently wrote a piece about it here.

The cause is compacted, poor soil. The solution is to Aerate, and top-dress with a good quality lawn dressing.

Kris

 

Hi Kris
do you know of a good supplier for lawn seed

Spruce

 

Not really on topic that.
Yes, I've got a great supplier, thanks.

 

Your lawn site is a great site Kris I have seen most of your posts on here , never noticed your site link though . Looking out of my window.......next door on the left is mown like bowling green short so it always looks threadbare. The other next door has huge burn marks on it after the application of Aftercut pellets I think . So many problems on lawns !

 

Thank you!

Yes, lots of lawn issues, especially at this time of year ... To be honest though, if everyone mowed their lawns long and fed them properly, I'd be out of a job!

Kris

 

Hey Kris, for some reason I tried to quote your post to reply to you and I've accidently started a "conservation" with you. Can you tell I'm new here haha?
Thanks for replying so quickly, and that link you gave me looks absolutely spot on !