If you take a walk through your yard and come out with your shoes covered in a substance that looks like orange or brown dust, your lawn may have come down with a case of grass rust. This condition is caused by a fungus and although it can look serious, it is relatively easy to treat. We’ll explain what grass rust is and how to remove it, and then we’ll recommend our picks for the best professional lawn care services to keep your grass looking green and healthy.
What Is Grass Rust and What Causes It?
Grass rust is not a single lawn disease but rather a name for several species of a fungus called Puccinia or Uromyces. The yellowish-orange dots that you see on grass blades are actually the spores of this fungus, which is how it reproduces.
The fungus spreads when animals or humans pick up the spores on the skin, fur, or clothing and move them to an uninfected location. Although spores need to be present for the infection to start, certain weather conditions make this fungal disease much more likely.
Lawn rust is most likely to develop in the summer or early fall when temperatures are warm and humidity is high. According to the University of Illinois Extension Agriculture Program, here are some specific conditions that contribute to the growth of rust fungus:
- A season of excessive, heavy rain that depletes soil nitrogen
- Cool nights with heavy dew and frequent rainfall
- Cloudy, humid weather followed by hot, sunny weather
- Low soil nitrogen and low water availability that leads to slow growth
Signs and Symptoms of Grass Rust
The symptom of rust diseases that you’re most likely to spot is the obvious one: small, yellow dots on grass blades that develop into orange or brown pustules. When touched, these pustules rupture easily and spread a powdery substance that’s a rusty orange in color. The individual grass blades themselves will begin to look thin and weak, and they’ll break more easily.
Bermuda grass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall fescue are all susceptible to developing grass rust. Although this lawn fungus typically won’t kill the infected turfgrass, it will weaken the grass, leaving it less able to photosynthesize and withstand damage or other lawn diseases.
How to Prevent Grass Rust
The best way to prevent lawn rust is to invest in the general health of your lawn. A robust, healthy lawn is better able to fend off all types of grass disease, and regular lawn care is a big part of the equation.
Know what species of turfgrass you have and how it responds to changing seasons throughout the year. Mow regularly, keeping stress on the grass to a minimum by setting your lawn mower to cut off no more than one-third of the length of the blades at a time.
Proper fertilizing is also a key part of the process. Insufficient soil nitrogen can weaken turfgrass, leaving it susceptible to disease. However, huge influxes of nitrogen can cause quick overgrowth, which then depletes the grass’ resources and also leaves it weaker. Steady, seasonal fertilizing customized to your soil and turfgrass’ needs gives it the best chance to fight off grass rust.
Determine whether your lawn contains cool-season grass like tall or fine fescue or Kentucky bluegrass, or a warm-season species like Bermuda grass or zoysia grass. Cool-season grasses go dormant in the heat of summer and hit their growing season when temperatures begin to cool off in the fall. Warm-season grasses, on the other hand, grow fastest in the spring and early summer but go dormant in the winter.
Fertilize each type of grass as it begins its growing season—that means the early fall for cool-season grasses and the spring for warm-season grasses.
How to Treat Grass Rust
Fortunately, you typically don’t need fungicides to treat rust-infested grass. Usually, some intensive lawn maintenance will get rid of rust in your lawn.
First, you typically want to reduce moisture levels that are allowing the fungus to flourish, so hold off on watering your lawn until the grass needs it instead of relying on automatic sprinklers. In general, deep but infrequent watering is better for your lawn than frequent, shallow irrigation. Additionally, water in the morning to let the lawn dry out during the day.
Next, fertilize the lawn with a high-nitrogen fertilizer, preferably a slow-release formula that will keep nitrogen levels steady over a longer period. Don’t go overboard in the late fall, though, since warm-season grasses are about to go dormant for the winter and cool-season grasses suspend their growth. If it’s later than September or October, you may want to wait out the winter. Chances are that the fungus will die out in the cold.
Keep mowing regularly, but make sure to bag grass clippings instead of letting them scatter, which can actually further spread the rust.
Lawn aeration can help, as well, since it reduces soil impaction and improves drainage. If your grass is a species that produces thatch, performing a gentle dethatching will help improve air circulation around the grass, preventing it from holding on to too much moisture.
Finally, prune back trees and shrubs as much as possible to allow your grass increased sunlight and air circulation.
When to Call in the Pros
Although fungicide isn’t usually necessary, the types of fungicide that are effective against lawn rust typically aren’t available to consumers. You’ll need to call a professional and have them apply the substance to your lawn.
However, this should only be used as a last resort, because some fungicides can damage grass. If you consult a professional about lawn rust, they’ll help you create a fertilizing and maintenance plan that will help strengthen your grass to fight off the fungus naturally.
Our Top Picks for Professional Lawn Care
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Rating Methodology
To provide readers with the most objective, accurate, and detailed recommendations, the This Old House Reviews Team continually researches lawn care service companies on the market. We take the following steps to obtain up-to-date information about the industry and each company we review:
- Analyze more than 100 customer reviews from third-party review sites, such as Yelp, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Google Reviews, for each company
- Secret-shop for lawn care plans and packages to get a sense of cost, offered services, and the overall shopping experience for prospective customers
- Speak with representatives on the phone to simulate the customer service experience from each provider
- Update information on a regular basis to ensure the most accurate information when plans or services change with each company
We use the data from our research to build an in-depth rating system that allows us to score lawn care providers on a 100-point scale. Here are the factors in our evaluation and their designated scores:
- Plan options (30): As one of the most important factors for homeowners shopping for a lawn care service, this one is weighted heavily based on each company’s lawn coverage. Companies that offer more options, such as irrigation, weed control, seeding, and aeration services in addition to a general plan, score higher than others.
- Trustworthiness (30): Each company’s reputation is another significant factor for homeowners to consider before signing up for a plan. We scored providers based on their BBB score, accreditation, and offered guarantees available with each purchase.
- Additional Benefits (20): We gave extra points to companies that provide a few additional services and benefits with their offered plans, such as organic treatments, pest control services, and a mobile app for digital communication and plan management.
- Customer Service (10): In this rating category, we awarded points to customer-focused lawn care service providers who offer weekend availability and easy communication through phones, online chats, and online resources.
- Availability (10): We also scored companies based on their overall availability, rewarding those that are nationally available over local companies only operating in select cities or ZIP codes.
Our Rating Methodology
The This Old House Reviews Team backs up our pest control recommendations with a detailed rating methodology that we use to objectively score each provider. We review pest control plans, navigate the provider website, speak with customer service representatives by phone and online chat (if available), request quotes, and analyze customer reviews for each provider. We then score the provider against our review standards for plan options, additional benefits and convenience factors, availability, trustworthiness, and customer service to arrive at a final score out of 100.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.