Most Common Issues with Lawn Care in South Carolina

By: Ashley Elvington

South Carolina – a state known for smiling faces and beautiful places.  However, it takes quite a great amount of effort at maintaining those beautiful places, as there are many lawn care issues residing within the Palmetto State… Issues that can be easily extinguished if handled properly.

1.       Effects of Poor Drainage – If your lawn is sloped, imbalanced, or compacted, it may be at risk of damage during water drainage. Lawns that hold excessive amounts of water can impact your home’s foundation, as well as destroy your lawn in the process (damaging plants, flower beds and gardens, etc.)

2.       Aftermath of Severe Weather – Trees, plants, and other greenery uprooted and/or impacted by thunderstorms, flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes, dead grass and shrubbery due to rain drought, fallen debris from winter storms, etc.

3.       Presence of Diseases –

a.       Brown Patch – soil borne fungus commonly found in grasses within regions of high humidity and/or shade

b.      Dollar Spot – fungus that impacts the leaf blades of grass and occurs during cool nights and warm, humid days

c.       Rust – occurs during the hotter peaks of summertime, can turn your lawn into a red, yellow, or orange color, and can weaken a lawn enough to completely die during wintertime

d.      Gray Leaf Spot –one of the most frequent lawn diseases, grows in warm weather, can turn leaf blades into a purple-red or purple-brown tone and ultimately result in the death of leaf blades; this more commonly leads to Melting Out Disease

e.      Powdery Mildew – common in shade and areas of poor circulation with high humidity; leaves a white substance on grass leaves, eventually causing the leaves to turn yellow and die

f.        Melting Out Disease – the other most frequent lawn disease; excessive nitrogren fertilization and shade, cutting the grass too low, broadleaf herbicides, and an abundance of thatch can attribute to this disease (as well as its predecessor, Gray Leaf Spot); once it starts, this can be extremely difficult to rid your lawn of easily

4.       Infestation of Pests – mole crickets, Japanese beetles, whitegrub, spittlebugs, ground pearls, chinch bugs, and sod webworms can all be devastating to your lawn if not exterminated adequately

5.       Trouble with Red Clay – if you live in an area heavy in red clay soil, it may be difficult to plant and maintain greenery due to the soil’s low pH; lime will need to be added to maintain a balance sustainable for plant growth

6.       Abundance of Weeds – dandelions, chickweed, plantain, Japanese clover, crabgrass, goosegrass, nutsedge, and dallisgrass can all create pesky problems when maintaining your lawn