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PRO

Black slime on lawn?

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Quoting here for a re turf and have noticed some black mould is growing on lawn surface. It is thin and slightly slimy on touch. 

It has appeared over an area of lawn for last 18 months or so where grass is dying back. Owners do have a bitch but problem is only fairly recent.

Any thoughts? Is it likely to appear again after prep and re-turf?

Simon 

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  • PRO
    Looks like moss and lichen to me kill both and see what it looks like after that. Looking at 3rd picture I would just kill and. Remove and then reseed those poor areas does not look too bad apart from those patches
  • Is the area in pic three the entire lawn?

    Odd pattern, but it does look like damage from the dog, and the mould/algae is a secondary issue. I'd ditch the grass and go for something like gravel and some nice pots: no point having a tiny bit of grass that's a dog toilet, and expecting it to look good?

    • Concentrated areas of dog pee has killed the grass and a very wet autumn/winter has caused the algae. I think I agree with Paul here - get rid of it...............dog or lawn, either would solve the problem! 

  • PRO

    Looking at the pattern, I'd say someone has used a shaker and applied granules too strongly.

    The black slime is present because the soil is airless and compact.

    It's worth considering synthetic grass or a hard surface, especially if dogs are a problem.

    • PRO

      Phil you hit the nail on the head. :)

  • PRO Supplier

    I think Phil has it spot on. Being a small area its been compacted ,likely never aerated so anaerobic conditions allow algae, slime and deterioration...the rest of the lawn is likely to start declining too.

    As a minimum I would aerate, backfill the holes and light topdress then re-seed.......or just start again..!

  • Hi Simon.

    Just noticed your photos and was interested in the bottom one.

    It looked like a similar problem I was asked to resolve about 18 months ago.

    A, shall we say, neighbour of the person I cured the problem for, had it in for them and unnoticed one day, decided to spell out an expletive in round-up.

    The pattern on the lawn you have posted reminded me of it.

    Long story short, I had to dig down approximately 16 inches and renewed the drainage and soil, then seeded.

    Seemed to solve the problem and luckily the neighbour moved less than a year after.

    David.

  • PRO
    Thanks for all of your replies and suggestions. Removing the turf altogether and replacing with a form of hard standing is not something I have considered, but is certainly something I will discuss with the client
  • PRO Supplier

    I have used the Terralift to aerate a bowling green in South Wales (during their playing season) which suffered from black slime.  If I hadn't treated the green at that time, they would have slithered around for the rest of the season and then lost the green completely.  Seven years later we heard that they were still playing on the green.  Aerating the soil to one metre depth, injecting dried seaweed and backfilling the probe holes with aggregate aids in long term aeration, allows air and water to percolate, in turn promotes a healthy aerated lawn and stronger root growth. Lynda Green Terrain Aeration Services

  • The product known as Instrata deals with this algae growth but in this situation it would be better to rip out and replace with chips as previously mentioned
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