Your grass has a reddish-orange tinge. What’s going on? You’re probably looking at rust disease. Lawn rust can leave healthy-looking grass covered in reddish-orange dust. While it may look alarming, lawn rust is usually a temporary nuisance that develops when turf is stressed and growing slowly. Knowing the signs and adjusting your lawn care routine can help your grass recover.
Here’s how to diagnose the condition and treat it with guidance from our landscaping experts.
Lawn Rust: How to Identify Orange Rust in Your Grass
First of all, it’s very easy to identify visually. If you walk across your lawn and your shoes turn reddish-orange or orange clouds rise up when you mow, you know what you’re dealing with. The “rust” can actually adhere to your footwear and track into the home.
What us it, Exactly?
Lawn rust is a group of fungal diseases that affect the leaves of turfgrass. Early symptoms can be easy to overlook because the lawn may simply appear pale, yellow, or slightly thinner than normal. As the disease develops, yellow, orange or reddish-brown spots form on individual grass blades.
These spots eventually release powdery spores that rub off easily. Walking through the affected area may leave orange dust on light-coloured shoes, pant legs, garden equipment or a pet’s paws. Mowing can also send the spores into the air, creating a noticeable orange cloud behind the mower.
What Causes Lawn Rust?
Lawn rust infections occur during low light intensity when leaf surfaces are moist, and temperatures are moderate. In other words, overcast, humid, rainy days in summer. Optimal conditions for the growth and spread of rust is 20-30 degrees C and turf that is growing slowly due to drought stress, cutting the lawn too short or it hasn’t been fed (fertilized) in a while.
So, it starts with rain and humidity, then you add the heat of summer to stressed-out grass and it’s everywhere. Does that weather sound familiar?
That’s right, that’s been the latest in Ontario’s forecast.
Lawn rust is more common during warm, humid weather when grass blades stay damp for extended periods. It can become more noticeable in lawns affected by drought, low nutrient levels, excessive shade, or mowing that is too short.
Because rust often develops in slow-growing turf, improving overall lawn health is usually the most effective response.
How to Manage Lawn Rust
To help turf grow out of the rust symptoms, raise your mowing height, mow frequently, fertilize, and if possible, irrigate to wash rust off grass blades.
Rust does not usually kill the grass. It is considered a nuisance only.
Raise your mower height and continue mowing regularly with a sharp blade. Water deeply in the morning rather than lightly in the evening and consider fertilization if the lawn is lacking nutrients.
These steps encourage stronger growth, allowing the grass to replace affected blades over time.
Get Professional Lawn Care from Wright Landscape Services
If lawn rust keeps returning, the turf may be dealing with underlying stress. Wright Landscape Services provides professional lawn care and landscape maintenance in Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph.
Contact our team today to schedule a consultation and create a maintenance plan that breathes new life into your lawn.
