Management Tips

• Avoid using root zone mixes with high levels of undecomposed organic materials.
• Reduce thatch by vertical cutting.
• Core aerify.
• Irrigate deeply.
• Use nitrogen  and iron fertilisers to mask symptoms on some types of Fairy Ring.
• Use soil wetting agents to help penetrate hydrophobic areas.

Fungicidal control

At present there are no Syngenta fungicides with label recommendation for control of fiary ring in turf.

Causal Agent

Susceptible Turfgrass

Symptoms 

• Symptoms vary with causal agents (fungal species).
• Circular or arc shaped rings of darker or faster-growing turf appears in moist turf.
• A concentric ring of dead grass may develop inside the circle of lush grass.
• The size of the rings can vary.
• Activity in the turf stops when the individual rings come into contact with each other.
• Mushrooms or toadstools may be produced in the outer ring of lush growth.
• As mycelium grows the soil becomes hydrophobic.
• In a mature Fairy Ring, the outer ring of lush grass may be missing, leaving an outer ring of plant death and an inner ring of green turf.

Conditions Favouring Disease 

• Fairy Rings are more severe on light soils, which have low fertility and low moisture content.
• Turf with a significant thatch layer.
• Drier areas have significantly more Fairy Rings than higher rainfall areas.

General Comments

• Fairy Rings are more prevalent and damaging on lightly water and fertilised fairways and lawns than on well irrigated and fertilised turf.
• Fairy Rings typically occur in spring and summer, however they can also occur on cool-season turfgrass in mild winter climates.
• The most common Basidiomycetes in Australia are species of Lycoperdon; Marasmius; Tricholoma; however there are over 50 causal organisms.

• Turf pathologists classify fairy rings in to four types: Type 1, Type 2, Type 3 and superficial fairy rings (or thatch fungi).  Within each of these four groups there may be many individual fungi that cause fairy ring development, but within each group the symptoms that these fungi cause will be very similar.

  Type 1 fairy rings typically have a ring of dead grass which is bordered on both sides by a band of stimulated grass growth.  Fungal fruiting bodies (mushrooms or toadstools) may be found associated with these rings.

  Type 2 fairy rings are typically a ring of stimulated grass growth with or without the fungal fruiting bodies.

  Type 3 fairy rings generally show no change in the growth of the grass but are evident only by the presence of rings of fungal fruiting bodies.

  Superficial fairy rings are caused by fungal activity in the thatch (hence, also known as thatch fungi).  They can cause rings or patches of yellowed or greened-up turf and may also be associated with slight depressions of the turf surface.  Fungal fruiting bodies will not be seen with superficial fairy rings.

Distribution