Fighting Fairy Rings

Fairy rings are strange circular formations that form in your lawn. Folk lore tells us that these formations are gateways between our world and a world inhabited by fairies and creatures of myth. Some legends hold these rings as a spots of dancing, to lure mere mortals into a fairy trap, or as a location where mortals can capture a mythical creature in order to gain a wish or more. If the infestation is not large or in a location that does not hinder other yard uses then there is no reason to eradicate the problem. You might want to simply adorn the ring with a garden gnome and claim the formation as part of your landscaping. However, if the fairy ring is bothersome and you want to remove the circular formations, you can take some steps to control or eradicate the problem.

Fairy rings can appear as dark green circles of lush grass or moss that seem to appear out of nowhere in your yard, rings of toadstools or rings of mushroom like growths, circles of yellow or brown grass growing within a ring of lush grass, or a combination of these formations. Some of the fairy ring manifestations can be quite charming, and unless a dead zone of brown grass and serious damage starts to appear there is no reason to become overly concerned. If the ring begins to grow, or is impeding the use of your yard, then it is time to take action.

Fairy rings are actually caused by fungus. There are over six hundred different kinds of fungus that can cause these rings. The ring of fungus is typically triggered by soil with a high organic content, sometimes because of an old tree stump or other source of highly concentrated nutrients, buried in the soil. The problem is best dealt with a combination of compost, plenty of water and aerating the soil. Aerating the soil to let the noted compost and water get deep in the ground is important to make your efforts effective. If there is a layer of thatch in the infected area, then make sure to remove and dispose of that thatch since it is adding to the problem in several ways. The thatch could be part of the reason the fungus was able to take hold in the area to begin with and can hinder your attempts to resolve the issue. If your fairy ring includes a visible fungus, such as toadstools, then to prevent their spread into other areas of your lawn you need to collect and burn the fungus. Be sure to contain the fungus in an airtight container after they are picked until you can burn them. The spores that the fungi use to reproduce are tiny and hardy; you do not want to spread them around the rest of your lawn or home. That is also why you do not want to include the fungus in compost or trash containers, it would only aid in the fungus's growth and spread to new areas.

Further steps you can take include mowing the infected area separately from the rest of your lawn. If you do this then you will also want to collect the grass clippings from they area and burn them as you would any collected toadstools or fungus. This grass might carry more fungus spores. You should use a fungicide to clean your lawn mower after mowing the infected area, to prevent spreading the spores that might have attached themselves to the lawn mower. You can also use specific fungicides made for lawn use. With any fungicide treatment for your lawn tools or lawn itself, be sure to carefully follow package instructions and take all safety precautions.

If all else fails, and you really want to get rid of a fairy ring in your yard there is one more, labor intensive, way to go about it. You can literally remove the ring and the source from your yard. This involves digging up and removing the dirt, the woody material that began the infection, and the infected soil. If you resort to this intensive approach, then you must remove the soil and all debris from your property, otherwise the infection could take route wherever you dispose of the infected materials. You must dig a full twelve to eighteen inches around the infected area and go at least a spades depth down, deeper if the spore threads continue further down into your soil. After removing all infected materials, and disposing of them properly, you then need to replace the soil and turf with clean, uninfected soil and turf.