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Everyone wants a beautiful, lush looking landscape – whether it’s your lawn, landscape, or trees. Unfortunately, pests and diseases can enter an area and start to cause problems. I’m going to focus on diseases and how they enter an area and start to infect your landscape.

Plant diseases fall into a few main categories; bacteria, virus, and fungus. While viruses and bacteria are a problem, the majority of diseases we run into in Minnesota are fungi.

Hundreds of varieties of diseases exist, but it’s the environment around you that makes an area conducive for disease development.

Mycelium - fungal spores developing and multiplying

Mycelium: fungal spores developing & multiplying

Disease development requires three things to start forming. A pathogen, a host, and the environment all have to be in the right place at the right time for any disease to start germinating. This is referred to as the Disease Triangle.

Disease Triangle

An example of this would be a common turf fungus, Brown Patch. We already know the pathogen, Brown Patch. Located in Minnesota, all of our grasses can be the host since all cool season grasses are subject to this disease. The environment is in the middle of the summer when temperatures are warm over night mixed with high humidity during the day. Also, how wet and saturated the soil is plays a part in this. When all three come together at the right time, symptoms will start to appear.

Knowing what each facet of the triangle does also gives you options for control of the pathogen. With Brown Patch, several options can be thought about when trying to eradicate the disease. Most companies would go with a quick fix and apply some fungicide to the infected area when that might not be necessary.

At Barrett Lawn Care we utilize the approach of Integrated Pest Management. This means that all considerations are taken into account to alter the environment or conditions before we consider a chemical application. Wind can dry the grass out, temperatures can change, less irrigation, aeration of turf, and raising the mowing height are all options we can utilize without putting any chemical on the ground.

It is very important to understand the relationship of these three when trying to diagnose and identify the problem. A person can go on for days and days on this topic, but without understanding how to approach the problem, many people will not diagnose diseases correctly.

For further information:
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/instcomm/TeachingArticles/Pages/DiseaseTriangle.aspx
https://masters.agron.iastate.edu/classes/514/lesson04b/4b.3.html

Testimonials

"Just want to say thank you!"

“Just want to say thank you! The gentleman was just here and did an outstanding job! Our lot looks fab! Please tell him thank you as well. I appreciate you guys!”

"Nice job!"

“We wanted to let you know that your guys did a very nice job. They were courteous and professional...and they cleaned up their work area before leaving. We’d be happy to recommend Barrett Lawn Care to our friends and neighbors. Nice job!”

"We could not be any happier"

“Thank you to you and your team for designing and installing the beautiful landscaping at our house. We really appreciate your flexibility on the installation schedule. The crew who came to our house was fantastic! They left the yard clean each day and were very patient with my kids who were incredibly interested in the machines and flagstone design. The plants and stonework look so nice. We could not be any happier. Thanks again for everything. We really appreciate it!”

"Our yard hasn’t looked so great since I can remember"

“I just wanted to let you know how pleased we are with your services we had this year. Our yard hasn’t looked so great since I can remember. You did an awesome job! We will be hiring you again next year!”

"Thanks for all you do!"

“I would like to nominate your company to be added to our preferred vendor list. Not only is your customer service outstanding, but the workmanship is flawless. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with your company and feel as though our clients would greatly benefit from working with you. Thanks for all you do!”

"We could not be any happier"

“Thank you to you and your team for designing and installing the beautiful landscaping at our house. We really appreciate your flexibility on the installation schedule. The crew who came to our house was fantastic! They left the yard clean each day and were very patient with my kids who were incredibly interested in the machines and flagstone design. The plants and stonework look so nice. We could not be any happier. Thanks again for everything. We really appreciate it!”

"Above and Beyond"

"We (my husband and I) could not be happier with the work of the Barrett team. From the very beginning, they consistently went above and beyond. When we had them come out to quote us on our idea for landscaping, the designer had recommendations for us that were very innovative and greatly enhanced the vision we had in the first place for our backyard patio/bonfire pit. They provided a fair quote, answered our questions in a timely manner, and the team that worked on our project was diligent, hard-working, detail-oriented, as well as friendly whenever we would talk briefly. Most importantly, our patio/bonfire pit turned out absolutely perfect. We get compliments constantly from friends/family of what an amazing job was done on this project. I cannot say enough great things about this company. If you want high quality, time-efficient, fairly priced work done to your yard, this is where you want to be. We are already looking at other projects that Barrett can help us with in our yard and we look forward to working with them in the future."

About Us

Barrett Lawn Care is a full service outdoor lawn care company specializing in landscaping, garden management, irrigation, fertilization and weed control, commercial lawn care, and commercial snow and ice management. We serve the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs while providing the highest quality workmanship.