Dr. Phyto

Yorkshire fog

Holcus lanatus

Diseases & pests on this plant

• crown rust of oatPuccinia coronata

  Bright orange-yellow pustules on leaves with characteristic crown-shaped teliospores in late season, severe infection causes premature leaf death + lodging, kernels do not fill properly leading to shrivelled grain, in epidemic years 50%+ yield loss with poor grain quality.

• leatherjackets (crane fly larvae)Tipula paludosa

  Yellowing, thinning and dead patches of lawn that lift easily because the roots have been eaten; greyish-brown, legless, tough-skinned grubs up to ~3 cm ("leatherjackets") are found in the top few cm of soil when you lift a patch; birds, badgers or foxes tear up the turf to feed on them; damage peaks in spring as overwintered larvae feed.

• red thread (lawn disease)Laetisaria fuciformis

  Irregular patches of bleached, straw-pink grass from a few cm to ~25 cm across; close up, tiny coral-pink to red gelatinous threads and branching needles bind the dead leaf tips together — the diagnostic sign; in damp weather a faint pink cotton-wool web may show. Grass is killed only at the leaf, not the root, so the lawn recovers.

• pink snow mouldMicrodochium nivale

  Patches of dead seedlings emerging after snowmelt, pinkish-white fluffy mycelium covering plants in cold humid mornings, surviving plants are stunted with brown crown rot.

• ergot of rye + cerealsClaviceps purpurea

  Hard purple-black curved sclerotia (5-30mm long) replacing kernels in cereal heads (very distinctive — looks like a black banana stuck in the head), honeydew (sticky yellow exudate) on flowering heads during infection phase, sclerotia drop to ground at harvest + survive winter, contaminated grain dangerous for human + animal consumption.