SNOW MOLD

plant disease that attacks cereals, forage grasses, and turf grasses in northern areas of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is caused by soil-borne fungi and is associated with melting snow or prolonged cold, drizzly weather. Snow mold is most damaging on golf courses and other turf areas. Fusarium nivale, which causes pink snow mold, or fusarium patch, appears as irregularly circular, tan to reddish brown patches up to 30 cm (1 foot) in diameter that may merge to cover large areas. When wet, leaves are covered with dense, whitish to pink threads (mycelium) of the fungus. Typhula itoana and T. idahoensis cause gray snow mold, or typhula blight, identified by roughly circular, bleached-tan areas up to about 60 cm in diameter and covered when moist with a fluffy, bluish gray to almost black mycelium. Minute, round, brown dots (sclerotia) form on diseased parts. Snow mold can be controlled by having good surface drainage, avoiding late-fall fertilization and thatch buildup (mats of dead grass at the soil line), and keeping grass cut in the fall. Where the condition is serious, a fungicide spray can be applied late during a wet autumn and repeated during midwinter thaws.