Fairy rings are dark green open circles, like hula hoops, that appear on your lawn. The dark ring itself may be a couple inches to two feet wide and the diameter of the ring can be from two feet to fifty feet across.
Almost every culture has its own folklore relating to fairy rings. Stories range from the rings being caused by elves or fairies dancing, to darker stories of witches and devils. The fate that befalls a person who steps inside a fairy ring varies by culture as well – some say the person will receive superpowers while others have the person losing various body parts.
Fairy ring is such a magical name, but they are caused by a fungus in the soil. Don’t be alarmed – it won’t hurt you, your children or pets! And if you don’t mind how it looks, you don’t have to do anything about it; it will eventually go away on its own, although it may be in place, gradually spreading outward, for several years.
You may see a whitish fungus on the soil surface just outside the ring, but you are only seeing a small part of the total fungus. Most of it is underground, in a thread-like mass called mycelium. It grows in all directions from a central point, making a circular pattern.
Fairy ring fungi are not attacking or killing the grass, but are breaking down organic matter in the soil. As the fungi grow outward, the leading edge produces dark green grass because as the fungi consume soil nutrients they release them as nitrogen that fertilizes the soil.
Sometimes, the mycelia get very dense and inhibit water movement into the soil. When this happens, the roots of the grass inside the circle cannot get enough water and the grass turns brown.
If this happens, use a digging fork to punch holes inside the circle and flood the area with water. You may have to do this repeatedly and frequently. Another option is to use a root feeder attachment on a garden hose, punching holes every foot, pumping large amounts of water into the ground at a depth of 10-24 inches.
Most homeowners prefer to live with fairy rings, because they are very difficult to control or remove. Most fungicides do not work and the other option is to dig them out. You’d have to dig and remove the soil a foot deep starting a foot outside the ring, being very careful not to spill any of it, as you will reintroduce the fairy ring fungi. Then refill the hole with fresh soil and reseed or sod.
It’s interesting to note that fairy rings never intersect each other. If they touch, the fungal activity ceases as the fungi from different rings attack each other. If you are renovating a lawn area that had several fairy rings, blend all the soil together before you spread it back out, so the mycelia from the rings can fight it out amongst themselves and take care of the problem for you.
Leave a Reply