Chafer grubs: the damage is done by the birds
If your lawn is being torn up overnight, the grubs are only half the problem. Here is how to tell what you have and what actually works.
Fairy rings: why the grass is greener in a circle
Dark green arcs, sometimes with toadstools, sometimes with dead grass. Three different types, and only one of them is really a problem.
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What to look for
A fairy ring is a fungus growing outward through the soil from a central point, breaking down organic matter as it goes. The nitrogen that releases is why the grass above it is greener — the ring is, in effect, feeding your lawn in a circle.
There are three types. Type 3 is just the dark green arc, sometimes with toadstools after rain, and it needs nothing done to it. Type 2 is the same plus a band of thinner grass. Type 1 is the difficult one: the fungal mat becomes so dense it repels water, and the grass above it dies in a ring.
For type 3, the honest advice is to leave it and mow the toadstools off. It is not damaging the lawn and there is no treatment that removes the fungus without removing a great deal of soil with it.
For type 1, the mat has to be broken up mechanically and a wetting agent worked in so water can get through again. It takes two seasons and it does not always work. Anyone who tells you they can remove a type 1 fairy ring in one visit is selling you a fungicide that is not licensed for it.
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