Jay Nygaard: Jay Nygaard, owner of Great Outdoors Landscape, here to talk to you a little bit about things that can negatively impact your lawn area. One of these issues is a fungus. You can see fungus in your lawn by the development of mushrooms, molds or you could see it through discoloration, discoloration in the form of a plum that gets larger as the fungus spreads.

Things that you can do to prevent the spread of fungus and also to mitigate, is to reduce the amount of water in the lawn area. You can do this by either increasing drainage or reduce watering times on your sprinkler system. Next up on the negative list are weeds.

You can use an herbicide, as we disused earlier, in a granular form to eradicate dandelions, crabgrass and other weeds from infiltrating your lawn area. But the best defense against weeds is a healthy, thick, lush lawn. Now there are some weeds that develop, that are tough and hard to get rid of, one of which is the bindweed morning glory.

Weeds like that require either to get down on one knee and pull them out the old fashioned way or repeated spot treatments or to spray herbicide. Usually, the time frames in between applications would be one week. Another issue that can have a negative effect on your lawn area is pests.

What I recommend you do is to try some biological corrections first, prior to using chemicals. Some of these would include adding predatory insects to your garden and lawn area. These would include ladybugs and praying mantis. They feed on other insects that negatively affect your lawn area and can take care of the problem without using harmful chemicals.

Another way to remedy the situation is to use an insecticidal soap which is best applied with water. There are other chemicals and other biological treatments that you can use, some biological treatments specifically target individual insects that you'll need a professional to identify prior to using. As a last resort, a chemical such as a Diazenon, which would kill all insects, could be used, but you need to know that when using that chemical, it will also eradicate any and all beneficial insects as well as the harmful.

As with anything, if you're dealing something you're not sure of or not quite comfortable with, consulting a professional is the best way to go. When using any chemical, whether it's a fungicide, herbicide or pesticide, it's important that you follow the directions specifically and you wear proper safety attire while doing so. Safety gloves, goggles, long pants and a long sleeve shirt are important when applying any of the above discussed.

When in doubt, consult a professional. If you are not sure of what type of disease or fungus your lawn has, the best idea would be to cut a section of that lawn out, bring it to a lawn professional in your local area and have them diagnose the problem for you and then if you think it's something you can handle on your own, go for it, but if it's not, consult a professional and have them come out and take care of the issue for you.

Next up, we're going to discuss water application and how to water your lawn area properly.