Is Your Lawn Suffering From BMB?

One of the problems I have seen more frequently over the past few years in lawn care is not a result of bugs, weeds, fungus, foot traffic or any other of the usual suspects. The symptoms are narrow shallow ruts, horizontal rows of compaction, and rows of balding areas in otherwise healthy lawns. These symptoms are often treated with chemicals, fungicides, extra fertilizer, or other common lawn care practices, and never solve the problem.

In most of the cases I have been called out because of these symptoms, I was able to identify the problem as BMB!

What is BMB?

BMB is short for “big mower blight”, a condition that occurs as a result of the use of over sized mowers in areas where they are not appropriate. This disease shows up first in areas such as slopes, edges and corners, especially where turns are made.

Turning shifts the mowers weight to one side, causing one side to be heavier than the other, when this is done on slopes, or in tight areas, the effect is magnified. The effect is skidding, scalping, and compaction.

Big mowers are great for large flat prime lawns, they also work well in rougher areas, but in small areas with short turns, and slopes, the effect can be damaging and counter productive.

Steps to Prevent BMG

To relieve the compaction problems related to the use of large mowers, aerifying is the answer. For prevention, talk to your lawn care professional about using push mowers on your property instead of the larger deck mowers and stand on self propelled mowers. If they agree to do so, the problem is solved, if not, it may be time to change services. Of course, you can always do your own mowing if you have the time.

Bigger is not always better, and this is especially true when it comes to lawn mowers in small sloped lawns. Don’t let BMB destroy your lawn!

More about mower size and big mower blight