Gray hairy growth

Joncon · Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:17 am

I have a patch of gray hairy growth on my lawn, underneath a bird feeder loaded with sunflower hearts. At the moment it is about one inch tall, and it is very soft, rather like fur. It's VERY unsightly! Any idea what it is, and how I can get rid of it?

bullthistle · Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:18 pm

It could be bird feathers, spray it green and it won't look unsightly.

Charlie MV · Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:03 am

I have that on my face and head. I'd like to hear the answer.

Kisal · Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:31 am

Joncon, welcome to the Helpful Gardener forum!

Would it be possible for you to post a picture of it for us? I think that would help a lot.

rainbowgardener · Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:46 am

If it's actually growing, it's obviously not bird feathers. Agree that pictures would be good, but sounds like it could be some kind of mold. The birds tend to drop a lot of sunflower pieces, which are probably sitting there getting moldy. Right under a bird feeder is not a good place to grow grass anyway, because of all the dropped pieces (and other droppings!). Might want to rake it out well, clean the area up and then lay down a bunch of mulch.

tomf · Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:33 am

Most likely it is some kind of mold or fungus growing on the old seed husks. You may need to dig the dirt out and put down fresh dirt. Then reseed it.

rainbowgardener · Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:49 am

well joncon said the bird feeder has sunflower seed hearts, so there probably aren't hulls. But even with the already hulled hearts, there will be a lot of dropped pieces and other trash. And it probably is mold.

I stand by what I said that even if you clean it out, put down new dirt and new seed, right under a bird feeder is not a good place for growing grass. You have two choices... move the bird feeder to a different location every month or so, so the grass under it doesn't get too killed (in which case you could do the new dirt, new seed routine and let that spot grow back) or leave it in one spot and give up on the grass in that spot, just mulch it.

Kisal · Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:19 pm

I rake the ground underneath my bird feeders every time I refill them. If you spread the dropped seeds over a wider area, they just decay away into the soil. Raking also helps control disease, by not allowing bird feces to build up. JMO.