Autumn is when one can find one of my favorite turf diseases -- elephant's footprint. Or at least this is my favorite name for a turf disease. It is found most often on unmown Zoysia japonica.

Al Bancroft shared a photo last week of what looks like early development of elephant's footprint.

Similar locations have similar symptoms - this is our deep well. pic.twitter.com/1jPJWDJI14

— Albert Bancroft (@alban3074) September 15, 2015

 This is what the classic symptoms look like, further into autumn:

I was also reminded this week that real elephant footprints can be a turf problem too:

@asianturfgrass @TurfDiseases (Elephant damage repairing in greens pic.twitter.com/4XNd0TJv4C

— GovindanSivakumar (@gsivakumarvig) September 17, 2015

That's in Tamil Nadu, where one must beware of elephants.

For more about real elephant footprints on turf, see this turfgrass mystery.