Dollar spot creeping in

Happy Friday,

In between managing all that turfgrass I hope you have some time to enjoy a long holiday weekend.

With some recent sunny, windy weather and temps in the 70’s and 80’s we are starting to see some hot spots on greens. A new graduate student here, who has worked on golf courses since high school, noticed it before I did. Earlier this week we verticut, aerified, and topdressed our research greens. We had some problems last year with thatch buildup/puffiness so we are going to do a better job this year keeping on top of it.

On the disease side, more and more reports of dollar spot activity are coming in. Here in Kansas we often have an early-season epidemic (May-June-early July). Then, it usually fades away in midsummer when we are at peak temps. Dollar spot comes raging back again in late summer/fall. However, sometimes we do see it in mid-summer if it is mild and wet.

Though not technically a disease, moss has been on my mind lately. In 2008, I had a study with my KSU colleague Dr. Jack Fry and Dr. Derek Settle of the Chicago District Golf Association (CDGA), with plots in Kansas and Chicago. We looked at a couple of different moss control strategies with different combos of chemicals and cultural practices. Mowing height was definitely a factor, with 0.156-inch having significantly less moss than 0.125. Two spring applications of carfentrazone-ethyl reduced moss. In addition, two spring sodium bicarbonate treatments (that’s baking soda) knocked down the moss. That’s not a labeled moss product, but it’s interesting, and we are trying it again this year.

The images are of silvery thread moss at the KSU research facility. In the field plot photo you can see the silvery cast that gives the moss its name.