If I made magazines...

...then June's centerfold would be Sclerotinia homoeocarpa (not Candice Cassidy).

Dollar spot is starting to show up throughout the region. As you all know, this disease is a chronic problem for most and once established it can be tough to get under control. Some cultural and chemical strategies to help manage dollar spot are:

1. Remove dew whenever possible. Extended periods of leaf wetness has been shown to drastically increase the incidence and severity of dollar spot. If you can't remove dew from all fairways, at least consider removing it from the worst.

2. Tickle the turf with N. The belief that nitrogen will completely eliminate dollar spot just doesn't hold up. However, providing adequate nitrogen in the spring to encourage growth and then spoonfeeding N during the summer can help to reduce the severity.

3. Choose your PGR's wisely. Not all plant growth regulators are considered equal when it comes to dollar spot. In general, trinexapac-ethyl (Primo MAXX, others) is not going to provide significant control of dollar spot. However, paclobutrazol (Trimmit, others) or flurprimidol (Cutless) have direct fungistatic impact on the pathogen that causes dollar spot and these PGRs can significantly reduce disease severity. Routine applications of these PGRs are also great for those of you wanting more bent and less Poa.

4. Utilize preventive fungicide applications. When managing dollar spot, preventive fungicides are key to keeping it under control throughout the season. Curative applications often require higher label rates and short application intervals, so preventive applications can actually REDUCE your pesticide use and environmental impact over the course of a season.

While this brief list can help you reduce disease pressure, you may need to consider some other things as well including: fungicide resistance; species selection; sprayer nozzle type and application volume; among others.

Weather forecast for this week:

Connecticut
CT Shoreline: highs of 62-70; partly cloudy with chance of mid-week showers
Hartford, CT: highs of 72-78; mostly sunny, isolated showers Wed/Thur

Maryland/VA
Washington, D.C.: highs of 73-83; chance of isolated showers mid-week

Massachusetts:
Boston, MA: highs of 63-75; sunny to partly cloudy with chance of showers Wed
Springfield, MA: highs of 72-78; mostly sunny with chance of showers Wed

New York
Albany, NY: highs of 67-77; mostly sunny with slight chance of precip on Wed
Buffalo, NY: highs of 62-73; mostly sunny with chance of showers
Westchester, NY: highs of 70-79; chance of showers mid-week

New Jersey
Cape May, NJ: highs of 68-81; chance of showers all mid-week
Far Hills, NJ: highs of 73-82; sun and clouds with slight chance of rain mid-week


Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA: highs of 72-84; chance of isolated showers mid-week
Pittsburgh, PA: highs of 68-79; slight chance of showers on Tues/Wed (GO PENS!)
State College, PA: highs of 69-78; chance of showers on Wed

Way the heck up there
Burlington, VT: highs of 62-76; partly cloudy with slight chance of scattered showers
Portland, ME: highs of 60-71; sunny to partly cloudy with scattered showers Wed
Rumney, NH: highs of 61-75; mostly sunny with slight chance of showers Wed