K-State research update

Hello,

This week I thought I'd give a photo tour of a few of our turf projects here at K-State. Our turf field day is coming up on August 6th at the JC Pair Horticulture Center in Wichita. The photos show some of the studies here at the main campus.

1) Zoysia sun/shade study

About a month ago we installed a sun/shade study for different zoysiagrass lines. The study was conducted in 2008 and is being repeated this year. Dr. Jack Fry is the lead on this, with PhD student David Okeyo in charge of the data.

The photos show the plots on the day of installation.

We’ll be looking for differences in growth rates/establishment, quality, etc. There are a lot of shady sites out there, and it would be nice to have some options.

2) Bentgrass cultivar trial: management for dollar spot

KSU is working with several universities and other partners in the region to examine dollar spot susceptibility in different cultivars. We have the cultivars at both greens-height and fairway height. M.S. student Cole Thompson is the lead worker on the project here at KSU. With the cool temps, some dollar spot is now appearing in the more susceptible plots. See the image below.

3) Brown patch fungicide trial

We just initiated a new brown patch trial in lawn-height tall fescue. There aren’t too many obvious patch symptoms right now, but brown patch lesions are present and once it gets hot again the patches will likely follow. Graduate students Cole Thompson and Ken Obasa are assisting with this study.

4) Putting greens and DMI PGR effects

In the trial shown below, on A4, we have some treatments that include two DMI fungicides. As you probably know, DMI fungicides can have plant growth regulating (PGR) effects especially in mid summer. In the center you can see an off-color due to PGR effects. Those particular plots are receiving propiconazole and the others are receiving triticonazole which is not showing PGR effects at the moment. In trials at other universities, though, this active ingredient has caused PGR effects. For more info on DMI’s in mid summer, you can look back at Lane’s posting on June 16th.



5) This is our rain-out shelter. There is a rain sensor on the back. When it rains, the shelter slides forward on the rails, preventing rain from landing on the plots. That way we can control how much water is applied to each plot. In the photo you can see the small plots of different colored turf. There are replicated plots of different types of bluegrass. Dr. Dale Bremer and PhD student Jason Lewis are looking at drought tolerance/water use. The rainout shelter, shown here on a sunny day, is getting a real work-out with all the rain this year. Still, there have been opportunities to let the turf dry down and examine differences.