Coolest July on Record!

Well the big news from the Midwest is we just experienced the coolest July on record! I guess you can imagine that there is not a lot of disease activity. Dollar spot is progressing, but very slowly. Even at one particular site in Milwaukee that is usually a petri plate for dollar spot, the disease has been very slow to develop.

We have had some brown ring patch come through the lab recently and most people in the Midwest are able to clean that disease up with an application of Endorse or Prostar. Dr. Frank Wong has also shown that applications of nitrogen fertilizers also help to alleviate brown ring patch symptoms.

This post will be a little short because I have just returned from Portland where I attended the American Phytopathological Society meetings. Another fantastic meeting! I will let Frank elaborate on the fun sites :)! There were some excellent talks and posters. One talk I thoroughly enjoyed was by Steve Kammerer who is at the University of Florida. I know we do not grow warm-season grasses, but nonetheless Steve and Dr. Phil Harmon may be instramental in renaming or changing Rhizoctonia classification. Great job guys. For those growing warm-season grasses and are struggling with something a little weird, you might want to get in touch with Dr. Harmon or Steve.

One final note, this weekend is projected to be quite warm in the Midwest, so if you have not sprayed for dollar spot in a while tomorrow or Friday may be a good time.