Back in the USA!

It's Friday morning here in San Francisco and I'm back from a 2-week journey to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. I'm glad to be back, for many reasons, but don't have a lot to report disease-wise. But, if you're interested in a short travel report and impressions of China, read on after the short California disease update.


















On the Great Wall sporting a goofy tourist pose and my Northern California Golf Course Association Bootcamp Pullover

What's Shaking in California
As I posted 2 weeks ago, rapid blight started to pop up in California, and it's still been the biggest problem we've seen throughout the state for the last 2 weeks on annual bluegrass greens. Although we've been having some fall showers, the rainfall in most parts of the state hasn't been high enough to drop sodium levels in greens, and the mild weather is perfect for this disease to develop if you've got salt issues.

Although John reported some brown ring patch activity in the east; we haven't seen anything pop up yet here in the lab at UCR.

Travel Report from China
In all honesty, it was 100% a family vacation and I spent little time looking at turfgrass and most of my time visiting family and trying to avoid getting run over by a moped or bicycle in Shanghai or Beijing! Being my first time there, it was hard to know what to expect.

Hong Kong was a very easy city to get along in, and a soft landing for adventures to come on the mainland. I kept on thinking that it was a lot like San Francisco but with a lot less Mexican people (e.g. San Francisco's significant Chinese population is mostly from southern China and cities like Hong Kong and Canton, and there were definitely no Mission District style taquerias to be found ). Being a former British colony, English is pretty common there and being in southern China, the local language is Cantonese (which was what my grandparents and mom & pop speak). Although Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, it's considered a "Special Administrative Region" (the other being Macau, the nearby ex-Portuguese colony) and has been allowed to retain a high level of it's autonomy and not subject to all of the rules of the People's Republic of China.

On the other hand, Shanghai and Beijing were completely new experiences. It was pretty impressive to see how mainland China is developing. The activity in these cities was amazing, and the rapidly changing economic and social landscape was reflected by modern shopping centers next to centuries old buildings and brand-new BMWs and Mercedes Benzes pushing their way through bicycles on the crowded local streets.

Mandarin is the primary language spoken outside of the Cantonese-dominated southeastern corner of the country, and since I failed to get past lesson 1 of Rosetta Stone, I was completely at a loss for understanding anything spoken in Shanghai and Beijing. On more than a dozen occasions, the locals pointed me out as if to say "that guy looks Chinese, but can't speak any Mandarin, what is he retarded or something?"

Although you can see free-market-wheel-and-deal Capitalism everywhere in the mainland, I was reminded that it's still a Communist country when I tried to "google" things on the internet and access sites like Facebook. No dice. No Turf Disease Blog update either! China's got a ways to go regarding free speech, but this trip overseas was a reminder that we have something pretty special here when it comes to our freedom of speech and information.

All in all, I'd really encourage folks to visit - it's eye-opening to see what's going on over there. China's in an exponential growth phase both economically and socially, and getting a better understanding of our biggest trading partner is a good thing.

Ok that's it for this week. Signing off from the left coast.....

A way-past due update from the West

Damn, sometimes life gets so far ahead of you that it's hard to catch up!

Sorry for the lack of posts for the last several weeks, no excuses, other than just being lame.

California has certainly had one of the weirdest summers I can remember having a slow, cool start and ending with record high 100s in southern California in October. I think it wasn't too bad overall judging by the total number of samples we had in the diagnostic lab. Anthracnose and summer patch were pretty active this year on Poa greens, but diseases like gray leaf spot on rye were not big troublemakers this year. Hopefully as guys start aeration, they'll have a chance to relax a little after this summer, well, unless you have rapid blight (see below).

As far as the desert guys go, there could be some bumps ahead on the road for overseeding. Last week, we had a few days in the 90s with rain and night time temps in the 70s; this next week, the night time temps could stay above 68F for a few days during the week, so keep an eye out for Pythium during the overseed.

It's Back!!!!
Rapid blight is starting to pop up on Poa greens in California as temperatures start to mellow; leach greens prior to aerification if you can as the sand topdressing can really flare rapid blight if it's salty. Application of fungicides like mancozeb, Compass or Insignia will ceratinly help, but salt is the #1 issue to deal with.







NCGA's 2010 Assistant Superintendent Bootcamp

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending this event in Monterey, CA organized by Mike McCullough at the NCGA. There were about 35 attendees there who got to hear presentations from speakers such as Mike Richardson (Univ. of Arkansas), Bruce Wiliams (Valleycrest), Ty Murray (California Highway Patrol), Andy Staples (Golf Resource Group), and Brian McRae (The Preserve Golf Club) as well as group discussions with Tom Junk (Robert Talbot Co.), Jimmy Becker (NCGA), Bob Klinsteker (San Francisco Golf Club), Drew Barnett (Philadelphia Cricket Club) and Earl Kennel (Monterey Peninsula Country Club). Here you can see Mike McCullough addressing the group at the NCGA HQ at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.

Quick summary and highlights of speaker presentations (boiled down to the syrup) that I was able to attend (apologies to the guys who I didn't get to see talk!):

Mike Richardson: 'New Technology to Enhance Your Course'
- Technology is everywhere, use these tools for environmental measurements, mapping applications and even your iPhone to stay ahead of the curve for turf management.

Frank Wong: IPM Planning for Disease Management'
- Check out GCSAA's new IPM planing tool: http://www.eifg.org/sustainability/toolbox/ipmguide/

Bruce Williams: 'Networking'
- 'It's not just what you know, but who you know as well' --> creating sucessful networks is a part of having a sucessful career.

Ty Murray: 'Transporting Hazardous Materials'
- Lock it down and label it when you're taking any hazardous materials on the road or face the long arm of the law.

Mike Richardson: 'Foliar Fertilizer Programs'
- Regular foliar applications of low rates of nitrogen fertilizers give you more consistent plant growth and quality; think urea - it's effective and cost-efficient.

Frank Wong: 'Optimizing Fungicide Applications'
- Mike Fidanza says: Flat fans nozzles using 2 gal water/1,000 sq ft give you the best overall disease control; extra water is need to control soil borne diseases like fairy ring.

Brian McRae: 'Outside Influences on Your Career'
- Bad stuff can happen to you; it may be out of your control, but personal relationships you make in the industry & the networks you establish can often help save you or at least soften the blow.

Andy Staples: 'Sustainable Golf Courses'
- 'Sustainability' and green projects have the most impact on golf course design and operations when ther is a real cash value or benefit associated with them; green projects for the sake of 'feeling good' aren't as likely to be as sucessful as green projects that can save (or make) a course a real dollar amount.

Drew Barnett: 'Blogging'
- Use this medium to keep your membership aware of why things are happening on your course; it's a way to show that you're looking out for their long term interests.

Bruce Williams: 'Developing Skills that Make You a Desired Commodity'
- "When your girlfriend (or wife) asks you 'does this make me look fat?' the answer is obvious, but sometimes how fast you answer makes all of the difference."

*Probably the most important thing I heard at the meeting! Bruce was talking about having an updated resume ready and being ready to respond when opportunity knocks on the door.

NCGA Seeks Interns for 2011
Speaking of opportunities, the NCGA is looking for interns for next year. If you're just getting into the industry and want some experience in California, check this out:
http://www.ncga.org/superintendent-training-program/

Applications are due November 1st!

OK - that's about it for this week's entry - I'm in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing from October 10 - 22; hopefully I'll have things to share from the far far West next week!

Until then, signing off from the right coast... (PS - my sabbatical is officially over when I get back from China, so expect me to be back on the left coast regularly starting in a few weeks).

Anthracnose, Summer Patch, F-bombs, Nematodes and Cee Lo

Anthracnose & Summer Patch in California

'Hey - Did-ya Miss Me?' Anthacnose was plentiful in the UCR diagnostic lab this week

I was back in California this week and greeted with triple digit temperatures - normally I'd say the dry heat of California is better than the steamy heat of Washington DC, but 112 degrees in Riverside was still pretty bad!

I always say that anytime we get wide temperature swings, anthracnose is likely to rear its ugly head, and this last week was no exception - Naveen was getting quite a few of these samples in the lab.

As John had mentioned earlier this week, summer patch has been pretty active on annual bluegrass greens and we saw it on a few samples in California as well. Back in the 'good old days' of the 90's, it seemed like anthracnose and summer patch control went hand in hand, but recent developments have resulted in some 'complications'.

As we all know, anthracnose has become the primary concern of most guys out there with annual bluegrass greens, but summer patch can often be a hidden problem. Here are two observations regarding summer patch development this year.

#1 Targeting Anthracnose but Forgetting About Summer Patch
Sixty-five to sixty-eight degrees soil temperature in the spring is the magic range for initiating anthracnose & summer patch control programs with 2 to 3 applications of DMI-fungicides like Banner MAXX, Trinity, Triton, Tourney or Torque, but after that, control diverges quickly for these diseases. Fungicides like the Heritage (azoxystrobin) and Insignia (pyraclostrobin) are my top choices for summer patch control (thiophanate-methyl, e.g. 3336, is also a consideration), and should be applied monthly in the summer to keep summer patch in check. But....as we all know, anthracnose resistance to the QoIs and benzimidazoles in many locations makes these ineffective for anthracnose control. For mid-summer applications, products like chlorothalonil (Daconil), fludioxonil (Medallion), polyoxin-D (Endorse/Affirm) and Signature (Fosetyl-Al + StressGard pigment) are my go to materials. DMIs can also be effective, but applied in the summer heat may cause some unwanted PGR effects.

Superintendents worried primarily about anthracnose may be applying anthracnose-fungicides but forgetting to use Heritage & Insignia on a monthly program. As a result, summer patch can break through what seems like a good program that is unfortunately tailored specifically for anthracnose.

#2 Compass vs Insignia in Rapid Blight Control Programs & Effect on Summer Patch
Rapid blight is another disease that California superintendents battle in the spring and summer, and Compass (trifloxystrobin) and Insignia are the 'go to' systemic fungicides for rapid blight control (mancozeb is our only contact option), but differ in their physical properties. Compass is very strong as a foliar fungicide, but less systemic than Insignia and will not give you effective summer patch control. If you've been using Compass regularly in the summer, remember that you could be under-gunned for summer patch control, and have to apply additional materials.

Bottom Line: Anthracnose, summer patch and rapid blight management require specific fungicides - choose wisely and know what fungicides won't give you any overlap in disease control.

Anthracnose Rescue Fungicide Programs
If you have anthracnose breaking out on greens, it is most likely that you (i) have had a serious stress event, (ii) are too lean on fertility or (iii) have had a lapse in fungicide protection in your program.

Notice that 2/3 of the 'issues' are not fungicide-related. Correcting cultural practices and fertility is the top priority, but here are some thoughts on a 'rescue' program for active anthracnose outbreaks.

1. DO NOT BOMB IT WITH QOIs/STROBIES OR T-METHYL FUNGICIDES EVEN IF THEY STILL WORK FOR YOU. That is a recipe for resistance, big time! Anthracnose is already a high-risk pathogen when it comes to QoI and benzimidazole fungicides, and using them as 'eradiciants' in this way increases the chance of selecting out resistant populations.
2. CHLOROTHALONIL IS YOUR FRIEND. This is partially why I encourage guys to save up some of your 10 or so chlorothalonil applications for the summer. Chlorothalonil will not 'cure' existing infections, but can kill spores developing in acervuli and prevent new infections (if you let your foliar anthracnose go all the way in to the crowns, you're hosed, don't wait til that happens as you won't be able to get on top of it with fungicides in the summer). Being a contact fungicide, you will need to apply frequently to ensure that you have lasting coverage on plants. Applying the normal label rate, at a shorter application interval, is likely more effective than the max. rate once or at longer intervals.
3. MEDALLION, ENDORSE & AFFIRM --- These are 'limited systemic' fungicides and can give you added control of anthracnose, but are at moderate risk for fungicide resistance. I would not encourage them to be used as 'eradicants' but you can apply them to help with protecting plants once you have the active outbreaks arrested with aggressive chlorothalonil use. Right now, there is no resistance to these, & we want to keep it this way for the time being.
4. SIGNATURE, ALIETTE, & PHOSPHITES --- These have for the most part, 'indirect effects' on anthracnose, and will not work as 'eradicants'. The data I've seen shows that the active molecule in these fungicides is not super-toxic to anthracnose, and provide protection via induced plant defenses or other mechanisms; and you guys know how I feel about StressGard pigment being a good thing for annual bluegrass in the summer. Tank mixing them with your chlorothalonil will give you added protection but they will be acting on healthy plants vs. new infections and not directly killing the active anthracnose.

F-Bombs, Nematodes and Cee-Lo
Ok - I've gotten some (for the most part) good natured ribbing from some guys this week about my comments on Turf Net regarding what we know about nematodes.

http://www.turfnet.com/view_news.php?obj_id=606

Call me crass, but the F-word is strongly correlated with the discussion of turf diseases; it's one of those words that in its various forms has use as a noun, verb or adjective, especially when discussing anthracnose, summer patch or rapid blight, and annual bluegrass in general.

On the other hand, in all seriousness regarding the comments, we really don't know enough about nematodes on turf, and really really don't have enough chemical controls for the problems - making me drop the F-bomb to drive home the point.

Compared to the 30 or so university turf pathologists in the US and dozen or so different fungicide active ingredients, we have like 4 turf nematologists (Crowe, McClure, Wick & Mitkowski come to mind) and 1 nematicide (Curfew), plus any Nemacur stockpiled in the shed, that can control nematodes down in the soil .

You know I love me some fungus, but considering the issues caused by nematodes like root knot, stem & gall (Anguina), spiral, sting and others, and more importantly - the high amount of "mis-information" about nematodes and their control out there - it's a good time to put some attention and funds towards this. That's my 2% of a dollar.

Finally, if you can't get enough of the F-Bomb, check out Atlanta-based Cee Lo's new music single and song here:
http://www.youtube.com/ceelogreen#p/u/1/CAV0XrbEwNc

(WARNING: DEFINITELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR CHILDREN)

If you're not offended by the F-bomb and like Old School Motown-Style R&B, it's certainly worth a listen. I suspect they will have taken this one down from the internet by the time you read this blog today, but I'm sure you'll hear about this one soon.

OK - Back in DC as of the Morning and Signing off from the Right Coast.....

Dude, where's my summer?

Downright Pleasant in California

Growing up in the Central Valley of California, I remember those long Fresno summers of 20-30+ 100-degree days where even the normally pasty-white, redheaded kids of Irish descent were sporting tans that made George Hamilton look like a albino naked mole rat, and the Channel 26 TV reporters were regularly frying eggs on the sidewalk outside of the Fashion Fair Mall.

Well, this ain't one of those summers in California. Aside from some short heat spells, it's been pretty damn mild, with temps being in the 70's on the coasts, 90's inland and only hitting triple digits in places like Fresno and Palm Springs this week.

Having spent the last week at the APS meetings in Charlotte in the company of all of the U.S. turf pathologists, it was nice to avoid being in the middle of discussions about heat-killed turfgrass and the hot potato talk of bacterial wilt.

On the other hand, we're seeing some weird disease patterns emerging from our diagnostic lab. The last two weeks have brought in diagnoses like anthracnose on creeping bentgrass (samples from Alameda, Tulare and Sacramento counties) and Curvularia blight on bermudagrass from Arizona. The presence of both diseases are likely attributed to some kind of 'stress' (irrigation, compaction, low fertility, etc.) as both anthracnose and Curvularia are typically very weak pathogens on these turf species.

We're also getting some rapid blight samples from southern and central coast locations. I am guessing that the cooler than normal temperatures (70-85F is optimal for rapid blight), fog or overcast conditions are helping that disease fire. We were surprising very low for rapid blight diagnoses this Spring, but the current Spring-like conditions in these areas has just pushed the calendar back a few months for courses at these locations.

It could very well be one of the best years in recent memory for growing grass in California; and guess where I am --- 3,000 miles away in Washington DC this summer!

Steamed & Drowned on the East Coast

While my friends back home are enjoying the mild summer, I'm alternately being steamed and drowned here in Alexandria, VA. Like much of the south and midwest (see Lane, Jim, Megan and John's recent blogs), the DC area has been gripped by prolonged heat broken by violent thunderstorms. Just last Thursday, I and about 60,000 other residents in the DC area lost power after heavy rain and winds ripped through the area. It happened again today - check out the story here:

Check out the link on the Turf Disease Facebook Page here: http://www.facebook.com/turfdiseases

Somehow, that southern California smog may not be all that bad to deal with.....

News from the APS Meetings: Fungicides (or Lack Thereof)

As the rest of the boys (plus Dr. K) were saying, we've been at the APS meetings all week - well, except for Lane who was answering frantic calls from superintendents and going back and forth from site visits to the meeting almost every day (the man had a microscope in his hotel room to look at disease samples - that's dedication for you!).

One thing that struck me was the lack of new fungicide active ingredients being discussed that are effective for turfgrass disease control. There was a good amount of buzz over, ametoctradin, a new BASF oomycete-fungicide for downy mildew and Phytophthora control, but sadly this one isn't effective vs the Pythiums that we deal with on turf. I hope we see some new fungicides for turf soon - we could use them!

There were also a good number of SDHI-resistance talks, but mainly on Botrytis, not turf diseases. SDHI's are the succinate-dehydrogense inhibitors, that include boscalid (Emerald) and flutolanil (ProStar). I have a hunch that we'll eventually see more broad-spectrum SDHIs for turf diseases in the future, but we'll have to keep waiting for the time being. The good news about this research is that we're going to able to use their Botrytis information to detect and help deal with SDHI-resistance for turfgrass diseases when it happens.

OK - until next week, signing off from the right coast.....

Still Wet in the West

Torrey Pines North Course #6 Putting Green (AP Photo/Chris Park)

As posted last week, California got some substantial rain and wind with southern California getting 3 to 5 inches of rain, while norcal got about 3 to 6. For us in the West, that's a lot considering our multi-year drought.

Cool season Pythium popped up in the diagnostic lab as well as rapid blight from socal and Las Vegas, which was a little surprising considering that the rain should have leached some of the sodium out of greens last week. Not surprisingly - pink snow mold was reported in both southern and northern California.

With cool temps in the 50s and 60s and scattered rain expected, we can expect more pink snow mold through out the week.

Although most California superintendents are certainly not facing the winterkill issues that our northern neighbors in Oregon and Washington are facing, annual bluegrass greens in the colder parts of the state can look pretty crappy under these cold weather conditions. Jim Alwine (Stockton Golf and Country Club) has a nice example of this on his blog post here: http://sgccturf.blogspot.com/2010/01/poa-looks-tired.html

Like Jim says, annual bluegrass can look tired and clorotic under these cold weather conditions and just refuse to grow, especially under low fertility conditions.

Trials and Tribulations (but no Tiger) at Torrey Pines
With all of that gorgeous kikuyugrass, sweet Poa greens, and a killer Rueben sandwich at the Grill & Bar, Torrey Pines Golf Course is one of my favorite places in California.

Last week's storms wreaked havoc on the course prior to this week's Farmer's Open (ex-Buick Open). With 4+ inches of rain over 5 days and 20 to 40 mph winds on Wednesday, Director of Golf, Jon Maddern and course superintendents Wayne Carpenter and Candice Combs were faced with some substantial storm damage with just a few days to get the course ready for the tournament.

http://www.10news.com/video/22319497/index.html

According to North Course Superintendent Wayne Carpenter:

We lost roughly 20 trees on the North and the South in this last storm. The soaking rains from this storm and the previous storm combined with the high wind spikes pushed over the surface rooted trees. Most of our trees have rooted on the surface for the water and because the hard sand stone keeps the roots on the surface. Almost all the trees were euc's [eucalyptus]. We only lost a couple of pines of various types. The difficulty in the clean up was all the branches, twigs, and leaves that were down everywhere. That was the tedious hand work. We couldn't do anything but put blowers out to help make piles, rake and pick up everything. The trees were a lot of work for the crew, but at least they were in one place. We could clean it up and move on. The hardest job was pumping out bunkers and restoring the faces with sand. The South lost all the sand in every face on their bunkers. The North had wash outs, but not on the scale of the Souths. I'm sure Candice can better attest to the amount of time and labor this job took on her side, but this took a huge expenditure of our crews resources. We had a number of GREAT volunteers that helped with this task and I would not have finished the North without their help. Our crews have completely worn themselves out getting this place back into shape.

About 40 volunteers, including 15 staff and superintendents from golf nearby courses in the San Diego area, pitched in to help clean up the storm damage. You gotta love that collegiality and camaraderie that's present in this industry and amongst superintendents and their crews. I wonder if the public realizes how much work goes on behind the scenes to get courses ready for the big day, especially when Mother Nature deals you a bum hand.

As you can see from ESPN's coverage of the tournament today, all of that effort from Candice, Wayne and Jon, their crews and volunteers has made for some pretty sweet results:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4867407&categoryid=null

Let's hope that the rain stays away for the rest of the week so the crew at Torrey can get some well deserved rest!

By the way, Mr. Daly, it looks like you got some gray snow mold in your pants. We got some stuff that can fix that...I'm just sayin'


(AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Thanks to Matt Marsh (Valencia Country Club) and friends for gettin' that idea in my head.

Signing Off From the Right Coast Until Next Week....

What's Cold & Wet?

What's Cold and Wet?

Much of California, Arizona and parts of Nevada are looking pretty wet & cold right now. Conditions are about perfect for pink snow mold/Microdochium patch with daytime temps in the 50s-low60s.

Activity in the lab has been pretty low, but cool season Pythium was picked up from both Ventura and Monterey counties last week.

Poor drainage and wet weather are perfect for pink snow mold and cool season Pythium - keep your eyes out for both of these this next week in California.

Hawaii Rapid Blight Surprise

About two weeks ago, we confirmed the presence of rapid blight from a course from the big island in Hawaii on annual bluegrass. Although it's not a complete surprise considering the amount of movement (seed, golfers, tourists, etc.) between the mainland and Hawaii, it's still disconcerting considering some of the salt issues that certain Hawaiian golf courses can face. In this case, and the case of rapid blight samples from Colorado last spring, total dissolved salts were not that high. Sodium is the key salt associated with rapid blight, and although sodium is usually elevated when you have high TDS-readings, elevated sodium may not always be associated with high TDS.

Winterkill-a-plenty in the Pacific Northwest

(Image by Mike Goldsberry, Wing Point Golf & Country Club)

Superintendents in Western Washington and Oregon are having one hell of a time these past six months. First it was triple digit temperatures in July, Pythium outbreaks in the fall and now a lot of winterkill brought on by a week of freezing temperatures in early and late December. Drs. Gwen Stanke and Rob Golembiewski (WSU and OSU, respectively) are on top of it, but have grim forecasts for freeze affected superintendents.

See this press release from the Oregon GCSA and Oregon State University

http://www.ogcsa.org/email/osu-press-release-1-13.pdf

Additionally, USGA Agronomist Larry Gilhuly will be making a USGA Green Section Webcast this Monday, January 23 at 11 a.m. PST detailing the widespread damage.

http://www.ogcsa.org/Pages/in-the-news/usga-weather-issues.html

Around the end of December, we started getting a number of inquiries from PNW courses about cold weather diseases. Annual bluegrass samples from 5 golf course putting greens in the area revealed no active pathogens, and many of the samples had watery, dead turf with very shallow roots. I think what has happened here is a combination of poor summer growing conditions, solid disease pressure this fall followed by two good freezes. The crappy thing about this is that there's really nothing you can spray to make good weather and decent growing conditions for putting green recovery. The best thing you can probably do in this case is keep the traffic off damaged areas, raise mowing heights, spoon feed with nitrogen and keep the algae out with chlorothalonil or mancozeb.

Bob Hope, the Man, the Legend, the Classic

(Hint to the blue party – you guys better get your act together after what happened in Massachusetts)

This week brings one of California's biggest charity golf events to the Coachella Valley. The Bob Hope Classic is currently being played at four courses: Nicklaus and Palmer Private Courses at PGA West (Supt. Dean Miller), La Quinta Country Club (Tim Putnam) and Silver Rock Resort (Willie Lopez), making for one of the biggest events in Coachella during the year. Watching on TV – the ryegrass fairways and rough bluegrass greens look pretty darn good for the tournament.

In addition to the celebrities, pomp and circumstance, and turfgrass (of course)…there's the 'Classic Girls' of the tournament!

http://www.bhcc.com/classic-girl.html

(For you guys on Facebook)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3948589&id=81314611540&fbid=259308686540#/album.php?aid=128780&id=81314611540

Here's wishing Dean, Tim & Willie a great tournament and some drier playing conditions for the rest of the week!

Question of the Week

Dear Frank,

My home lawn is getting overrun with annual bluegrass – how do I get rid of it permanently?

Cousin Julie from Sammamish, WA

Dear Cousin Julie

If I knew how to get rid of annual bluegrass permanently, I'd be a millionaire.

Annual bluegrass management for home lawns can be difficult since homeowners don't have full access to all of the herbicides that professional pesticide applicators can use.

Some useful guidelines for homeowners can be found here: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7464.html

If I figure something out – I'll split the proceeds with you and the rest of the family.

Cousin Frank

Until Next Week, Signing off From the Right Coast….

No Fun

I hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving last week!

Here in California, it's been pretty slow in the Wong Lab. Things are getting pretty cool here (by California standards) and here in the picture, you can see our Tifway-II is pretty much headed into full dormancy in Riverside with our soil temps in the mid-50s. My PhD. student, Chi-Min Chen, and undergrad lab assistant (Erica Serna) are helping me inoculate plots with Ophiosphaerella korrae - one of the causal agents of spring dead spot. I heard the comment of 'this is no fun' a few times this morning which reminded me of a joke my mom told me when I was a kid. It kinda goes something like this:


Q: "What was the name of the first Chinese test-tube baby?"
A: "No-fun Son"
(apologies to the defenders of political correctness out there)

For those who didn't get that maybe this will help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_insemination

The 'maladie de la semaine' continues to be rapid blight on annual bluegrass greens - temperatures in the 60s-80s and a lack of substantial rainfall is allowing salts to continue to accumulate and cause conditions that favor rapid blight.The half-inch of rain that we got in parts of California last week didn't help much in knocking salts & sodium down, e.g. we need substantial or consistent rain to help us flush out the last several months of sodium accumulation on greens.

However, we're expecting some rain and showers, especially in northern and central California starting this weekend /early next week and lasting for a few days. That's great news as far as knocking down salts but bad news as far as Microdochium patch/pink snow mold.With a few days of moisture and daytime temps < 65F, we'll likely see some pinkie firing on annual bluegrass. If you don't already have a preventive fungicide application down, it'd be a good idea to squeeze one out before the showers and rain start in the next few days.

Signing Off from the Left Coast Until Next Week....

End of the Summer? Says Who?

"Frank, do you know what fire ants look like? Well, you should, because you're standing on top of a whole bunch of them..."
- David Hay, CGCS, Indian Wells Country Club

It's been a long week starting in Monterey at Mike McCullough's Northern California Golf Association's Assistant Superintendent's Boot Camp, leading to Harding Park in San Francisco and culminating in Palm Desert today. To the left, you can see our Pythium trials being conducted in collaboration with Tom Shephard at Desert Falls GC. I'm using indicator dye in my spray tank, so you can see my spray uniformity (or lack of!). Everytime I head to Coachella to do work - I can't help but think about the impromtu lesson on fire ants that I got from David Hay.

As far as Pythium - anytime night time temps are over 68F during the overseed, you're at risk for an outbreak. With night time temps in the 70s for the next few days - definitely watch out for Pythium developing if you are overseeding in the desert this week!

It's the Fall, and it doesn't quite feel like it....
Yes, it's late-September and it's supposed to be cooler, but we're still getting triple digit temps here in parts of California. Anthracnose and summer patch are still active on Poa greens inland, whie rapid blight is coming back in cooler coastal areas.

If you're about to aerify, nitrogen applications at this time should help reduce down both anthracnose and summer patch. Don't hestitate to give greens a healthy shot of N at this time. If you've got lots of anthracnose, a solid fungicide application wouldn't hurt either. If you have lots of active anthracnose now, it could come back to bite you in basal rot form if you go into the winter with weak greens.

Since rapid blight is encouraged by mechanical damage (like top dressing) - make sure to leach salts before aerification. If you've historically been at risk for rapid blight in the early fall, make a Insignia/Compass plus mancozeb soon after aerfication and top dressing on Poa greens.

2009 UCR Field Day
Last Thursday, we held a very succesful field day at UCR with over 160 participants. Thanks to our sponsors Aquatrols, BASF, Bayer Environmental Science, Dow AgroSciences, Green As It Gets, Inc., Grigg Brothers, Gowan Turf & Ornamental, RootGel West, Syngenta Professional Products and Valent Professional Products for helping us with our tent and BBQ lunch!

Turf disease -wise, I got to show off our anthracnose plots and results from 2009 trials which focused mainly on new DMI fungicides. A preliminary report can be found here. Also, we got to discuss results from our spring dollar spot trials. That report can be found here.

Signing off from the Left Coast until next week......

The A-Word, R-Word and S-Word

Just a few quick notes from the road - I'm somewhere between Jim and Megan's territory in St. Louis, Missouri on my way from St. Paul, Minnesota to Alexandria, Virginia today.

I talked a lot about anthracnose in last week's posting and the "A-Word" has been on alot of people's lips this last week in the West.

The "R-word" (Rapid Blight) also was pretty popular on Poa greens in California last week, especially in coastal locations.

The "S-word" (Summer patch) has not been super rampant, but continues to annoy superintendents here, magnifying any heat or stress damage.

Expect more of the same this next week on Poa greens for hot inland areas (anthracnose & summer patch) and moderate coastal locations (anthracnose, summer patch & rapid blight). The Central Valley (Fresno ) area is still staying warm at night and Pythium on cool season turf is likely there.

As for Rapid Blight: If you have TDS readings above 2.5 dS/m (0.5 on the Oakton TDS-4), you are likely at risk for rapid blight development. Applications of Compass, Insignia and Fore will suppress the disease but it will keep coming back until you get your sodium levels down. Nothing beats a good leach for Rapid Blight control, but it's also a pain in the butt to do properly.

Just a few more weeks until the end of summer – if you can hold out for another 4 weeks, life will likely get much easier!

All Quiet on the Western Front (Sort Of)

I just returned from a Hi-Lo GCSA meeting at Desert Falls Country Club out in Palm Desert, CA. Thanks again to superintendent Tom Shephard for hosting the meeting today! The bermudagrass out there is booming but wow, it was 101 degrees out there and it's only May.

It's totally amazing how diverse California weather can be. It's in the 60s on the coast 70-80s in inland valleys, 90s in the Central Valley and 100s in the desert. Going straight east from Santa Monica - you can have about a 40 degree difference within 120 miles. Yowza!

Last week we still had some pink snow mold activity in northern California. Yes - we can get pink snow mold here without snow cover, but that disease should subside as things warm up through this Month. Well - except for northern coastal locations like Pebble Beach and San Francisco - places that always seem to be cool and wet in our spring and summer months in California, which reminds me of that saying that "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco". Other than that - rapid blight and brown ring patch are still hanging around causing some problems here and there.

Other coastal and inland areas in the mid 60s - 80s should expect to see significant rapid blight pressure while the Central Valley guys should be looking out for "summer" diseases like southern blight, anthracnose and summer patch.

Start Anthracnose Control Now
Anthracnose is probably up there with swine flu when it comes to diseases you want to avoid. Preventive sprays should be started for anthracnose and summer patch when soil temps are regularly above 68 degrees. Start hitting Poa greens now with systemic fungicides to reduce the pathogen populations and reduce the disease pressure later in the summer. Wait unti you get wiped out with anthracnose and you may wish you had swine flu instead.

Whiting Out Weeds
I have to admit - plant pathologists often do things backwards agronomically to encorage disease in our research plots. Amazingly, gettting rid of creeping bentgrass is in Poa is something that makes sense for pathologists studying annual bluegrass diseases like anthracnose and summer patch.

Recently we've been fooling around with making mesotrione (Tenacity) applications on our research greens to get rid of creeping bentgrass. Mesotrione shuts down carotenoid (pigment) production in certain grassy and broadleaf weeds, resulting in some pretty striking effects. According to the label, Tenacity herbicide is considered safe for use on Kentucky bluegrass, centipedegrass, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, fine fescues and St. Augstinegrass.

Controlling bentgrass in Poa greens is definitely not on the label, but again, plant pathologists do some pretty bass-ackwards things to get good disease.

Signing off from the left coast and until next week!

Frank

Rapid Blight in the West

Rapid blight continues to be a problem for us in the west - year round on annual bluegrass in California, in the spring and fall on annual and rough bluegrass in Nevada and during the fall overseed on rough bluegrass and perennial ryegrass in Arizona.

A few weeks ago - working with Colorado State University's Tony Koski and Ted Tisserat, we confirmed the first incidence of this disease in Colorado on a course where it had caused significant damage to 9 annual bluegrass greens. The damage was most evident after a spring blizzard and we suspect that irrigation water high in sodium accumulated from winter snow melt is to blame.

The take home message here is that this pathogen can pop up and cause problems when salt levels are elevated on cool season turf and rapid blight is likely more widespread than we'd like to be. Unfortunately - this disease is hard to diagnose without a microscope and assistance from a diagnostic laboratory is needed.

One of the most effective tools that can be used to control this disease is just monitoring soil salinity levels with a handheld TDS meter, such as the Oakton EC tester - readings above 0.6 mS/m in the upper inch of moist soil and thatch (equivalent to 2.4 dS/m based on saturated paste extract analysis) often indicate you are at salinity levels conducive for the development of this disease.

http://www.4oakton.com/proddetail.asp?parent=51&prod=348&seq=3&TotRec=11

Basically, monitoring is performed by wetting the area with potable, fresh water and jamming the probe into the soil and thatch under the canopy.

Work by Mary Olsen at Unversity of Arizona has shown that the rapid blight pathogen grows best at sodium levels above 2 dS/m (1280 ppm) and that sodium is the primary salt that is needed. Other cations like calcium and potassium don't appear to have an effect on the pathogen. Leaching sodium out of soils with adequate water and calcium (to displace sodium in the system) is the 'cure' for rapid blight. Fungicides like mancozeb, Compass and Insignia are effective in halting the disease, but often the disease will return if salt levels are high.

For more information on this disease - check out the excellent review article on rapid blight avaliable here:

http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/rapid/

Signing off from the left coast - see you next week!

Got Brown Ring Patch?

Well, if you have those bright yellow rings on annual or rough bluegrass and its between 65 and 90 degrees F, there's a good chance you have some brown ring patch (aka Waitea patch) brewing this spring.

Like John mentioned earlier this week, symptoms can look a lot like yellow patch or even the early stages of southern blight or fairy ring. A definitive diagnosis should be made - but bright yellow rings with a slightly green ring inside of that are good symptoms of brown ring patch on Poa greens. Here's a classic photo of the disease taken a while ago by Pat Gradoville at Palos Verdes Golf Club.

There's a downloadable PDF on my website that covers the symptoms, biology and control

http://www.turfpathology.ucr.edu/Downloads/Management_BRP.pdf

In a nutshell - at least two fungicide applications are often needed for complete control. Some fungicides like Headway or Endorse appear to give quick knock down of the disease, while others like Trinity or ProStar apear to take longer to act but can give very good residual control.

Other than that - rapid blight continues to hit salt affected Poa greens in the west (more on that next week) and spring dead spot symptoms are popping up on bermudagrass as we are in full transition to warm season turf growing conditions here and some guys are ony now seeing how thin (or dead) their bermuda bases are. Check out Lane's timely post on SDS for tips and tricks for dealing with SDS recovery.