Light at the end of the tunnel (e.g., It's August)

It's been a busy week for golf course superintendents in the region as diseases are in high gear and the heat and temperature stress are causing many golf course putting greens to decline. We are hearing a lot of reports of yellowing and discoloration to bentgrass putting greens, possible nematode issues, and the typical diseases that we would expect to see at this time of the year.

Rain storms that swept through much of the mid-Atlantic provided some much needed relief from the drought we were in, but in many cases the rain fell too fast and basically moved via the surface. The good news from that was that many of you who had ponds that were getting low got a "refill". The bad news is that this did little for replenishing the soil and also washed out a few hundred bunkers. There were even reports in parts of southeast PA of flooding due to the massive storm that came through last week. On the other hand, there were also courses that DID manage to get the slow and steady rain that helped to wet the soil. Following these rains, dollar spot became VERY active and anyone not covered with fungicides saw cotton candy fairways on Tuesday.

Heat stress continues to be the biggest issue throughout much of the region and I can't stress enough that just because the turf is declining doesn't mean that it is pathogen related. In many cases, the soil temps are just too high and/or the growing environments too poor. As we hit the home stretch of summer, it is important to continue to be diligent on your water management. Yes, I know that it is not practical for many of you to get out there and hand-water everything as the courses with a $2,000,000 budget do, but the bottom line is that if you are using your overhead irrigation to "syringe" then you are probably over watering (this was from a USGA agronomist who I believe it going to write an article about it for an upcoming issue of the USGA Record).

Active right now: dollar spot, brown patch, Pythium blight, anthracnose, fairy ring, summer patch, others?

Website update: We are in the process of finalizing the details/construction of the new website for Turf Diseases. Some planned features include:

• More authors for more updates
• Restructuring of regional updates in line with USGA Regions
• New "Research" section for the latest research updates from the scientists
• New "Tech" section (you'll have to wait for the launch to find out more)
• Disease profiles and Image galleries
• Disease updates from superintendents

Healthy Grass = Little Disease

I've seen a lot of healthy grass in Asia over the past couple of months. This tends to be the driest season of the year for much of Southeast Asia, and no matter what type of grass is being grown, I haven't seen much disease. A bit of curvularia on Zoysia matrella in Thailand, some fairy ring on Tifeagle bermudagrass that was a trifle peckish, and the ubiquitous dollar spot, especially on seashore paspalum.

For management of dollar spot on seashore paspalum, assuming it is still warm enough for the grass to grow, I recommend keeping the leaves drier, the soil wetter, and applying a bit more nitrogen. We've looked at various treatments of calcium, potassium, nitrate vs. urea as a nitrogen source, etc., and we have detected no effect on dollar spot intensity of seashore paspalum. Creating a more salubrious environment for the grass invariably solves the problem.

Speaking of salubrious environments, I don't think there is a better place for a turfgrass conference than Thailand. Working on behalf of the Thailand Golf Association, the Thai GCSA do a great job putting together all the logistical details of the Sustainable Turfgrass Management in Asia conference and we get tremendous support from The R&A and from the golf course superintendents who travel from all parts of Asia to attend this educational event.

Top Five Diseases of Warm Season Turf at the 2011 GCSAA Education Conference

What's the Biggest Problem for Warm Season Turf?


Dr. Phil talkin' about Diseases on Monday

Last Monday, Phil Harmon, Megan and I got to teach the Management of Diseases of Warm Season Turfgrasses here in Orlando.

It was out third time doing it together and I think each time we’re getting better. I think Bruce Martin from Clemson has stopped checking up on us to make sure that we’re doing the class right, which is good, but we sure do miss the opportunity to put Bruce on the spot! Bruce taught the class previously for >10 years at GCSAA, and it took three of us to replace one of him!

This year we had about 45 students with Florida heavily represented in the group. We had some visitors from Central America and as far away as Australia, but most of the guys came to talk about bermudagrass and bermudagrass diseases in the southeastern U.S.

A survey taken during the class showed the disease issues that superintendents are most concerned with for warm season turf (by # of mentions):
1. Fairy Ring (22)
2. Rhizoctonia zeae aka mini-ring (18)
3. Large Patch (15)
4. Gaeumannomyces Decline (11)
5. Bipolaris Leaf Spot/Melting out (7)

Surprised?

We’ll follow up in the next few weeks on these diseases and what’s the best management strategies for each of them.

Until next week, signing off from the right coast....

Fungicide Review: Polyoxin D

Polyoxin-D: Mother Nature’s gift for fighting Rhizoctonias (and some other important diseases).

Polyoxin-D zinc salt is the active ingredient in two turfgrass fungicides: Endorse (Arysta) and Affirm (Cleary Chemical). There’s been some switching around of names and products since 2009 (as discussed last year) when Arysta LifeScience took back the distribution rights for the 2.5% WP formulation and Cleary’s introduced Affirm, a 11.3% WDG formulation, that contained the same active ingredient. Either way, both formulations have the same range of disease control and I haven’t seen any data so far to suggest that the two formulations have any significant differences in disease control between them. Polyoxin D is classified as a FRAC Group 19 fungicide (polyoxin antibiotics) and presently, only polyoxin D is registered as a turf fungicide in the U.S. (Image to the right taken from alanwood.net)

There are a number of other polyoxins out there (polyoxin A, polyoxin B,…polyoxin J, etc.), and they all share a common “ancestry” as far as being discovered as metabolites of Streptomyces bacteria (which are commonly called Actinomycetes). Streptomyces are typically soil inhabiting bacteria and are potent producers of some very important anti-bacterial and anti-fungal antibiotics. Interestingly, antibiotics derived from Streptomyces species account for two-thirds of our commercially available antibiotics including streptomycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline and vancomycin (anti-bacterials) and nystatin and amphotericin B (anti-fungals).

Polyoxin D was discovered in 1965 as a fermentation product of Streptomyces cacoi var. asoensis (Suzuki et al 1965 Journal of Antibiotics Ser. A), so interestingly, this molecule has been around for a long time! Commercial fungicides containing polyoxin D utilize this active ingredient in the form of a zinc salt. Why, may you ask? Because the polyoxin D molecule is extremely water soluble and it would wash off of plant surfaces easily; the zinc salt form of polyoxin D is much more stable and enhances the longevity of the fungicide on the plant surface.

Biochemically, polyoxin D inhibits the formation of chitin, which is the main component of the cell walls of true fungi (Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes, etc.). You can see from the photo here (taken from Endo et al. Journal of Bacteriology 1970), that fungal cells treated with polyoxin D (top photo) are unable to make functional cell walls and thus can’t function normally like the untreated ones (bottom photo).

Since Oomycetes like Pythium don’t use chitin in their cell walls, polyoxin D won’t affect these “water mold” type fungi. Polyoxin D is considered a local penetrant fungicide, and does not translocate easily upwards in plants like some other systemic fungicides, so coverage is important when applying these.

The earliest use of polyoxin D was for the control of rice sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani) in Japan back in the 1970s. Not surprisingly, for turf diseases, Endorse and Affirm would be considered strongest against Rhizoctonia diseases like brown patch, large patch and yellow patch and the Rhizoctonia-like Waitea diseases like brown ring patch and leaf and sheath spot.

In a large patch trial we did in 2008, you can see that Endorse was very good in controlling large patch.

Applications made 16 Apr and 6 May to bermudagrass

In a brown ring patch trial also conducted in 2008, Endorse provided some of the quickest control of the disease, but didn’t have as much residual as some other treatments. We suggest tank mixing Endorse or Affirm with another fungicide like a DMI (Banner MAXX, Tourney, Triton or Torque) to get good knock down and added residual.

One curative application made on 26 Apr

In our California trials, we’ve seen it been pretty good against anthracnose and although other materials seemed to be better, Endorse and Affirm could certainly be added into the summer rotation.

Six applications total from Jun to Aug, 2005 data

Other diseases on the labels include pink and gray snow molds (it seems like they are best tank mixed with another fungicide for the best control, but ask Jim about that one), red thread, leaf spots, gray leaf spot, and fairy ring.

Endorse looked pretty good vs. fairy ring in trials conducted by myself and Mike Fidanza :www.gcsaa.org/gcm/2007/may/pdfs/treatingFR.pdf

However, I can’t say that I’d recommend polyoxin D by itself for gray leaf spot, I just haven’t seen enough data to say it’s a good choice for this disease when other fungicides are available.

OK – that’s enough geeking out for tonight – until next week, signing off from the Right Coast….

New Granular Fungicides for Turf

Historically, fungicides on granular formulations have never been used frequently on turf. With the exception of late fall snow mold applications and damping off applications to the seedbed, there weren't many situations in which granular fungicides were recommended.

Two things were limiting the usefulness of granular fungicides: a limited selection of products and low-tech carriers that weren't very effective for foliar disease control. As a result, my standard recommendation has always been that if you want good disease control,  you should spray instead of spread. As an example, look at the tall fescue plots to the left that were both treated with triadimefon at the same rate of active ingredient per acre. Triadimefon is not a very effective brown patch fungicide to begin with, but the sprayable formulation (Bayleton) is much more effective that the granular formulation (Fungicide VII).

Things changed quickly, though, and today many more products are available on granular carriers, including recent products like Armada, Disarm, Heritage, and Headway. Several others are currently being tested as experimentals. Furthermore, these new products take advantage of modern granular formulation technology that makes them more effective against foliar diseases by increasing foliar absorption of the active ingredient.

We've evaluated a number of these new granular formulations, mostly against brown patch in tall fescue in a lawn care scenario. I will include a couple of examples here. I would summarize by saying this: these new granulars are more similar to their sprayable counterparts for brown patch control, but generally their efficacy is a erratic and they require more frequent applications. I still think that if you have the capability to spray, it's still better to spray. But these products provide more options to turf managers in situations where spray applications are not possible or practical.

Another possible advantage of a granular formulation is for control of root diseases like summer patch, spring dead spot, fairy ring, take-all patch, etc. To control these diseases most effectively, you obviously want the active ingredient to be in the root zone. With a granular, you can make the application and then water in later at your convenience, rather than having to worry about running the heads right behind the sprayer before it dries on the foliage. While we haven't tested these newer products against root diseases, we always used to see very effective spring dead spot control from granular formulations of Rubigan.

I'd like to hear some comments from our readers on this topic: What are the advantages and disadvantages of these granular formulations in your experience? If you are using these products, how and for what are you using them?

A New Option for Spring Dead Spot and Fairy Ring Control

Earlier this year, the Cleary Chemical Company released a new fungicide called Torque, which contains the DMI fungicide tebuconazole. More recently, Cleary obtained a 2ee label for the use of Torque for fairy ring prevention. Although it is just another DMI, tebuconazole has some unique properties that should make Torque a very useful product for golf course superintendents.

In particular, we've had a lot of questions about the use of Torque for spring dead spot and fairy ring prevention. Although we have not had the opportunity to evaluate Torque against these diseases, we have a lot of experience with a variety of tebuconazole formulations from other companies.

What we can say is this: tebuconazole is very effective for prevention of both fairy ring and spring dead spot. For spring dead spot, we've seen excellent results in bermudagrass fairways and athletic fields from two applications of tebuconazole, 30 days apart, at the high label rate prior to the onset of dormancy. Unlike Rubigan, which only requires one application in many circumstances, we've found that two applications of tebuconazole are necessary to achieve the best spring dead spot control.

Tebuconazole has also provided excellent prevention of fairy ring caused by puffball-type fungi in sand-based putting greens. Following our standard recommendations, two applications of tebuconazole at the recommended rate on a 30 day interval, beginning when soil temperatures consistently exceed 55F, has been a very effective program.

A note of caution for those with ultradwarf bermudagrasses: we've seen severe injury on the ultradwarfs from tebuconazole, and the Torque label says 'Bermudagrasses can be sensitive to Torque Fungicide under certain conditions'. Until we can get a better feel for the safety of Torque on bermudagrass greens, I would stick with older products that are known to be safe.

Of Fungicide Programs and Control Plots...

Well, I'm sitting here this evening having spent the day looking at plots that for most of our audience would make you cringe, but for me, has me doing cartwheels! The images you see in this post are from my fungicide program trial. This trial allows for multiple applications of various fungicides on a set schedule (usually a 14 day interval), and an evaluation of the diseases that occur in various plots along the way. This year has been epic in the Southeast. Heat, humidity, and regular rainfalls have combined to push the stress levels to unprecedented levels. In an more 'usual' year we would get some brown patch, dollar spot, and if we were lucky some fairy ring to evaluate. This year we have seen the following turfgrass diseases in these plots: dollar spot, brown patch, fairy ring, Pythium blight, and anthracnose. It is clear from thephotos what programs are holding their own under the pressure, which ones are doing ok but have some weaknesses, and those (including controls) that just aren't cutting the mustard.In the area, we have observed much of the same problems as the last several weeks; heat and humidity stressed turf. We have had a cooling off period this week, but that is really a misnomer

because whiles the highs are in the upper 80's, the lows are in the mid-upper 70's and the humidity is thick enough you feel like you should be swimming to the next tee. As the various golf organizations have declared in their statements- this is the time for defensive turfgrass management. Translated- do what you need to do to maintain turfgrass cover, and worry about greenspeeds later. Also pay close attention to water management (see image) as these issues

can take a toll in the form of black layer.

Finally, from a fungicide program perspective, take the time now to make some notes on what you think was weak about your current program while it is fresh in your mind. Also, note things that you would change and improve, because with the summer we have had you might be able to show the folks involved on your greens committee or general management that skipping cultural practices, or fungicide applications might just be a fool's errand chasing the almighty dollar.

Here's to a little cool-down!

Brandon

Winter Notes on Summer Impressions

After reading disease updates over the past two months from our university professors in the United States, I am thankful that I have a chance to work in many areas where warm-season grasses are grown, or where cool-season grasses are especially well-adapted, and to be able to avoid what seems to be nearly impossible weather for growing cool-season turf. What I've seen personally this summer is nothing too severe.

Figure 1. Damage from foraging pigs on a golf course at Nagano prefecture, Japan.

I've seen a bit of anthracnose on Poa annua at Japan, damage from foxes and rabbits at England, from wild pigs at Japan (Figure 1), some hydrophobic soil conditions at Dubai, even some lingering large patch into June on Zoysia japonica in the mountains of Nagano, and red thread at Scotland in July. Fairy ring appears ubiquitously on all types of turf (see Figure 2 below). Now I am hearing of extreme weather and heavy rainfall at Singapore that is causing challenges to turf, along with extreme heat in North Asia that is putting creeping bentgrass under severe stress. That is all I have to mention about diseases in this post.

But I do want to share a few thoughts that I have had this summer, which I make bold to post here thinking a few people may be interested in a temporary diversion from the mathematical certainty of x + y = dead grass. And as I am writing this from Bogor, 6° South of the equator on the island of Java, I can claim, in an astronomical sense, if not a meteorological one, that it is winter here today. Thus, my Winter Notes on Summer Impressions:

1. A quote that seems particularly apt this year is this one, from the introduction to the book Practical Golf Greenkeeping, published at London nearly 100 years ago. "To my mind . . . the most impressive lesson any greenkeeper can learn, is the one acquired under adversity. The real science in greenkeeping is not to be gained where difficulties in maintaining the turf are never experienced. Practical tests in overcoming trouble of any kind are the best way to obtain knowledge.” Small solace perhaps, but as true today as it was a century ago.

2. I am becoming more and more uncomfortable when I hear imprecise terms and phrases related to golf course appearance and playability. Whether that be something about "firm and fast" or "brown is the new green," I find these terms to be imprecise and particularly susceptible to misunderstanding. I think of an article co-authored in 1916 by Charles Vancouver Piper, first chairman of the USGA Green Section, in which he wrote, "The function of language is to convey ideas. Unless the language is understood in the same way by writer and reader this function is not served and ideas are not transmitted exactly . . . It is becoming increasingly evident that the terminology of agronomy is not always clear."

Figure 2. Richard Windows of STRI using a stimpmeter at the Open Championship with symptoms of fairy ring visible on the green.

Golf is a game. The physical characteristics of the playing surface are crucial to the enjoyment of the game, but these characteristics are not well-described by terms such as firm, fast, brown, green, or sustainable, unless those terms are put into some type of context, or are measured. The STRI Programme, which takes a quantitative measure of the performance of the playing surface at a golf course and puts a value on ball roll distance, surface firmness, surface smoothness, and other important characteristics, is a system for measuring these physical characteristics and can lead to the exact transmittal of ideas. I had a chance to work with the STRI tournament agronomy team at the Open Championship in July. After seeing this firsthand, and thinking about it as a golfer, former superintendent, and scientist, I am excited about the usefulness of the STRI Programme and the removal of so much ambiguity from terms used to describe golf course appearance and playability.

3. Does anyone else think that "corrective watering" is a particularly egregious term? I first heard this at the US Open in June, and this week read an article about Sahalee and the US Senior Open where the term was used again. "Corrective" implies that something was done wrong, that an error is being put right. Wouldn't "supplemental irrigation" be a more appropriate description of water being applied to the turf? If "corrective watering" is a term that should persist, maybe "disciplinary mowing" and "interventional rolling" could be added to this malapropistic vocabulary.

Another Successful Field Day and Poa annua takes a dump!

Welcome back Lane!

It seems like the entire US is struggling with heat, rain and dead grass. I left for Scotland on July 14th and the sample total in the TDL was fairly normal. The week I was gone we received over 50 samples. WHOOPS! Anyway it seems like Poa annua just crapped the bed because of the relentless rainfall followed by intense heat (at least intense for us). So I agree with Brandon and Lane's equation of No Wind + Heat + Rain=Dead Grass-especially Poa annua. The roots of affected plants are short, black and pitiful looking. We have had golf course superintendents reporting soil temperatures in excess of 95 F within the top 2 inches. When this occurs there is really nothing that can be done to save Poa annua!

If you are losing grass please consult John's post earlier this week. He posted a lot of nice cultural practices that will help. Like raising the mowing height, alternate between mowing and rolling and carefully monitor soil moisture levels. However the most important point, is constant communication with the members, golf pro, general manager, owner, etc. Get them prepared for a loss in density and losing Poa annua. I know it sounds negative, but that is really the best thing to do. Especially since we have not had a hard summer in the Midwest for 3 years.

As far as diseases, we are seeing just about everything. This is sick for me to say, but this summer has been a pathologist's dream. We have diagnosed brown patch on creeping bentgrass, fine fescue and tall fescue. We have seen oodles of fairy ring through the Midwest and summer patch has just begun to show its ugly head. This has been another reason Poa annua is struggling so much in the Midwest. We have even seen a few cases of Pythium blight. We have not seen a lot of anthracnose however. The difference between this year and last year has essentially been temperature. Last July our average high temperature was 72, yet this year we are hovering closer to 82. When I was at NC State I helped Lane teach a turfgrass pathology class in the two year program and he always strongly emphasized to the students that the most important thing to a fungus is water. We had that last year, but temperatures were not conducive for growth. This year has been a different story. We have not been as hot during the day as North Carolina, Tennessee, Kansas, or even Pennsylvania, but our nighttime temperatures have consistently remained above 68 degrees. This is good weather for fungi and bad for turfgrass growth.

Yesterday we had the 28th annual Wisconsin Turfgrass Field Day at the OJ Noer Center. It was a fantastic day with great attendance. The topics ranged from Alternative grasses as a pest management strategy to Hydroseeding with Tenacity. We were really happy to have so many attendees considering the recent weather!

Now it is time to have a wee dram of whiskey to conclude my evening.

Rainfall and Fairy Rings Throughout the Midwest

Our wet weather has continued throughout the Midwest. Accompanying the wet weather, has been heat- at least heat for us. I feel guilty saying we are hot when I saw the temperatures forecast for the Northeast and Southeast. On the weather channel this evening a couple took a picture of a bank marquee showing temperatures in New Jersey topping 100 degrees! However, we have been in the upper 80's, which is hot for us. Consequently we have seen anthracnose, brown patch and dare I say even some Pythium blight. Don't freak out about Pythium blight because it was only observed near leaky heads or drainage areas.

I have seen a lot of is fairy ring over the last few weeks. It appears to be more prevalent this year compared to last. If fairy ring has been problematic the best way to control the disease is to apply DMI fungicides (Bayleton, Tourney, Triton FLO and Trinity) when 5- day average soil temperatures are between 55 and 65 degress. However, we have moved out of this range in most places in the Midwest. Curatively, an application or two of Prostar (flutolanil) will help alliviate symptoms, especially when the applications follow solid tine aerficiation. If solid tining is not an option than a wetting agent should be tank mixed with the fungicide. Some golf course superintendents have good luck masking symptoms with applications of wetting agents, nitrogen and/or iron. This may be an excellent approach for a large breakout on fairways. If you have more questions about fairy ring, please attend our WTA Summer Field Day on July 27th! Dr. Lee Miller is going to join us to talk about his research on fairy ring.

With respect to diagnosing fairy ring, my best advice is to be like Tucan Sam and follow your nose. The thatch layer underneath the affected area will have a nice mushroomy aroma. You may also notice the thatch may have an orange tint. Another nice technique is to "incubate" a sample in a moist chamber, which is a tupperware container with a moist paper towel underneath the sample. The image below demonstrates the results of an incubation. I still encourage golf course superintendents to send a sample to a local turfgrass disease diagnostic lab if symptoms present themselves in an odd fashion.



Last week I had the great pleasure of showing Dr. Megan Kennelly around the OJ Noer Facility. It was a nice morning and the only disease I was able to show her was dollar spot. One of our putting greens has essentially become a 10,000 square foot dollar spot! I hope one day we can have Megan back to talk about her research on moss and nozzles (just to name a few topics), I think golf course superintendents in the Midwest would enjoy hearing her speak.

Yesterday was another pleasure, a few of us from UW Madison traveled to Whistling Straits to visit with the staff about the upcoming PGA Championship. We had a great visit and we also were given the opportunity to play golf. I cannot wait to see how the pros handle the course this year. I know I had trouble with the long grass a few times! I heard a rumor that John is visiting the Straits this weekend. Wonder if he'll experience the long grass a few times...

Northeast Turf Diseases and a Call to @ThePCreamer

Last week I had the opportunity to visit several golf courses in the Northeastern United States on one of my five scheduled internship visits. This trip took me through CT, MA, NY, and PA where I had the chance to visit my students as well as a several golf courses. During the trip I saw a variety of diseases, but perhaps the most impressive was the take all patch severity at one course (although I saw it in MA and PA). Finally, the shout out to Paula Creamer later in this post.

Around Connecticut there were just about all the diseases and problems you would expect. I saw some damage from annual bluegrass weevils and at the UConn Turfgrass Research Facility they were throughout the ABG putting green in the pupa stage. Also seen at UConn were take all patch, dollar spot, brown patch on the colonial bentgrass, and probably other stuff that I can't remember now. You can check out all of the issues this summer at their 2nd field day on July 21st.

In Massachusetts, there was some dollar spot, anthracnose and fairy ring showing up, but one case of take all patch was the most severe that I have seen to date. In this case, it was in a bentgrass fairway that was about 6 years old. Although the course has a history of the disease, a single spray in the fall was not enough to prevent these symptoms. More aggressive fungicide programs on the tees and greens (2 fall and 2 spring apps), however, appeared to be successful. This presents a major challenge in these economic times as effective fungicides for the fairway can be an EXPENSIVE proposition.

 Anthracnose is active on annual bluegrass throughout the northeast

Fairy ring has been increasing in both putting greens and fairways.

Below is a series of take all patch images from a golf course in Mass

In other parts of the region, I observed anthracnose and fairy ring on putting greens and again the typical dollar spot, red thread, leaf spot and likely other things were active. Although not available in all states at this point, the recent release of the fungicide Torque (tebuconazole) is a MAJOR benefit for those battling anthracnose. In all of our evaluations with this active ingredient, it has consistently provided excellent control of anthracnose. You can find out more about this product in Frank's previous post here.

...and now the call to Paula Creamer

One of my students (pictured right) is currently interning at Winged Foot Golf Club and happened to have the opportunity to meet Paula Creamer at the course this past month. While he didn't have the chance to exchange digits (I believe that this is frowned upon by most clubs and I am glad he kept his distance), I thought that I would put the call to Paula here on the blog. Paula, if you are interested in Ernie feel free to contact me via @johnkaminski and I can put you two in touch. I think that you would make a great couple!

How big of a turf nerd do you have to be...

...to name Turf Diseases as the Super Blog of the Month?  Well, apparently the folks at Golf Course Industry are just nerdy enough and I love it! Pat Jones, Publisher/Editorial Director of GCI Magazine, relayed the good news today (via Facebook).  Turf Diseases has been named the Super Blog of the Month and will be featured for the entire month on their blogroll. So I guess there is no where to go but down from here.

So as for the updates about diseases.  Today I saw some interesting things at the research facility.  Over the weekend Fairy Ring (Type II and Type III) started to appear throughout much of the putting surface.  One thing that particularly stood out was the presence of mushrooms that only Dr. Fidanza could really love in a PGR study.  The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of the post inhibition growth stimulation (PIGS) effect rebound effect on bentgrass recovery following aerification once certain PGRs start to wear off .  In plots that had received a second application of paclobutrazol, mushrooms were abundant.  I have seen this with other fungicide studies in the past, but it always make me wonder about the crazy screwed up things that can occur with the side effects of certain cultural and chemical practices.

Aside from that, I have received samples from a few locations and found really crappy root systems compromised roots, Wong Patch brown ring patch, dollar spot, and anthracnose.  I was also traveling through Ohio and Pittsburgh last week and although most diseases seemed to be limited, it appeared that leaf spot was starting to rage in roughs with perennial ryegrass. At one course in the Pittsburgh area, it was totally freakin awesome clear to see the damage in an area of sod that had some highly susceptible cultivar of perennial ryegrass (image below).  The interesting part about this was that the sod had been laid about 5 years ago and this was the first time that leaf spot had shown up so impressively.

Challenge for the Month...1000 Fans on Facebook!

Today I was listening to our local radio station (The Zoo Crew on B94.5).  The DJ was telling a story about how he was drunk off his... "inebriated" at a local bar and gave his number (although he wrote it down wrong so I guess the term fit) to his hot waitress who I met during a dinner at the same establishment with Stan Zontek last year (and she is HOT).  They had her in to tell the story of how she texted him that night only to find out that the number he gave her was that of some random girl whose boyfriend then thought that she was getting random messages from another guy. Oh the drama.  ANYWAY, the purpose of this was that they started a facebook page and were trying to get 500 fans over the weekend and now their goal is 2500 fans.  I don't have a radio station to shout it out to, but I now challenge all of you to help us get the Turf Disease Facebook Fanpage to 1000 fans by the end of the month.  Spread the word and show the love or I am calling it quits with this damn thing!

Clouds With No Rain

I've seen a lot of drought-stressed turf in Southeast Asia over the last two weeks. In some areas near Bangkok there has been no rain since October 2009, and with temperatures now sometimes exceeding 40° C (104° F), the rains cannot come soon enough. The drought has damaged roads, causing many to collapse and crack at Patum Thani, severe drought has been declared in 35 provinces of Thailand, and the government has advised rice farmers to defer planting until rains come. Turfgrass managers are restricting irrigation to priority areas because there is very little water remaining in their reservoirs.

The University of California have an excellent publication entitled "Managing Turfgrasses During Drought" which I recommend as a general reference.

Fairy ring symptoms are more apparent under these dry conditions, and that is the main disease I have seen recently. The common practice of sandcapping golf courses in Southeast Asia makes it more difficult to manage the turf when irrigation water is in short supply, and the symptoms of fairy ring are more intense on these arenaceous soils. At the Manila American Cemetery, more than 30 ha of Zoysia matrella is maintained similar to the conditions we would want for a golf course fairway. The fairy ring is most intense on the sole sandcapped area, the entrance Mall of the cemetery.

It's Waitea-licious!

Waitea, Waitea, every where,
Yellow rings all over my grass;
Waitea, Waitea, every where,
What a pain in the ass.
(apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge for bastardizing The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner)

OK - I get fooled more than I'd like to when it comes to recognizing turf diseases. A few weeks ago I received the photo of rings on creeping bentgrass (above) from Gabe Towers from Target Specialty Products in Arizona and said "that's take all patch!" despite Gabe thinking it was a Rhizoctonia disease. After isolations from the turf - we did confirm that the damage was caused by Waitea circinata var circinata aka "brown ring patch". Unlike the nice yellow rings that the pathogen causes on annual bluegrass, this is what Wcc looks like on bentgrass. Thus the name "brown ring patch" as described by Japanese plant pathologists who first characterized the disease on creeping bentgrass.

BRP is pretty active in California right now - showing up on both annual bluegrass and rough bluegrass putting greens.

One question that came up this week at a meeting in San Diego was "If I have active BRP going into spring aerification, should I worry about it?" I think that it shouldn't be a problem if you apply a good shot of nitrogen after core aerification - at least 1/2# N per 1,000 sq ft should help reduce down the severity of the disease. If it's still active a week or two after aerification, a shot of fungicide should help get rid of it, but the combination of N fertility and OM/thatch removal should help reduce the disease.

As far as fungicides, I heard some concerns over the short residual control that Endorse/Affirm was giving on greens. If you tank mix the polyoxin-D application with 1 fl oz of Banner MAXX, you should get 28 days or more control of the disease (outside of California, you could use 0.28 oz of Tourney or 1 fl oz of Trinity in place of the Banner MAXX in the tank mix if either Tourney or Trinity is available). A follow up application a week to 2 weeks later with 2.2 oz of ProStar will give you near cmplete control of the disease, but often with the increased N, the first Endorse or Affirm application with a DMI should do the trick.

Fairy Ring Activty
With spring coming in the West, we're also picking up some increased fairy ring activity. Green rings or mushroom on your turf are a sure sign of fairy ring activity . Although a number of fungicides can work vs fairy ring, it's also important to apply the fungicides in an adequate water volume or water it in - see Lane's fairy ring profile here, as well as Mike Fidanza's water volume and surfactant work here.

As mentioned in previous postings - using the magic plastic bag to see where the fairy ring is in the soil (near the surface or way down in the soil) can help you judge how far you need to push your fungcides into the soil profile with water to get good control.


In the photo above - you can see the white fairy ring mycelia in this sample (incubated overnight in a sealed plastic box) poking out from the soil (on the side of the plug) up to a few inches down from the surface. in this case - you'd know that you'd need to get the fungicide down to this level to get adequate control.

OK - that's it for this week. I'm back in DC after a week in sunny California, good thing the snow is finally melted here!

Signing off from the Right Coast....

Turf Management in the UK & Europe

Two weeks ago I mentioned the posting of an international update from a recent trip to Europe and the UK. While overseas, I had the chance to speak with the Dutch Greenkeepers Association and the greenkeepers of the Southwest Region of the British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association. The trip was a great opportunity to visit a couple of golf courses in Holland and also hear about some disease updates in the UK from Ruth Mann of the Sports Turf Research Institute.

Golf Course Visits:
While in the Netherlands, we took a day trip to visit two golf courses including the Kennemer Golf Club (site of the Dutch Open) and the Golf Club De Pan. Both courses were very unique and a treat to see. One of the most unique aspects were the Nazi-built concrete bunkers at the Kennemer Golf Club. These were constructed during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. These bunkers are still used on the course for the maintenance facility as well for several storage areas for maintenance supplies and equipment.

From a disease perspective, there was plenty to see, but not enough that caused much concern for the greenkeepers as playability did not appear to be impacted. The main problem with playability came with the earthworm castings on the fairways which was causing severe problems. Other common problems appeared to be fairy ring and red thread. Interestingly enough, most of the damage on the fairways had the visual symptoms of dollar spot, but closer examination of all of the spots revealed the presence of red sclerotia. There is a good possibility that this was a complex of the two diseases, but without isolation it was impossible to tell if dollar spot was also involved. In addition to these common diseases, we also saw a few areas with yellow tuft, which was really of no surprise due to the excessive amount of precipitation that the area had received during the year.

Earthworms continue to be a large problem for greenkeepers.

Disease Update from Ruth Mann:
Ruth Mann manages the Turfgrass Protection Department of the STRI and has extensive experience dealing with disease on golf courses in the UK. Dr. Mann gave a great update on turfgrass diseases in the UK. According to Ruth, dollar spot and leaf spot diseases are definitely on the rise in the UK. Ruth made specific mention to the changing weather in the region and revealed that temperatures have increased by 0.15C in the past few years. She also lightheartedly mentioned the mote that she had to drive around to get out of her hometown to make it to the meeting after some major flooding in the UK (Story here). Ruth went on to caution turfgrass managers about curative control of chronic dollar spot in particular as it is not always the most effective. Other diseases that continue to be a problem included Fusarium patch (Microdochium patch, aka Pink snow mold) and of course fairy ring.

Fairy Ring and Other Issues:
My talks involved a discussion of the principle of managing fairy ring, a disease that greenkeepers in the UK and Europe are all too familiar with. However, management practices that superintendents in the US often take for granted are now just becoming increasingly popular overseas. Some of these practices include the use of wetting agents and the use of the plant growth regulator trinexapac-ethyl. While these supplemental cultural practices are resulting in improved turfgrass health and quality, they are being met by an increase in management intensities. For instance, there was a debate among some of the greenkeepers in the UK regarding mowing heights. While most felt that keeping heights around 5 mm (~0.2") is going to make for a sustainable turfgrass, others felt that lowering heights as low as 2 mm (~0.079) is manageable (remember that many of the greens are fescue and highland bentgrass, not the typical creeping bents and Poa managed in the northeast). Additionally, there is increased interest in the idea of minimal disturbance (no hollow cultivation) and reduced nitrogen fertility. Perhaps I am just cynical, but it appears to me that in the greenkeepers attempt to meet the powers-that-be's goal of "sustainability", they are basically heading down the road of turf management practices of the United States. These practices will likely be met with more intense disease pressure (as they now seem to be seeing). Whether the increased disease pressure is the result of rising temperatures or changes in the weather patterns OR whether this is the direct result of more intense management practices will remain debatable.

In the United States, golf course management seems to go in cycles (graph courtesy Adam Moeller, agronomist for Northeast green section of USGA). Ten to fifteen years ago, turf managers were on a kick to keep it "lean and mean" (and many still subscribe to this) and were met with increased outbreaks of dollar spot and anthracnose. In fact, these two diseases are probably the most important diseases of golf course turf in the Northeastern United States. Superintendents also continue to utilize PGRs and improved equipment to reduce mowing heights to sub 0.10" heights in an effort to chase green speeds for the membership. Luckily, most superintendents are now getting a better handle on adjusting seasonal fertility rates to manage these diseases. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like mowing heights will ever go back up from the extremes we have pushed them to. My point? It seems to me (albeit with limited experience with turf management in the UK and Europe) that if turf managers overseas continue down the road they are currently on, their turf will be met with increased percentages of Poa annua and increased dollar spot and other low N or excessive-thatch diseases. This will ultimately result in the need for increased fungicide use, which is the exact reason the idea of "sustainability" has become widely promoted by the R&A.

My final thoughts:
In discussing these issues with greenkeepers in the UK, I found that there is much internal debate on some of these topics. The best argument I heard was that "the more we do, the more problems we seem to have." I agree completely, but the challenges are the same as we have in the United States (envy and egos). Once golfers see the quality of the course down the street (whose greenkeeper is not letting nature take its course), they are going to start asking for similar conditions. And so the cycle will continue.

A special thanks to our hosts
This was a great trip and I appreciate all of the warmth and hospitality shown during the tour (and I look forward to the Scrumpy on my next trip). I truly love golf and golf course management in the UK and Europe. Despite all of the "advances" and demand for increased turf quality in the US, the fact that golf in the UK/Europe is still about the playability and not (not yet) about the emerald green look says a lot about priorities surrounding the game of golf.

Check out some photos from the trip below.

Widespread Death & Destruction in Portland? No. Beer and Doughnuts? Por supuesto.

As you already know, many of the plant pathologists in the U.S. were in Portland this last week at the American Phytopathology Society meetings. As mentioned last week - Phil Harmon (Florida), Bruce Martin (Clemson) and Shanna Mazurek (North Dakota State) joined me on a quick tour of Portland Golf Club and Waverly Country Club on Saturday morning before the meeting. With temps in the 100s earlier in the week and a lot of wall to wall annual bluegrass - I was expecting to see nothing but brown up here. Arriving at PDX - I could see lots of dead grass from the air. However, on Saturday morning, I was very (pleasantly) surprised to see awesomely good course conditions at both Portland GC and Waverly CC. Thanks again to Forrest Goodling and John Alexander for the day and Gordon Kiyokawa for setting us up.


Forrest Goodling (Portland GC) - it was so hot recently that the thermometer couldn't even keep up with the 100+ degree weather.


The view of the club house at Portland GC - watching the weather and timely irrigation kept the Poa green during the hot hot heat.


Bruce, Shanna and Phil on the Willamette River - you can see what happened to a lot of grass in the PNW during the heat wave if it wasn't cared for.


John Alexander (Waverley CC) "schooling" Bruce on annual bluegrass and billbug damage.


John Alexander showing off some of the wickedly sloped (and fast) greens at Waverley.

Overall it was a great time seeing the courses and having Forrest and John share with us their experiences and expertise on turfgrass in Portland.

APS Annual Meeting (www.apsnet.org)
As far as the meeting - I have to admit, I did not spend all of my time discussing turf while there. I was mainly wearing one of my other "hats" and focusing on new fungicides and fungicide resistance development in agricultural crops. I am hoping that Megan can give us a summary of some of the cool turf stuff (other than what Jim already mentioned yesterday about the work being done by Steve Kammerer and Phi Harmon) from the meeting.

Two things to note (1) just to make things even more complicated, the name 'Chrysorhiza' is going to be more frequently associated with 'Waitea' and 'brown ring patch' - but for good reason (2) I'm "officialy" going to be working more and more with the EPA in Washington DC on fungicide resistance issues starting in January as part of a fellowship and sabbatical in 2010. More to follow on both in the weeks to come.

Beer and Doughnuts
Portland definitely lived up to its reputation for beer and doughnuts on this trip. With over 100 microbreweries - I tried my best to sample as much of the local brew as possible. One night was even punctuated with a late night run to Voodoo Donuts - I wish I had some better pictures - but unfortunately - all my iphone camera could capture in the dark were images like the one below - but the picture does the situation justice. After a very very very long day of plant pathology talks and a few microbrews - my own world pretty much looked like what was captured by this camera.


Paul Koch (Univ. Wisconsin), Lane, and Damon Smith (Oklahoma State) out on a late night donut run. Missing: Brandon Horvath (Tennesee) holding a big pink box (of doughnuts).

I'm very lucky to be working with such a great group of turf pathologists from around the country, they really do play hard and work harder. Most importantly - it was a great meeting and opportunity to discuss turf disease issues from across the country.

Meanwhile, Back in Cali....
Naveen has definitely been using the bat-phone this week. She reports that the diagnostic lab is getting slammed in Riverside. Anthracnose and heat stress are very common on cool season turf. Root infecting diseases like Kikuyugrass/Bermudagrass decline and soil diseases like fairy ring are also showing up because of the effects of summer stress. I think the blast of heat we had in a few locations is catcing up with us.

Weather wise - it's definitey cooled down this week (no Pythium alert outside of Coachella), but still expect to see the typical summer diseases inland and dollar spot/brown ring patch on the very moderate coastal locations (70s-80s).

Signing off from Top-Pot Doughnuts in Seattle (that's another story),

- Frank