The Farm Links Experience

This week will be spent traveling to Farm Links to hear the discussion on BASF's Intrinsic properties in their two products Insignia and Honor (Insignia + Emerald). The thought process behind this is that applications of either of these products with the "Intrinsic" label will help in managing stress. Leading up to the conference, many of the pathologists have been frantically emailing back and forth discussing the actual agronomic benefits from these products. Although the verdict is out, the discussion raised some key issues regarding the promotion of fungicides as stress reducers. Issues that need to be addressed is the potential overuse of these fungicides which could result in rapid resistance issues with several key pathogens. So the first part of this week will be spent with various pathologists, physiologists and just about the entire USGA staff at Farm Links in Alabama discussing the issues. Hopefully someone else on the blog will be able to update you later this week on their take on the meeting.

While in Alabama, we were able to spend time on the golf course which is a teaching/research facility and has various species throughout including zoysia, paspalum, bermudagrass, and bentgrass. Unfortunately, we didn't see much disease on the course, but we did see that large patch was starting to show up fairly aggressively on the seashore paspalum (photo below). In listening to Dr. Harmon from the University of Florida it seems that paspalum gets just about every disease. I am sure that Micah Woods (our international blogger) sees many things on the seashore paspalum in his area.

Around the Northeast, temperatures are on the warm side as some front sites over the area. Although out of the loop in the area, I would suspect that dollar spot could still continue to be a problem. Aside from this, many are trying to determine what their plan of attack will be for their upcoming snow mold applications. To find out which products may work for the varying pressures you may see at your course, check out Dr. Kerns suggestions for PCNB substitutes here (pdf)

Aside from the trip to Alabama, I will be back in State College on Thursday and then head to Massachusetts for a talk at the NE-APS meeting on Friday for a talk on the implications/impact of the relatively large number of Pre-Mix fungicides on disease control in turf.

Blue Skies, Nothing But Blue Skies...

The last post focused on my final thoughts on snow mold and since then the weather in the Upper Midwest has been great! We have had a very early spring. This is good for the golf industry because golfers have been able to play golf! The last couple of weekends have not been nice, but at least some weekday play is occurring. The TDL, my phone and email have been fairly quiet with respect to turfgrass problems. We have been very dry the last month or so and this week has been extremely windy. When I was still at NCSU, Lane used to make a very simple point to his students-What is most important to a fungus? WATER! We haven't seen or heard of a lot leaf spot development because of the dry spring. The only interesting symptoms we have seen are some unusual reddish brown rings on one of our putting greens at the OJ Noer. Upon incubation of the affected turf, we obtained a Rhizoctonia like fungus. The cultures are only a few days old, so I don't know what fungus it is yet. The reddish brown rings were a little unusual though.

Besides the development of this little anomaly, we have been busy laying out our summer fungicide trials. We have also been busy planning our summer field day, which is scheduled for July 27th. We are changing the format slightly this and we are still planning on conducting the afternoon Lawn Care Session that focuses on basic turfgrass management skills. The topics include, grass ID, weed ID, sprayer and spreader calibration and pest identification. We are kicking around having a congruent session that focuses on advanced turfgrass management skills, like soil moisture measurement and interpretation, disease diagnosis and fungicide program development and insect management. If you think this would interest you please let me know!

I think this summer will present some interesting challenges as most summers do. We also have a whole lot going on so stay tuned! Next week I will be in Lane's state for a much needed beach vacation, maybe I'll report on the turf I see there :). Before I go the picture attached to the post is a representation of one of my most favorite cities! We were out on the lake during mid-April!

Final Thoughts on Snow Mold This Spring

All of our snow mold trials have been rated this year. In our most southern site in Milwaukee and in Minneapolis, MN, snow mold did not develop. However, in Stevens Point, WI, Marquette, MI and Brainerd, MN we had phenomenal pressure. Especially at our Marquette site, which is shown in the image on the right. So I don't beat a dead horse too much, the idea with snow mold control is to mix products or use pre-mixed products. Mixtures of two or three of the following active ingredients, trifloxystrobin, iprodione, triticonazole, myclobutanil, propiconazole, thiophanate-methyl, chlorothalonil or fludioxonil, performed well at all of our sites. Check our website in a couple of weeks for this year's results! And if you are in the area stop in at one of our Snow Mold Field Days- April 14th (Brainerd, MN) April 15th (Stevens Point, WI) and April 16th (Marquette, MI). Please get in touch with myself or Paul Koch (plkoch@wisc.edu) if you would like specific information about these events.

The issue with snow mold control I do want to address is breakthrough. Many individuals experienced breakthrough with some products that traditionally do exceptionally well in our trials. So what is going on? I believe it is a timing issue. In our trials we typically apply fungicides at least two weeks prior to snow cover and many times a month prior to snow cover. Typhula sclerotia (survival structure) are thought to germinate when soil temperatures reach 32 F or soon after snow fall and then the mycelium would initiate an infection. So you are probably thinking then it is best to wait as long as possible to apply fungicides for snow mold control. Well that may not be the case. Recent research at UW-Madison regarding fall nitrogen applications shows that only 10 % of the nitrogen applied in November actually makes into the turfgrass plant. Transpiration is minimal during this time, therefore acropetal penetrants are likely not moving within the plant. Remember that acropetal penetrants like propiconazole, myclobutanil and thiophanate-methyl, enter the plant move in the xylem with the transpirational stream.

Basically when applications are applied very late in the year, the fungicide is likely only on or within the cuticle layer and not within the plant. If coverage is poor or infection occurred prior to snow fall (as is likely the case with Microdochium nivale), then a bit of breakthrough will occur. Then each year breakthrough occurs, inoculum levels will increase and eventually the chemical practice implemented is overwhelmed. All of this is just thinking out loud, but my predecessor Dr. Gail Worf always recommended applying fungicides for snow molds before deer season (Gun) opens in Wisconsin. This is normally the third weekend in November, which is typically 2 to 5 weeks before snow fall (that persists) in the Madison area.

We are doing some research to shed some light on these questions I have raised. One of my students Paul Koch, is examining the degradation rate of the fungicides chlorothalonil and iprodione in the absence and presence of snow cover. He has found that we can expect disease suppression with these two products for at least 28 days in a winter environment. We have yet to detect a difference between degradation rates of these two fungicides in the absence or presence of snow cover. Admittedly however, we are still doing some data crunching and this may change once our statistical analysis is completed. Then this fall we are going to conduct a fungicide timing study to determine when snow mold fungicides should be applied. In this study we will use a small number of fungicides representing at least one contact, systemic and a mixture of both types of fungicides. We have not worked out the exact details at this time, so any comments would be appreciated!

Besides snow mold, we have seen a few odd problems this spring. One in particular was fairly severe damage from what appeared to be fairy ring on a stand of Kentucky bluegrass grown on pure sand. The stand symptoms were necrotic rings with an orange tint and a strong mushroom aroma to the thatch layer. When we incubated the sample, a fungus with large clamp connections popped out the thatch. The odd thing about this problem, was the necrotic rings were present immediately after snow melt. There was type II fairy ring symptoms in this field prior to snow cover, so maybe the dark green areas were more susceptible to winter injury is my theory. Maybe others have seen this with fairy ring or maybe I was totally off with my diagnosis, once again any thoughts or comments on this would be appreciated. Next Wednesday is one of our Snow Mold Field Day dates, so I will likely not post anything. Hopefully I will see some of you there!

Weather! What the...?

For those of you not paying attention to the weather in State College (as I am sure most of you don't), all I can say is WTH. State College received the earliest snow on record and it was not met with much happiness. For one thing, the leaves are still on all the trees and the heavy snow caused a lot of damage. The image to the right shows some of the damage that I witnessed outside the house on my way to work. In addition to this, I was without electricity for 2 days. This wouldn't have been such a problem except to keep warm, I had the gas fireplace going only to wake up in the middle of the night with the carbon monoxide detector going off. Needless to say, I had some trouble getting back to sleep that night!

SO...as you can imagine there are not a lot of diseases in State College at this point, but around other parts of the Northeast golf course superintendents are preparing for snow mold applications. According to this weeks survey, superintendents are also participating in the numerous early-season purchasing programs offered by many of the manufacturers. This is one area that is gaining popularity and a few researchers are putting together programs related to the economics of turfgrass management.

SO...as I have tried to do all year (with little success due to the lurkers in here), I will once again try to find out what you (our readers) are planning for next year. For those of you buying on the early-order programs, what is it that you are looking for and how do you plan your purchases for the upcoming year?

If you feel inclined to do so, feel free to leave your answers in the comments.

AND...for those of you lurking and not feeling like answering, you can check out what others are doing with some superintendent blogs that I like to read!

http://therimgolfclub.blogspot.com/
http://cccpgcm.blogspot.com/
http://ergcm.blogspot.com/
http://geccgcm.blogspot.com/
http://creekmoormaintenance.blogspot.com/
http://greensuper.blogspot.com/
http://pinetreegm.blogspot.com/
http://sandstonegolf.blogspot.com/
http://sgccturf.blogspot.com/

localized dry spot

Tribute to golf course dogs:

I am going to start this week by stating that golf course dogs are some of the best dogs around. I met another one yesterday who was the sweetest thing, a black lab. I think dogs love riding in golf course utility carts even more than they like riding around in pickup trucks. I'm not the only one smitten. I met a superintendent once where the dog was "technically, an employee of the parks department" for chasing geese. I think he was pretty taken with her, because he said that if he changed jobs, the dog might mysteriously disappear with him.

Okay, onto more serious matters.

Localized dry spot:

I had a putting green sample come in the other day where the turf was wilty. There were 4 cup-cutter plugs. When I picked up the first one, I noticed that the sand felt absolutely powder-dry on my fingers. This can indicate hydrophobic soil (water-repellent soil), otherwise called localized dry spot (LDS).

I did the old trick of placing some water drops on the soil and seeing if they wicked in. They did NOT wick in—they just sat there. As I read online somewhere, putting water droplets on normal soil is like putting it on normal paper—the drops get wicked in. Putting droplets on hydrophobic soil is like putting them on wax paper—the drops just sit there beaded up.

I examined the other 3 plugs. One was fine—the sand felt wet, and the water drops wicked in fast. With the other two plugs, parts of the profile were okay, but parts were hydrophobic. Hydrophobic conditions are usually in the top one inch of the soil, but it can be variable. In one plug, the top 1-inch was fine and the lower 1-2 inch was hydrophobic. One of the photos below shows drops beading up in the 1-2 inch range, whereas drops applied to the upper 1-inch wicked in.

LDS has been associated with the decomposition of organic matter, where the sand becomes coated with hydrophobic molecules. This been associated with fungal growth—some fungi produce and secrete hydrophobic chemicals. In particular, fairy ring fungi can produce hydrophobic chemicals, leading to the most damaging types of necrotic rings, but LDS is not always associated with fairy rings. This particular green did have some fairy ring issues, but NOT in the sites where the plugs were taken. There could be a correlation, but it is hard to say.

Wetting agents can help to move water into hydrophobic areas and to evenly distribute the moisture. Be careful, though, as some products can cause phytotoxicity under some conditions. Read the label carefully.

Water droplets wicked in on top, but not in the 1-2 inch range

3 drops sit there, not wicking in:

Snow mold:

I was glad to see Jim's postings about snow mold. As a Wisconsin native, I'm familiar with the regions where he's doing his work. In fact, while visiting my parents in March (they live in Madison, WI, not too far from the turf research center and the University Ridge course where Jim does some work) I stumbled across some snow mold. See, there's a hiking trail that runs through the woods at U Ridge and connects with a regional trail called the Ice Age trail. My parents and I were having a lovely walk, then I got distracted by the snow mold and couldn't help but stop, hunt for sclerotia, then teach my mom and dad to hunt for sclerotia.

Then, we came out of the woods and I found some guys spraying. I strolled over and said, "So, what are you guys spraying?" I could see the look of skepticism in his eyes, and you can imagine his point of view. It's a little unusual to have a woman you've never met come walking out of the woods in March in Wisconsin and ask what you are spraying. So, I quickly followed with, "I'm a turf pathologist, and I know Jim Kerns." With introductions taken care of, I had a nice converation with the superintendent, Aron Hogden (Hi Aron, if you are reading this!)

Gearing Up for Another Growing Season!

Spring has sprung in the Midwest! The trees are blooming and budding, the flowers are emerging, and the grass is finally growing. This winter was pretty harsh, with many places receiving significant amounts of snow fall. Consequently, snow mold was quite severe this year. However, most are on the road to recovery from any snow mold damage. Another major issue was ice damage and desiccation. Many golf course superintendents through out the Upper Midwest claim the damage from ice and desiccation was as bad as they've ever seen. So before implementing a plan of action to start the road to recovery, you need to determine if the area will come back. To do this, take a cup cutter plug from the damaged area and place them in a window. Keep them moist and MAKE sure the window ledge is not directly above or below a heat vent. The drastic change temperature can cause shock that can kill the plants. Monitor growth from the plugs for two weeks and if green tissue has not emerged by then, the area will likely need to be repaired.

Now is also the time of year for preventative applications targeting fairy ring and take-all patch. If you are not familiar with preventative fairy ring applications, Lane Tredway's group at NC State is finding that two applications of Bayleton at the low label rate effectively limits fairy ring development throughout the summer. Initiate the first application when 5-day average soil temperatures are between 55 and 65 F, then follow-up with the second application 28 days later. All applications should be irrigated in with 1/4 inch of water immediately after application. Wetting agents should be applied on a regular basis during the summer, but NOT tank-mixed with the preventative applications.