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!

Updates from...Chile?

As I mentioned last week, every four years turfgrass scientists from around the world meet to relay the latest information and research. This year's meeting happens to be located in Santiago, Chile. Before you start complaining about how great it must be to take a "vacation" for work, just know that it is winter here in Chile and the group will be spending most of their time in dark rooms listening to people talk excitedly about turf (does that sound like a vacation?). Having said that, you can bet that I will be enjoying some Chilean wine and decent food while I am hear.

OK, as for the diseases. One of the nice things about being down here with the other pathologists is that I have had the opportunity to ask them what is going on with their regions. I asked a few people from various universities "Is there anything going on in your area that you want to share?" Below are their answers...

John Inguagiato, Ph.D. (University of Connecticut): After a temporary dropoff of dollar spot, the disease has regained momentum and is starting to cause significant damage again. Take-all has been unusually devastating this year due to the cool, wet weather. To help promote recovery John recommends frequent irrigation to the compromised root system. Finally, brown patch has started picking up in the last 10 days and will probably continue due to the expected hot and humid conditions. On a future note, John mentioned that the date of the second UConn Field Day for 2010 will be announced shortly...stay tuned.

Me, (Penn State): From my end, I have seen quite a bit of dollar spot finally taking off in the past week. Type II fairy ring (green rings) has been popping up all over the region as well, but due to the amount of rain the rings are not really developing into Type I (dead circles). Most golf courses have had preventive sprays out for brown patch, but much thought and agonizing has gone into deciding whether applying a Pythium fungicide is necessary. On one hand, we are in late July when the disease is prime for causing trouble. On the other hand, the weather has been anything but typical this year and temperatures have been mild and rain plentiful (at least for most areas). My advice would be to keep an eye on the weather and if night time temperatures look like they are going to increase above 65F in conjunction with extended leaf or thatch wetness (~12 or more hours) then preventive applications should be applied. Pay close attention to watch your "hotspots", since your environmental data is not likely being collected in your courses hottest and most humid locations.

Karl Danneberger (THE Ohio State University): "No, Not really."

Tom Hsiang (University of Guelph, Canada): "I will get back to you."

From the responses above, I guess you could say that from the turf group, blogging is really a goal/hobby of the "younger scientists" (Sorry Tom and Karl, just had to get that jab in there!). That's it from Chile, but keep an eye out for those in the group reporting from the American Phytopathological Society meetings in Portland next week. For me, one "vacation" is enough and I will be heading back to PSU and then off to Pittsburgh and Buffalo for my final rounds of Penn State 2-Year Intern visits!

Where is the summer heat?

Diseases normally typically appearing at this time of year will likely be on hold for another few weeks as temperatures in the Northeast continue to remain low. The main diseases that I have heard throughout the region include those typically seen in the spring. These include the leaf spots, red thread, take-all patch (although this will likely get worse when the heat does arrive), dollar spot and a reported case of copper spot in Jersey. Leave a comment below and tell me what you are seeing in your area.

For those of you dealing with dollar spot, please send some to State College! The disease showed up in typical fashion in early June and then just sat there. I walked my plots today and there was only about 10 infection centers in my untreated plots...not good for disease research.

I am still sticking by my guns and predicting that brown patch will start to move into the warmer parts of the region within the next week or so. This is also a good time to start (if you have not already) applying Pythium controls for your turf. Applications of the phosphite products have been successfully used to control Pythium on fairways, but preventive applications are necessary. On greens, the phosphites can effectively suppress algae (again when applied preventively). If the hot weather does come in fast, you will want to make sure you are covered for the hot weather diseases.

Finally, keep an eye out for next month's "PlayTurf" cover and the special interview guest. I will also be reporting on @johnkaminski from Saucon Valley and the Women's U.S. Open.

What it Actually Takes to get Pythium Blight on Creeping Bentgrass

Megan posted last Friday that hot, humid weather equals brown patch, which is absolutely correct! Our temperatures soared in the Midwest late last week and continue to stay hot and humid through this week. With the advent of hot, humid weather people started worrying about Pythium blight. Lane mentioned in a previous post (Summer fungicide programming) that many people spray for Pythium, but is probably a waste. Of course none of us believe that Pythium blight cannot develop, but the conditions that are required are so extreme that it rarely develops in shorter cut turfgrass.

For example, just this morning temperatures were well into the 80's and humidity levels were 90 % or more. Plus we have had over 4 inches of rain in the past two or three days. Of course everyone in the Upper Midwest has been worried about Pythium and are scheduling applications to control Pythium. Although we have diagnosed Pythium at a few courses, the extent of the damage is minimal. Symptoms appeared this morning on creeping bentgrass in close proximity to a drain in a fairway at a local Madison golf course. This particular area is also sheltered from air movement by a small pocket of trees. The picture in this post shows the extent of the symptoms, which basically amounted to a few small spots only in areas immediately adjacent to drains in fairways. The superintendent at this particular course is going to make an application of Subdue Maxx to clean-up these areas, but is not going to spray the entire fairways.

The other picture I have attached is from an area at the OJ Noer. This area was seeded with varieties of bentgrass earlier this spring. The plot is so wet that it could be considered a quagmire, but still symptoms are not that severe.

We are not advocating that Pythium is a problem of the past, but we are advocating that superintendents do not forget about other diseases. Brown patch can be very damaging in the conditions we are experiencing now, especially in fairways. If you have symptoms resembling Pythium blight or brown patch, have it diagnosed if possible. Both diseases can produced aerial mycelium and it has been our experience that brown patch is commonly mis-diagnosed as Pythium blight in the field.

As for other diseases, well the the stuff has definitely hit the fan. Dollar spot is raging on our plots at the OJ Noer and has developed at many courses we have visited. Brown patch has reared its ugly head at a few courses in the Madison area and Derek Settle has reported numerous cases of brown patch in the Chicagoland area. We have diagnosed take-all patch a few courses in Northern Wisconsin and it has developed at the OJ Noer. We will probably see a lot of take-all patch this year because soil temperatures were conducive for infection for a long time this spring. However, once take-all symptoms develop a fungicide application will not help alleviate the symptoms. Areas affected by take-all patch will need to be "nursed" through this warm spell by hand watering and possibly a light fertilizer application.

The weather in the Midwest continues to amaze me. Last week we were still measuring soil temperatures in native soil areas at 65 F. This week air temperatures soared up into the middle 90's during the day and nighttime temperatures in the upper 70's. Reminds me of North Carolina weather. Relief is on the way, as forecasts are predicting a slight cool-down this weekend. I think I may have to enjoy some beer and cheese curds!

Kaminski on West Coast?

That's right! I have spent the past week on the west coast visiting my students on their internships (See details here [WARNING...shameless plug!]). During this time I had the opportunity to see some unique management practices and current disease activity in Northern California, Arizona, Utah, and Canada.

One of the most fascinating aspects of traveling to different regions are the various management practices. Having spent a significant amount of time in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, I am familiar with high disease pressure and intense management practices associated with bentgrass and annual bluegrass.

In the areas visited on this "West Coast Swing", however, disease activity is limited and fungicides are used sparingly. Despite this, there were several diseases and other issues that I had a chance to see on the course. In the San Francisco region, The California Golf Club had just rebuilt the entire course and disease activity was limited to a few small patches of take-all on the new bentgrass greens. The most interesting part of this course is the use of "The Greenway Program", which utilizing various cultural practices to help to minimize Poa populations. (Pictured right: turfgrass intern Niels Dokkuma applies a sulfate mixture to the greens by hand as a component of program). In the northeastern portion of California, a few cases of take-all patch were observed on tees, some old snow mold damage was seen in heavily shaded areas, and a few cases of rust were observed on the Kentucky bluegrass roughs.

In the desert, where disease activity is typically low, fairy ring seemed to be the most common problem on the course. As the bermudagrass fairways were starting to kick in to high gear, some remnants of spring dead spot were also hanging around. Although I didn't get a chance to see any on the trip, the most surprising disease in the region were a few select cases of dollar spot. This is the first time that I have heard of dollar spot showing up in the desert! Just another reason why the establishment of a regional dollar spot research project is a good idea.

Just south of Salt Lake City, Red Ledges Golf Course was getting ready to officially open its doors. While I am sure there was disease SOMEWHERE on the course, I did not see ANY disease during a 5 hour tour around the course with my student. The major concerns there dealt with wrapping up construction projects and dealing with animal damage to the select areas of from the elk and voles (pictured right).

My final stop is here in Panorama, British Columbia. Disease pressure here is basically limited to winter pathogens including the snow molds. While diseases are not a concern, major issues include the potential for winter kill. Over the past winter, snow fall in the region was limited during the winter months. While the snow generally acts as a buffer and keeps the turf protected, the greens in many Canadian regions were exposed to -30 temperatures for a long period of time. In fact, much of the damage occurred during a period in April when melting snow on the greens rapidly froze as nighttime temps rapidly dropped. To add to the problems, the slow start to spring/summer in the region is making recovery efforts more difficult. Weather is finally getting to be suitable for growing grass and recovery should be apparent soon.

Thanks to Frank for allowing me to post on his day and to all of the superintendents and students for showing me around the courses!

Spots Galore

Once again the weather is fantastic in the Midwest! Just a week ago we had very low humidity and temperatures hovering around 75 to 80F. This week is a different story. The forecast is calling for cool, wet conditions for much of the week. Consequently, we are seeing a lot of leaf spot on creeping bentgrass. Most the damage is localized in the older leave tissue, however we have seen samples that resulted in serious damage like in the picture to left.

We have observed a leaf spot on segregates of creeping bentgrass in Illinois and Wisconsin for the last couple years. Symptoms typically develop towards the end of May and continue throughout June. Symptoms tend to dissipate once warmer, drier weather sets in during mid to late summer. Fungicides that are usually very effective against leaf spot diseases do not work well against this particular leaf spot. Headway works very well against this disease, but is very expensive if the disease develops on fairways. We attempted to isolate the pathogen last year to determine the causal agent, but we tried too late in the year. This is a disease that we would like to gain a better understanding of, so if you have seen something similar please let us know.

Nothing new to report in Midwest, except for a few reported cases of dollar spot and yellow patch. The soil temperatures are still perfect for preventative applications targeting fairy ring and take-all patch. Some people prescribe to early-season dollar spot applications and those should already be down or put down this week. The first of June usually kicks off the disease season in the Midwest, so maybe next week will be more interesting.

Should I water that in?

This is easily the most frequent question I get from golf course superintendents during the growing season. It is a difficult question, and there isn't always an easy answer.

We know that watering fungicides into the root zone is important for effective control of root diseases. However, in the real world, golf course superintendents apply fungicides to control a combination of root and foliar diseases, but we don't always know what effect watering-in has on foliar disease control.

To answer this watering-in question, you need to identify the primary disease you're trying to control, know where this pathogen attacks the turf plant, and understand how the selected fungicide moves in the plant after application.

In most cases, if a root disease is the primary target for a fungicide application, then it should be watered-in immediately after application. Once the spray dries on the leaves, it will be locked into the foliage and will not get into the root zone. Exceptions to this rule are the true systemic fungicides, like fosetyl-Al and the phosphite salts. These products are translocated downward in the plant and do not need to be watered-in.

The Fungicide Selection Tool, a new feature on our TurfFiles website, can help you select the best application technique for your fungicide applications. After selecting your turf species and the diseases you are trying to control, a list of fungicides is displayed. The list is ordered based on average efficacy against the selected diseases. After selecting a product or products to apply, you are taken to a page that displays mode of action, efficacy rankings, risks for fungicide resistance, rates and application intervals, and application instructions for each selected disease.

Watching and Waiting

Well things in the Midwest are starting to appear "normal". We have had quite the weather the past few weeks, with severe winds and significant rainfall. There is very little to report from the Upper Midwest. Most golf courses are on the road to recovery from any winter kill, however there are still some spots here and there.

As I mentioned, the spring storms have been severe and many golf course superintendents find themselves working on tree clean-up. Not much in the way of disease activity in the Midwest. We've had a few reports of yellow patch, leaf spot and dollar spot in Mid to Southern Illinois, but nothing major yet.

However, this is the perfect time for take-all patch and fairy ring preventative applications. Soil temperatures at a Madison, WI golf course were 57F on Tuesday morning. Now is also the time to monitor nitrogen fertility levels if you have a significant stand of Poa annua. Poa has started to seed at a few golf courses and with that expenditure of energy those plants may need some nitrogen. If the plants start to look chlorotic, than a light foliar feeding may be necessary. This has been shown to reduce anthracnose severity by Dr. Bruce Clarke's group at Rutgers University in New Jersery.

Take-All Patch