Fusariummy

We don’t have as much control as we think we do. — Sean Reehoorn (@spartangrass) October 17, 2018 It's totally true. This year I had big plans to control growth on my greens and boy did I fail. Despite having an intimate understanding of how fast each and every one of my greens was growing as well as how much fertilizer I had applied and how much growth I could expect from those applications, the growth rate this past May and August went completely off the rails. You'll also notice that the previous two years I was able to achieve relatively consistent growth, then it all fell apart. WTF! As you can see, the growth this past May and August was significantly higher than in previous years. This despite never applying less fertilizer to the greens. The total cost this year for those that are wondering came out to $275 for 1 acre of greens or about $0.07 per square meter. Dude! Like Sean says, "we don't have as much control as we think we do."  Although growth this su...

When I told a local superintendent my intentions to try Civitas on my greens again he threatened to kick me in the nuts. Here's why and please note that this post does not contain any paid promotions although I am probably broke enough now to finally start selling out. Hey, I also started a vlog, check it out here . Back in 2012 I started using Civitas on my greens. It worked amazing. Back then only my 8th green was dominated by bentgrass and I went an entire year without any traditional pesticides on that green. Just mineral oil. The only problem was that on a few of my shadier greens they turned to dirt and for the first time in my career I was forced to deal with winter kill. Winter Kill of 2012 caused by a number of factors that mineral oil certainly didn't help. Shade much? It turns out that when you apply oil to your greens every few weeks while the turf isn't growing and combine that with almost daily rolling of the greens that you will get dead grass. Lesson leaned?...

I get it. I talk a lot about turf disease and fertilizer but it is only because I think that the two things are closely related. More specifically, I think the amount and types of diseases on our grass are closely related to how fast the grass is growing. Not too shabby From what I have seen over the past few years of intense growth rate monitoring and reduction in fungicide use is that if we can grow that grass at the right rate, we can reduce the amount of disease significantly. The trouble is that it isn't that easy to figure out what is the right speed. Further complicating matters is that if you add too much fertilizer, you cannot take it back and are stuck with grass that is either growing too fast which can lead to all sorts of issues at certain times of the year. I have used the Growth Potential mathematical model to predict nitrogen needs, clipping volume and many other things to try and help me get it right and each year that I further refine my fertilizer timing and rate...

This is what I call "DiseaseyAF" weather This past week I gave my greens a reasonably heavy fertilizer application (1g n/m^2 (0.25# N/1000) as all the signs I had were suggesting that my greens needed more fertilizer. The poa was thin and weak from just coming out of the seed head flush and was covered in anthracnose. early signs of anthracnose this past week I took this opportunity to spread some bentgrass seed as the competition in the next few weeks from the poa will not be very high and this is ideal for seedling establishment. Not surprisingly, 2 days following the fertilizer application our growth rate skyrocketed and it appears that the anthracnose destruction has slowed which is what I wanted. I want thin, weak poa and the anthracnose is one of the best selective tools (available in Canada eh) I can think of to do that. A few days following the fertilizer app they are looking much better despite still being covered in disease. F yeah! While out changing pins today I ...

It would probably read, "All signs point to fertilizing more!" Why? Despite my lack of a magic 8 ball I do have the next best thing. A HUD (Heads Up Display)  which shows all my course data. This is supposed to help me make better decisions by automatically analyzing the data I collect and presenting it in a single place for my observation. When I combine what the HUD is showing me with my disease observations it becomes clear what I should do and what I should do is fertilize my greens more. You might be thinking what's the big deal, just apply the fertilizer already you asshole! You are probably right but the reason I am so hesitant to apply fertilizer is that once you apply it, you can't take it back. As fertilizer has such a big impact on turf conditions and the costs associated with maintaining the golf course I need to be absolutely certain that the fertilizer is needed. So far this year we have mowed less than ever before. This has big impacts on fuel use, mowe...

Just remember… #herdimmunity — Brandon Horvath (@UTTurfPath) November 30, 2017 This tweet started an interesting discussion on twitter today. It centered around herd immunity and turfgrass disease trials and knock out control plots. For those of you who don't know what herd immunity is check out the following tweet. It’s where in a herd of vaccinated animals (like us) the unvaccinated don’t get disease b/c they’re protected by the herd. — Brandon Horvath (@UTTurfPath) November 30, 2017 So essentially Pat might have a clean check plot because all the turf surrounding the plot is treated for disease and this prevents the spread of disease onto the check plot. The discussion then goes on to talk about how there might be better value to have fewer large plots vs many smaller plots to try and account for this apparent phenomenon. Exactly. @luke1utk was @UTturfgrass intern w/Pat this summer and I had him do an independent study on this topic. Jeff, his conclusion was it might be more...

Managing turfgrass disease with the goal of reducing or eliminating pesticide use takes a lot of planning, careful observations and fine tuning. While we are currently in the middle of the summer turf disease cycle, I am already planning ahead for the most difficult time of year that I face when managing turf disease, September. September has always been a challenging time of year for me as we transition from managing for dollar spot to managing for fusarium patch. These disease are seemingly polar opposites when it comes to IPM strategies. High nitrogen reduces the impact of dollar spot and low nitrogen reduces the impact of fusarium patch. During the transition I am forced to pick a side and often lose the battle on both fronts. So far in my career, September is the only month that I have not been able to get through without the need for a corrective fungicide application for either dollar spot or fusarium patch. Last month I made an interesting observation about clipping yield and...