Fusariummy

Ok, so this is going to be a long one, but if you struggle with dollar spot and want to maybe reduce its impact on your grass and budget I promise it will be worth your time. Last week while at the 2017 Golf Industry Show I was a presenter at a panel discussion called " Successful Low-input Turf Management: Is it practical ?" One of the things I discussed was how the growth potential formula got my nitrogen rates on track and helped reduce the impact that dollar spot had on my course. After this talk and my release of the slides on my blog (linked above) I had a few people reach out with their similar dollar spot success. Of course I asked to see their fertilizer records and by no surprise to me, during times of typical dollar spot disease pressure, they were applying their highest rates of nitrogen (among other things). During my presentation on the growth potential and the MLSN I urged participants to take their growth potential nitrogen use recommendations and compare it t...

We have never spent less controlling pests on our golf course as we did in 2017. With a lot of hard work, determination, and luck with the weather and predicting the future , I was able to continue the downward trend of pesticide use on the golf course for another season. This year we spent 24% less than last year and 41% less than the last 8 year average despite the prolonged and sometimes record breaking wet weather. I used to believe that it was the wet weather that made disease management such a challenge. I am learning that it has more to do with me than the environment which is a tough pill to swallow but also fills me with optimism for future learning and improvement. The table below outlines the total cost of pest control products used on my golf course per year. The table says greens, and yes, this is the only place that pest control products (of any kind including ISR SAR and organic) are used. I have used a bit of iron sulfate on approaches and tees for the last few years fo...

On the West Coast of Canada we are now well into the time of year where fusarium is the dominant disease on turf. Reflecting on the summer of 2016 I can't help but feel somewhat defeated by turf disease. I required a traditional fungicide for dollar spot for the first time in 4 years on my greens. While this has left me feeling down about my disease management plan this year a closer reflection shows that while I lost the battle to dollar spot, I won the battle with every other turf disease on my course this summer. Looking back at the data, the battles I have had in previous years, what other courses in my area were dealing with I can feel really good about my disease management this past year. To recap the requirement of traditional fungicide on my course this year so far is rather easy. The last fungicide application of the winter was on Feb 22. From that time I was able to keep disease levels at acceptable levels until Sept 4 when I needed to take action against dollar spot. Th...

I have been putting this post off for a while now. It seems that whenever I post about my success with disease management on my course I immediately get bit in the ass. Karma or something.. Who cares about the crooked flag when the greens are disease free? So for this reason I am hesitant to write this post sharing my experience over the past 4 months battling turf disease on my course. Here's the problem, there isn't any . Maybe if I type it really small it won't be heard by mother nature and she will spare me in the coming months. Here's the thing, since my last traditional pesticide application on Feb 22nd, there has been almost no disease on my greens. I'm the most surprised person really because never in my entire career have I seen something even close to this. Every day I venture out to inspect my greens I am expecting chaos, total destruction, disease apocalypse, but to my disbelief the greens continue to be more or less disease free. Aside from a few minor...