Fusariummy

You might have heard that my course has suffered some winter kill and I'm sure some of you have some questions about why this happened relating to GP and the MLSN as well as how I plan on recovering from it using the GP and MLSN. So is my dead grass a result of the MLSN or GP? If I was the only course to have winter damage I might think so. Even so, I do talk about some pretty extreme practices that could lead to winter death of my grass. Is winter use of primo the reason my grass died? Probably not I have talked about how I limit potassium going into winter as inspired by this research. While this is interesting stuff and something that I am trying, Doug and others have made it clear that by limiting potassium during the fall can decrease the winter hardiness of poa annua. Poa annua is the predominant grass species on my putting greens so obviously it would be a bad idea to limit K during the fall as this would lead to bad things happening. Low K hasn't hurt the poa on th...

Phosphite, Iron Sulfate, and Primo application, Jan 03, 2014 Primo Maxx ( Trinexapac-ethyl) is a plant growth regulator that is primarily used during the warm summer months. It has a lot of uses such as reducing top growth, decreasing nitrogen requirements( kind of), improved shade performance, improved turf density and quality, and many other claims. About the extent of the fusarium currently on the putting greens. Last pesticide app was Daconil Oct 22 2013, 2 phosphite, iron and Primo apps since then. Over the past few years I have applied Primo mostly in the summer months based on a 150 growing degree day (GDD) application interval which is optimal for Poa annua. I have also applied it sporadically during the winter months with not too much thought put into it other than reducing the number of times I have to mow greens in the winter when my staff are laid off and it's just me. Recently I thought of how winter Primo applications could fit into my IPM program. Last winter I had g...

Happy February! Still no synthetics here! If you would have asked me last September if it was possible to grow Poa annua putting greens without the use of synthetic pesticides over the winter I would have called you crazy. It is now almost March and I have 3 greens that have gone without synthetic pesticides since September and one green since June! The toughest part of the fusarium season has past but it is far from over! For the most part I feel that the overall disease pressure this fall and winter has been low. We had an extended dry period this fall and the winter wasn't that cold or wet. February has been very mild and the turf has really started to grow. A little R. cerealis showing up again Currently the only troublesome turf diseases thy are active are M. nivale and R. cerealis . Tees and fairways have a moderate amount of fusarium and the approaches have an extreme case! The greens have had almost no fusarium activity all winter but I did apply two fungicide treatment...

Got some time? This one might take a while! A very big part of any IPM program is turfgrass nutrition and arguably the biggest part of turfgrass nutrition is nitrogen. Since starting out in the turf industry I have always struggled with how much nitrogen I needed to apply to keep my turf healthy. What even is healthy turf? Is this turf healthy? For me healthy turf is a playing surface that requires the least amount of inputs and money to achieve the desired playing conditions. To achieve healthy turf I start with the basics and work towards the more complicated stuff. There's not much point in focusing on the details if you don't have the major things in check. Obviously the major things you need to grow healthy turf are air, water and sunlight. After these things comes soil fertility or turfgrass nutrition. I have always felt that nitrogen was the biggest part of turf nutrition but I had no real way of easily knowing what the turf required. The other required plant nutrients w...

The leaves are on the ground now so I guess it's safe to say fall has finally arrived. We saw a very extended summer that lasted well into October. The extreme dry conditions we faced in September were very interesting to say the least. I learned a great deal about both Fusarium and Dollar Spot and the conditions that favour these fungal organisms. Early September saw the overnight temperatures finally start to drop down to reasonable levels. My original Fall disease management plan was put in jeopardy in early September due to a sprayer breakdown. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or what but about a week after stopping my disease management program Fusarium started to show up on a few of my greens. It was in the usual spots at first but quickly spread out on all but 5 of our 12 greens. The greens where it wasn't located were the greens that received the most sun which wasn't surprising. The first signs of the fusarium showed up on the 5th of Septe...

I've been thinking a lot about moss lately. My casual observations on my moss study have been very interesting so far this year. The small study green had zero moss when the study began this spring but had a history of heavy moss infestation in the past. Obviously this was the perfect spot to study moss. The only problem I've had so far this year is that almost no moss has developed on the putting green at all! What the hell? Moss is losing the battle here in early May Well as always I have a few thoughts and observations to share that could explain why. Who knows? What I am thinking is that moss is affected by traffic or wear only at certain times of the year. Early this spring and summer I noticed that the existing moss on my putting greens was dying. It was black and basically being taken over by the turf. I was "wearing" my greens daily with a lightweight roller. By the time summer had arrived the moss had all but disappeared in the typical areas on my putting gre...

OK. I know what you're thinking. Enough with the rolling already. This guy is nuts. You might be right but..... I think I am seeing a difference in the amount of seed head relative to rolling frequency. Here's a few pictures so you can decide for yourself. The plots that are rolled 2x daily have in my view significantly less seed head than the control. Plots rolled more than 2x daily have practically zero seed head present. Keep in mind the quality of the turf here is so low as the putting green only receives 2 hrs of sunlight/day when it's not raining. I am trying to grow moss here after all! Poa annua NOT rolled Poa annua rolled 2x daily  Poa annua rolled 4x daily Poa annua/dirt rolled 8x daily This spring my greens have never been so good during the Poa annua seed head cycle. I knew a big part of it had to do with the rolling but I just thought that it was the physical act of smoothing the surfaces that was making them roll so much truer and faster. Last week a visitin...

What is a weed? One definition I found was: A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden. On some golf courses weeds can be a constant battle. Turf managers often have to go out of their way to deal with the pesky plants. Often the weeds on a golf course are harmful to the turf and the environment. Invasive species for example are a major problem all over the world. In other instances it is the native species that are the culprits. The past few years that I have worked at the Pender Harbour Golf Club have taught me a lot of things. One of those things is how to deal with weeds. At Pender Harbour we might look at "weeds" a little differently than most other golf courses. Clover growing in the turf Take White Clover (Trifolium repens) for example. Our rough, fairways and tees are full of clover. Clover is usually a sign of poor soil nutrition and drought. This is very true especially for the rough ar...