A Guide to Testing Products and Management Practices
Using some simple statistics is the final step in conducting a field experiment, and can sometime reveal what appear to be hidden truths embedded in the data. Try not to ignore …
A Guide to Testing Products and Management Practices
Properly designed tests can be invaluable in identifying the products and practices that are most useful at your specific location. But badly designed tests will yield poor information, will waste your …
A Guide to Testing Products and Management Practices
Running your own testing program can help you to make technically sound decisions about which products and management practices will be the most beneficial at your golf course. In this first …
Dealing with Low Quality Irrigation Water: The Fairbanks Ranch Country Club Research Study
The movement to conserve water resources has led to increasing pressure on golf courses to utilize lower quality irrigation water - either from local wells and/or from reclaimed water facilities. If …
Cyanobacteria (A.K.A. blue-green algae): WANTED for causing serious damage to turf
There are three widely shared misconceptions about the small, photosynthetic microbes that produce dark crusts and slime layers on putting green soils and foliage. The first is that all of these …
Improving Disease Control
The recent commercial introduction of several new fungicide active ingredients (azoxystrobin, flutolanil, myclobutanil, propiconazole) has added several important tools to an already impressive arsenal of disease control products. Nevertheless, disease control …
Issues in Irrigation: The Uniformity Myth
Ideally, irrigation systems should apply just enough water to eliminate dry spots, without creating soggy areas. In reality, this is rarely achievable. There are several reasons why even a new, state-of-the …
Black Layer: A Symptom - Not the Cause of Anaerobic Soils
When soils become anaerobic (oxygen-free), turf roots “suffocate”, leading to wilting, yellowing, and death of the foliage above. Soil chemistry and structure also becomes damaged from a build-up of toxic materials, …
To Overseed or not to Overseed: It’s a Matter of “Degree”
Deciding whether overseeding is the right strategy for your golf course depends on an overwhelming number of factors, including weather, soil quality, cultural practices and turf varieties. However, there is no …
Selecting Bunker Sands: Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
Selecting a bunker sand sometimes seems like a no-win situation. This is partly because some of the features that must be taken into account—such as color or playability - are a …
Genetically Engineered Crops: The Problem or the Solution?
Genetic engineering is a tool that has the potential to dramatically change agriculture, and in so doing to address many of the world?s most pressing problems - including hunger, malnutrition, and …
PACE Turfgrass Research Institute 1999 Research Results
The PACE Turfgrass Research Institute (PTRI) completed 16 research projects (see page 4 for listing) in 1999. Funded by a combination of grants from industry, superintendent?s associations and individual golf courses, …
Fairy Ring and Localized Dry Spot: New Management Approaches
Symptoms caused by the fairy ring complex of fungi include the formation of dark green rings and circles of turf, the appearance of mushrooms and puffballs, turf death, and localized dry …
Gaeumannomyces (Gay-man-o-myces)
The fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis causes several diseases that attack the roots of cool- and warm-season turf, including bermudagrass decline, take-all patch, spring dead spot, and a newly described decline on kikuyugrass …
Heat Kills: Managing Turf Heat Stress 1999
There is little we can do to prevent high summer temperatures from occurring, or to predict when they will occur. To combat this uncertainty, it is necessary to be prepared for …
Guidelines for Control of Poa annua, Plus an Update on the Redgum Lerp Psyllid
There are no miracle cures for control of annual bluegrass, one of the most troublesome and persistent weeds on golf courses today. On overseeded fairways, where poa control still relies heavily …
Black Turfgrass Ataenius Management Programs for 1999
White grubs continue to be some of the most difficult turf insect pests to control due to their cryptic (hidden) life style in the soil and the lack of simple detection …
Black Cutworm Sampling and Control Programs for 1999
Larvae of the black cutworm are the dominant insect pests of turf in much of the United States. The recent introduction of several new insecticides has allowed more control options for …
Issues in the Use of Reclaimed Water on Golf Courses
Production of reclaimed water is a popular approach for conserving one of our most important resources. With growing supplies now available, pressure on golf courses to accept reclaimed water is increasing. …
Getting a Head Start on Summer: Aeration Programs for Healthier Greens
The two-part greens aeration program outlined below can help improve turf health, especially during the summer months, by alleviating compaction, improving infiltration and increasing gas exchange. I. In April (when turf …
Moss Control: New Data and Management Strategies
Based on newly generated research data, a program to control mosses on putting greens was developed. In our 1998 research trials, we found that broadcast applications of chlorothalonil (Daconil, Echo 720) …
New and Emerging Turfgrass Diseases
New disease problems emerge periodically as a result of unusual weather patterns, ever-increasing expectations for turfgrass perfection (and the stress this places on turf) and the use of new, specific fungicides …
Tissue Analyses: Guidelines and NIRS Revisited
The use of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for analysis of plant tissues has the advantage of providing answers rapidly, and of providing accurate estimates of tissue nitrogen content. However, NIRS …
Carbon Dioxide - Friend or Foe?
Soil CO2 levels above 3% will result in plant stress. To avoid accumulation of CO2 in the soil, aeration and maintenance of low to moderate microbial activity is needed. Full print …
Anguina pacificae - seed and leaf gall nematode
Anguina pacificae (AP) - the seed and leaf gall nematode - is the most threatening plant disease of Poa annua (poa) greens in California. It is currently restricted to central and …
