Thursday, May 9, 2013

Large Patch on zoysia/Bermuda

Every spring we are faced with a disease on our zoysia/Bermuda fairways, tees and surrounds.  This disease is a fungus called large patch on zoysia.  This disease normally begins its infection in the fall and will lay dormant over the winter.  Once proper temp and moisture levels are reached, the infection begins to come active.  I spot sprayed some patches about two weeks ago.  More wet conditions and perfect temps have created additional outbreaks.  

As moisture begins to moderate and temps rise to mid 80's or higher and soil temps increase, the disease becomes less active and the turf begins to out grow the disease activity.  

You can recognize the actively diseased sections because they have an orange ring around the margins.  In 99.9. % of the cases. The turf usually comes back without any issue within a few weeks that heat arrives and we fertilize.  We keep fertilizer off the fairways until the patch subsides because fertilizer can encourage expansion of the disease if still active. 


 

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