Asphalt Overlay, Green Roots and New Concrete

 It was an interesting month of July we've just recently experienced. All-time record high rainfalls at the airport, a little above normal temperatures with 15 days over 90 degrees and have had 7 days this summer over 100 which is the 18th ranked summer of all-time. 

Asphalt Overlay

We were blessed when our asphalt contractor called and asked to come on property a week early. We were initially scheduled for last week which gave us 10" of rain so we are counting our blessings of the early start which helped us complete our work before we were forced to build Noah's Ark!. Over 12,000 linear feet were laid in 4 days. Overall, the work turned out well with just a slight bit of rutting at a couple of spots.

We did have difficulty with a couple areas on 11 and 12 where the existing paving gave way and rutting occurred. It was dug out and once the paving machine and roller went over it the ground was to unstable creating an uneven surface. We are working with the contractor to get this repaired but this work might be put off until the final work is completed on holes 15-18 next season.

As a part of the clean up, we have started picking up the excess asphalt laying on the sides of the paths. Staff went through holes 4-8. We also have major work along the edges of the new paths in a number of areas. We will begin to back fill these areas as weather and time allows. We will be looking at greens and tees first and then move to fairway areas. This work will not be completed until probably the winter and or spring of 2023. 

As mentioned in another social media post, the staff and I are so appreciative and grateful for the funds  being made available to improve our infrastructure to go along with the excellent turf conditions our staff strives to produce. It makes the grass look even better.

#5 New Cart Path

Green Roots

On July 4th, I took a picture of our roots and commented not bad for this date. Well, within a couple of weeks of very high temperatures and heavy rainfall a root disease broke out and helped to shorten our roots. The disease is called Pythium Root Rot. It is always in the soil but is usually in control from a number of different ways. Average temperatures with proper moisture levels in our greens. A spray schedule in the spring with monthly applications to help reduce any outbreaks and humans making sure proper air(needle tining/venting greens) and proper moisture. As these factors potentially get out of balance, the Pythium infects the roots and reduces the grass plants ability to pull in moisture and feed itself. In the end, the greens begin to thin and patches just kind of melt away.

6 inches of roots July 4th. I was happy.

We sent samples off to our Turf grass Pathologist who moved from Mizzou to Purdue and received confirmation of the disease. We drenched in some chemistry and begin to needle them to help get the product down to the root and also help to dry them out. It appears with last weeks heavy rainfall, raising of mowing heights, using walk mowers and cloudy cooler days has helped us tremendously. It appears the weather is going to moderate again this week which will hopefully allow us to get some much needed sand on the greens and brushing. As greens continue to improve we will lower our heights down and begin the work of increasing ball roll out.  

 

The arrows are pointing toward what appears to be dry spots on our greens but to the left is a larger mass forming. The areas look like they are potential dry areas but they are actual moist and wet. We have a moisture meter that gives us a water moisture capacity reading. These reading are then used to determine if we need more water in an area or not.

                                                        After needle tine and rolling.

New Concrete Walk Paths For Driving Ranges

I apologize for the delay in getting the new walk paths installed but the approximate 2000 tons of asphalt needed a home first. We intend to lay the concrete for the paths at the long range this next week and then the path at the short range the following week. This will improve the look of our practice area and reduce the need for mulching and repairing the washed away mulch.

The long range walk path as we anticipated heavy rain overnight. Took off our lower side framing to allow the water to rage into the creek and did not bring the gravel all of the way down so it would stay in place. No gravel needed toward the parking area since there is 20' of asphalt in the foreground that we can pour the concrete upon. 

Hopefully things will dry out the next few days and we will see you on the golf course.

                                                 

Time to Catch Up

I apologize for little activity on the blog lately. Time to catch up.  Course has held up well this fall. A little bit of rain has been helpful for the seed that was drilled in during late September and early October.

Frost is predicted over the next couple of days. What does that mean? Course will remain closed until frost has lifted from playing areas. We of course are most concerned about greens so this means the practice green and practice facilities are closed until frost has lifted off of those surfaces. What can frost do? Watch the following video from the USGA, they explain it perfectly. The frost delays are normally shorter in length this time of year since the ground temperatures are still elevated. As temperatures cool, the delays increase in length. Factors that affect delays include cloud cover and wind speed as the sun comes up. Remember, the last thing we want is to delay golfers from getting out on the course but our goal is not do damage to the turf that could create issues going into winter or coming out of winter into spring.




Fall aeration is planned on Monday 10/30 with probably 12-14 greens getting completed we hope. We will get the others completed over the next couple of days trying to finish before early bird players catch up to us. We intend to do a deep solid tine aeration, about 8-9" deep. We will fill the holes with sand which will assist the holes in healing and will improve ball roll out.  Greens should be pretty good to go as the week goes by. In the video it illustrates coring, pulling a core out of the green about 2-3" deep. Our process will not involve pulling out a core but placing a deep 1/2" tine into the green about 8". These deep holes penetrate into our soil layer which is about 5" below the surface of the greens and assists with root growth and moisture penetration. I'll explain more next week after our process is completed.






Staff has been busy removing part of the ornamental planting along the east side of 9 lake over the last few weeks. With the addition of plantings around the clubhouse and pro shop, our horticulturist Becky has just too much for one person to manage. This bed was going to need a complete overhaul but I thought the best way to handle it was to put it back to turf grass. We had a difficult time making the steep sloped bank look good in the first place. I think next season along the turf to grow a bit along the steep side of the bank will look pretty good in place of an out of control planting bed.

Lake bank sodded and seeded along 9. Saved some money and decided to seed the top part. Area next to it is bermuda and will over run the seeded area next summer. Why waste money on something that won't be there for long.

This is our practice green collar that was sprayed with a product called Pylex used at a rate of 1/2 oz per acre. We've made another application since this photo and hopefully will remove some of this pesky grass out of our collars.

Picture above is a fairy ring on #10 fairway. We've had these from time to time on our fairways but not to the size and killing rings that we have been experiencing in the last year or so. We are looking at  a couple of different potential treatments next season. First is possibly changing to an organic fertilizer which reduces thatch and improves the microbial population that are antagonistic to the fairy ring organism. 2nd would be a fungicide application. I like improving soil health through the organic fertilizer option.

We've had a little bit of Large Patch on Zoysia break out a couple of weeks ago. Largest spots were up toward 13 green. We did some spot spraying with a fungicide to help knock it down. The worst time of the year is spring for this disease. The spot spraying this fall will help reduce some of the activity next spring but we will still spray some of our areas where the disease occurs on a yearly basis. The organic fertilizer option could help to alleviate this disease but it takes a couple of years to throw the soil microbe population to the good guy side. Organic does cost more but in the end does it really when you have to keep spraying fungicides on a regular basis?

MSD is doing some storm drainage work in the subdivision next to us in Glen Echo Park to reduce storm water getting into the sanitary sewer line that runs through our course along the lake system. The excessive loading of the sanitary sewer creates issues along Wilson Street in U-City which has been on the news many times in the past from flooding.  Part of the work will be some repairs and storm drainage being improved between the property line fence on 9 and the lake. This work will start in the beginning of winter and will be completed before the golf season next spring. Outside contractors through MSD will be completing the work. Some large storm water lines will be installed into our property and a open grass basin will lead water into another pipe that will go into our 9 lake. Our staff will be removing irrigation lines that will have to be dug up and replaced once the project is completed. The club has been reimbursed for work our staff will have to do for this project.

Turf Rising Means Poa Annua Is Waking Quickly

Yes, our turf is rising from it's winter slumber, especially our poa annua. We have a variety on our practice green that wakes up a bit early. I think it awakens early because of a micro climate created by the large parking lot and roadway which is next to the green. The black asphalt absorbs heat which is then transferred onto the green artificially inflating its temperature.  It is also orientated toward the west which gives it a good sun field most of the day.

Interesting note, I just went out and took some soil temperatures of our greens at a 2" depth, 1:15 p.m. Practice green was 54 degrees, #11 which faces to east was 50 in the front but only 43 in the back where it is shaded by the large Pin Oak. 13 green which is facubg west was 51 degrees.

At the tip of the tee is a seed head that has already developed on the practice green. 

Each season, we begin to count growing degree days (average heat accumulation) to determine when to apply specific products to prevent or reduce the effects of weeds, insects and fungus. Yes, scientific models are developed to help us to predict when to apply these products making them more effective. Poa annua seed head development, crabgrass control, broad leaf weeds, beetles and other pests are treated from these various models.

The model we use for poa annua seed head development is the 32 degree model.

Allow me a moment to explain how this model works. The high temp for Friday March 4th was 43. The low was 37 giving us an average of 40. We then subtract the 32 degree base number from the avg. temp for the day which was 40 giving us 8 growing degree days. We then accumulate the days totals until they begin to get near the target number that has been developed over the years by researchers as well as practical experience we have seen on our course.

We use GDD Tracker from Michigan State University. As you can see by the map, we are getting close into the target time for applying the product.

We utilize 2 growth regulators that work in combination to reduce the impacts of seed heads. The predicted outcome is about 50% control which does not seem very good but if we used no control measures, you would come to appreciate at least 50% control. 

We attempt to apply our product when we are trending toward 300 growing degree days. 

Right now we are at 221(we were at 8 growing degree days last year on this date). This week's warm up and rains should shoot us well past the 300 target mark before the end of the week. 

So what does this mean, yes I am either spraying later this afternoon or Sunday morning with rain predictions for most of this upcoming week. We sprayed last year around March 20th or so. We should go past that growing degree number by Thursday of this week. 

What does this mean for the season. Right now we are accumulating heat days about 2 weeks ahead of last year. Will it last? I don't know but we are trending for an earlier season so we will keep our fingers crossed. The weather does have a tendency to average itself out. Of course if we continue this warming trend, that creates tremendous pressure on our staff because everything is sped up, staff are not in place and those problems that come along with too much work and not enough time. Also, applications and sprays get pushed very close together which can create problems for us. Some of our chemicals don't play well together if they are sprayed to closely to one another.

Greens aeration is scheduled for March 21st pulling cores and March 28 contracting a new service called Dryject. More information on this over the next couple of weeks.

Green Changes in July

With the Invitational tucked away nicely in June, we have made changes to our greens practices for the month of July and into August which contribute to a much healthier plant and hopefully no turf loss during this very stressful period.  These changes are to protect our plants from potential devastating damage that could take the rest of the season to heal and greatly effect your experience at the club.  The lack of fans for air circulation throughout the course and no drainage in our greens creates issues during the heat of summer and I act accordingly to protect our most valuable resource.    

After the 4th of July weekend, we raised our mowing height .005 thousandths of an inch which is slightly taller than the thickness of a strand of hair which averages about .004 thousandths of an inch.  We have been given some great growing weather over the last few weeks but we are still on guard against the potential for damage.  Higher temperatures and saturated conditions are our biggest fear but the stress that being mowed, stepped on, sun baked, and every nasty disease known to turf is looking for its first opportunity to spring an invasion and spread its kind!  Besides the increase in height, below are a few other things we do to insure we get through the summer season without damage.

We have been able to top dress our greens a couple of times during this period but do use a little less sand. I resist the temptation to brush or groom the grass during higher temperatures.  Tearing and or scratching the leaf blades can lead to damage and the plant is forced into injury management which diverts needed resources away from breathing, perspiring and food production which are essential for a plant to live.

Our greens were opened up in late June in preparation for hot weather with a needle tine venting.  We plan to hydroject the greens on Monday which should open them up and allow for gas exchange and improve water penetration and evacuation if necessary.  Milder nights have allowed for our root systems to be in pretty good condition for this time of year which is a good thing for plant health.

If we get sustained days of heat such as 7-10 days in a row well over 90, we would change our mowing practices to every other day and roll on the other days which keeps the greens rolling consistently.  Cutting the plant is injurious and it reacts to heal itself just as if it were damaged.  Resources move from life supporting to damage control.

We also use Plant Growth Regulators(PGR) which slow the growth of the plant and will assist in ball roll and reduces the amount of energy required by the plant to survive.  Our goal is to not exhaust all the resources that the plant has stored in its cells before conditions change enough for it to provide energy to function. Exhaustion does not cause illness or disease but can open one's system up for attack.  Fungus and bacteria are laying in waiting to over run a turf plant's ability to resist invasion and also over run good organisms in the soil.  Can I here an amen from the Doctor's reading this blog!

Water resources are managed as closely as possible with hand watering being used to supplement the extra needs of the plant.  Excessive water applications overnight lead to soft conditions so we monitor our conditions regularly.  I utilize a moisture meter which has 3" probes and give us an average of soil moisture in the green.  Wet and soft conditions can increase the potential for mower damage, excessive wear, larger ball marks and outbreaks of disease.  It can also lead to turf that is more lush and susceptible to incidence of disease.

We also fertilize a little less and increase sea weed extracts and other elements to improve plant health.  Sea weed improves stress tolerance within the plant during heat stress events.  We also reduce our overall fertilizer applications because a majority of fertilizer is derived from salt.  Excessive salt within the plant attracts moisture making it not available for the plant to utilize.  The plant wilts and can die.  Also, excessive salt in the soil can clog or slow water from entering into a root.  Use of organic fertilizers due to their lower salt index is helpful during the summer stress season.

All season we manage mechanical damage by using solid rollers on our mowers instead of grooved rollers which can create wear damage on circling mowing(clean up cut).  The grooved rollers do give a tighter cut but the extra pressing does damage cells.

If the weather continues to stay mild, we will be able to change our cultural practices to a less protective manner and get a little more aggressive.  We can decrease our mowing height by that one hair width which will give you the greens in the late summer and fall that you have come to expect here at Glen Echo.

#2 tee compost project

As you know, we used about a ton of compost on a few tees on the course. I have noticed disease activity and the lack thereof on the 2nd tee which we split in two for a composting experiment this season.  For today's purpose of this blog, the sides of the tee I am talking about are looking back at Hole #1 with the metro tracks on the left side of the tee.  Normally I discuss things in direction the hole plays but my picture is laid out differently.  The overall health of the composted section is definitely improved from the check area on the right.  The right part of the tee has developed some Dollar Spot which is a fungus.  The composted section of the tee has no dollar spot.  Without any actual testing of the soil, I would expect the composted side to have improved beneficial microbes which hold down the population of dollar spot microbes.  Also, dollar spot is also attributed to a turf that is lacking nitrogen which can help to out grow the disease activity.  Click on the link above for additional information.
 
There is a large amount of Brown Patch which is a fungus as well on the check side.  The dollar spot and brown patch were severe enough on the check side of the tee that I had to spray it with fungicide today to get them back in check.  I am trying not to spray the compost side for brown patch but if it continues to worsen, I might have to break down and spray it.  With increases in humidity, you are seeing more of these two diseases active on the types of grass that are susceptible.  Fescue, bentgrass, poa annua, blue grass and even warm season grass such as bermuda and zoysia are showing some dollar spot activity.  High humidity levels increase the activity level of these two diseases.

#2 tee looking back toward #1.  The composted side is to the left.  Its overall appearance is better than the right.  It has more disease activity, has been requiring fungicide applications every few weeks.

This is a picture of brown patch which is below my phone holder.  These are areas that  have rings ranging in various sizes.  It has a washed out look and can cause thinning and overall weakness to the plant.  Fairly simple to treat with fungicide.  It can also be checked by changes in weather such as cooler and dryer weather.  There is also a cool season brown patch which can be seen in the winter, fall and spring.

To the left of the phone holder is dollar spot mycelium that are attacking some poa and bentgrass on the weak side of the 2nd tee.  It gets its name dollar spot from the fact that it is about the size of a silver dollar.  

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Green conditions and upcoming next few weeks of heat/humidity

The heat is finally arriving this week along with some high humidity.  The work we have been doing since last

6 green under severe stress July 2011

fall and through to mid-summer have hopefully put our bentgrass/poa greens in a position to be healthy and survive the rest of the summer. We will now be taking a number of additional steps to protect our turf from this onset of extreme weather that can potentially set in for the next few weeks.

We did a slight raising of our greens mowing height today.  Our walking greens mowers were at .130" which is just barely above 1/8" and will be raised to .135" which amounts to a 3.8% increase.  Just a slight increase in leaf tissue will provide positive increased health to our greens as they begin to suffer through increased ambient and soil temperatures.  Additional leaf surface leads to the potential for more energy production for an already weakened plant.

We will begin to alternate between rolling greens one day and mowing the next in the early part of the week to reduce damage to the plants.  Mowing creates a wound on the tip of the blade which then requires additional plant energy to be produced to heal the wound.  Studies have shown that alternating between mowing and rolling reduces the overall energy required by the plant without sacrificing overall green speed. We will attempt to place an additional roll or two on the greens on Friday/Saturday which will improve ball roll for the weekend.

The disease triangle to the left shows the three factors that must come together to create disease in plants.

The host at the bottom of the triangle is our bentgrass/poa being mowed and played upon at 1/8" and are very susceptible to disease during the heat of the summer.  In some cases, the disease infects parts of the plant during the fall and or spring and if proper maintenance and or treatments are not made, the potential for the disease to explode are possible.  The plants are being grown at a height and in an area of the world where they are not native thus susceptible to certain diseases.

The environment on the right side of the triangle are conditions favoring disease which we are beginning to face.  High temperature and humidity.  This can include high night temperatures where soil temps are not allowed to cool overnight.  Humidity can come in rainfall at the worst time such as an mid-morning deluge followed by over 90 temps.     

The third part of the triangle is the pathogen which is almost always in the soil but its numbers are not to the level where it can impact a plant.  As environmental conditions deteriorate, the pathogen explodes in numbers and over runs the good microbes in the soil and the ability for the plant to defend itself and the onset of disease occurs.  

One of the things we are trying to do is reduce our activities on the turf which can encourage disease or stress to the turf.  At the same time, we walk a fine line in reducing inputs to the turf without compromising your overall ability to enjoy playing on this surface.  This is a difficult task to balance between these two factions.  The enjoyment of our members and guests of their day on the course is foremost in our minds.  At the same time, we must manage the health of our most important resource at the club which is our golf greens in a way to protect them through this stressful period so we can enjoy them for the rest of this season and the future.

Other jobs such as hand watering greens will become more apparent over the next few weeks as needed to supplement irrigation and cool surfaces when warranted.

Chemical input intervals could be shortened slightly over the next few weeks and additional products including seaweed extract will be increased to improve heat stress resistance.  Additional applications of Turfscreen will be applied which is a sunscreen for turf and  reduces overall canopy temperature.  Plant growth regulator Primo will be used which helps to reduce overall top growth of the plant which saves energy consumption as well as reducing top growth which improve ball roll on the non-mowing days.

Hydrojecting and needle tine venting will take place over the next month as well.  Another hydroject venting is scheduled next Tuesday, July 23rd and we will then follow up with a needle tine venting with our verti-drain machine in mid-August.  These two processes open up the turf to exchange good gas(OXYGEN) for excessive bad gas which is (CARBON DIOXIDE).  All living things need carbon dioxide but too much can be fatal.  The holes also help to dry wet areas and allows moisture to get into areas that tend to stay on the dry side.

We've been applying wetting agents and penetrants to assist in moving water through the 4" sand layer of our greens.  This material helps to reduce Localized dry spots(LDS) which is why you might see us concentrating water with hoses on specific green areas in attempting to get moisture to penetrate these areas that repel water.

Probably the most important thing that I have done in my 23 year career took place two seasons ago last summer when I changed our greens mowers over to solid rollers permanently.  Our old practice like many others was to change to solid rollers from grooved rollers during the main stress of mid-July/August.
I decided because of the age of our greens, poa contamination, lack of drainage and improvements in plant health/ball roll with solid rollers to make our switch permanent.  Wiele or grooved rollers do help cut the turf tighter but it also puts severe stress on the turf grass plants and the green surfaces.  We are cutting at a slightly higher height than a few years ago but achieving just as good if not better ball roll and at the same time improving the overall health of the greens.

 

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. 

 

#3 Blue/white tee

The 3rd main tee has not looked well since early in July. It is a cool season tee made up of bentgrass, poa, rye, and blue grass. During the heat spell in June, we increased water on a majority of the course. This tee became dry during that period and then we over compensated our watering program and the tee then became too wet. We were also using a growth regulator on our cool season tee boxes since May to reduce the competitive advantage of the poa on the cool season tees and control the overall growth rates. This included tees on holes 2, 5, 10, and 11. Overall the regulator program was working pretty well but with the combination of the wet condition, diseased turf and the restriction of the poa plants, we began to lose turf.

We've got our watering problem managed, our preventative spray program is where it needs to be and we've taken the growth regulator out of the rotation at this time. Last week we slit seeded two directions with rye grass in the weakened turf areas. We have also been rotating tee locations at times to the alternate tee to reduce playing traffic. We also sprayed some micro-nutrient package on the tee to improve its overall health. Some heat is coming on in the next few days but I expect the tee to continue to improve and be in good shape in the next couple of weeks.
A majority of the weakness in the tee is on the left 1/2 of the tee and the front and back sections of the tee. The right side of the tee is for the most part in normal condition. The view below is from the front of the tee to the back of the tee.

Rhizoctonia Brown patch disease in fescue

Brown patch disease hit our turf type fescue during the severe heat spell the last couple of weeks. Brown patch is a disease that loves high day time temperature but really loves high night temperature with higher humidity levels. If you have a fescue lawn, your lawn probably looks like the couple of pictures I have posted at the bottom of the page.

Also, check out the article from Kansas State University for ugly pictures of diseased yards and in depth detail of the disease. This disease is also prevelant on golf courses but we reductions in fertilizer inputs on greens and our preventative fungicide programs should reduce the chances of our greens getting this disease in any widespread outbreak. knock on wood, I have not seen any yet on our greens.

http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/path-ext/factSheets/Turf/RhizoctoniaBrownPatchOfTallFescue2.asp

This is the front of the new short blue tee box on #10. You can see the larger patches on the left. It can look a little like drought or dry turf if the patches are not real symmetric.

You can see how large these patches can be up against my camera case. We treated all of our new fescue areas plus all of our cool season surrounds to reduce the effects of this disease. It can be more than a cosmetic type disease, especially in stands of solid fescue turf. We do not treat our main rough areas for disease due to high expense and the amount of acreage our rough area covers. We only attempt to treat close areas around tees and in green complex areas which are highly visible if the turf is not completely full.

Large Patch in zoysia

Our zoysia on the course can be susceptible to a disease in the early fall and middle spring of the year. The disease is more active in the spring because of the cooler temperatures and heavier moisture conditions. The disease that I am describing is called Large Patch. The disease is not a devastating disease if treated preventatively. This disease is normally limited because of our treatment schedule but if the conditions are right, it can become active and can break through our fall treatment. A member and guest might notice this disease because of its bright orange color against the dark green of the zoysia turf. There are sometimes multiple diseased spots within a given area which can make it more obvious to you that something is a bit unusual in that part of the fairway or tee.

We made a preventive application of fungicide in the fall to discourage the disease from starting. The reason why a disease becomes active and creates damage is because the organism that causes the damage becomes very high in numbers in the soil and or on the plant and will begin to cause health issues for the plant. Cultural practices which improve the soil condition around the plants are important in trying to keep disease in check but sometimes we must resort to the last cultural practice which is spraying chemicals.

There are other physical and environmental factors which can increase or decrease the pressure from a disease. Below are just a few of these factors.

1. Fertilization


2. Aeration is usually always an improvement to a condition but sometimes can lead to damaging turf if completed during severe temperature or moisture events.


3. Temperature.


4. Moisture levels.


5. Air movement.


6. Physical damage from mowing, dragging or topdressing.

An increase in heat last week was great for allowing our warm season turf to grow but it also increased the soil temperatures which is one of the factors that brings on the large patch disease. The temperature of the soil has to get high enough for the disease to grow in the soil. Almost everything having to do with turfgrass either good and or bad has to do with soil temperature levels. Turf does not grow until certain temperature levels occur but also diseases do not increase until the right temperature encourage the growth of certain bad organisms either in the soil or along the base of a plant. The other factor which has encouraged this disease to become active has been an increase in moisture and then cooler temperatures which has happened this week. The following pictures will give you a few examples of what the disease looks like on our turf. We did a curative application on these spots and will be scouting for other areas that will need additional treatments. It is difficult for us to see every spot of zoysia so we have taken our operators out into the field and did some education in regards to how to spot the disease. Five or six pairs of eyes are always better than two or three when it comes to trying to find problems on the golf course.

This spot is on the left side of 13 as you begin to go up the hill. The orange ring is the active area of disease. The darker area is some bermuda that we are attempting to kill with our fairway treatments which have been applied twice since fall.

This is a classic example of the disease. This is in the same area as the picture above but has started in the intermediate rough and part of the left side of the ring is in the fairway. The lighter or straw looking turf has been damaged but should recover.

This spot is on the right side of #5 fairway. Another classic ring but the interesting part of this ring is that it is only 1/2 a ring. At each end of the ring is bermuda grass which is not normally susceptible to this disease. The only problem with that statement is that we have some real activity on the 8th approach fairway on the fine leafed "Baby" bermuda grass. I believe some of the material on the inside of this ring that is bleached out is also some of the other finer leafed "U3" variety of bermuda that is on the course which has been slow to come out of the dormancy of winter.














This is a close up of the ring above. My radio which is about 4 inches long gives you an idea of the width of this active ring. Some rings are only an inch or two wide. They vary in size but are normally round in shape.

There are a number of cultural practices which we utilize to reduce the impact of this disease.

1. Aerate regularly to reduce thatch.


2. Reducing irrigation in the fall which helps discourage the formation of the disease in the fall. Disease that forms in the fall can potentially activate in the same area in the spring.


3. Do not fertilize fairways until warmer temperatures in mid-spring/May or until increased temperatures and disease is not actively growing.


4. Do not aerate in the spring. Cores can move disease to different areas of the course that are not currently infected.


5. Apply preventive(before disease occurs) in the fall and curative(treat when you see disease)in the spring.