Fighting with Tekken

Last month, PBI-Gordon announced that Tekken Broad Spectrum Fungicide is now available to golf course superintendents.

Approved for use on greens, tees and fairways only, Tekken features one convenient rate to control Dollar Spot, one of the top disease issues for turf managers. The fungicide also can be used to treat anthracnose, brown patch, and 18 more of the most problematic diseases for cool- and warm-season turf.

PBI-Gordon’s Brian Aynardi, Ph.D., Manager, University and Contract Research — Northeastern U.S., answers a few questions about the impact Tekken will have on both cool- and warm-season golf courses, as well as how turf managers can utilize this fungicide chemistry as both an agronomic and labor-saving solution.

What’s unique about PBI-Gordon’s new Tekken Fungicide active ingredients?

Brian Aynardi: Tekken’s proprietary, patent-pending blend of active ingredients isofetamid and tebuconazole provides preventative, systemic control for up to 28 days per application. It also features one convenient rate for all diseases.

Is it effective for both cool- and warm-season grasses and the problematic diseases that impact these types of turf?

Tekken can be used on both cool- and warm-season turf. It offers protection from the diseases like dollar spot, brown patch and anthracnose that blemish—or worse yet—kill a course’s aesthetics and hamper playability.

How is the fungicide best used, especially during times of peak summer stress?

Tekken is a FRAC Group 7 + 3 flowable suspension concentrate. It should be used in a regularly scheduled preventative spray program and rotated with products that have different modes of action. Though it can be used at any time during the year, extensive testing by universities and end users has shown that Tekken is particularly effective at controlling summer stress diseases like brown patch and anthracnose.

Superintendents have a lot of concerns about fungicide resistance. Does the new Tekken address this?

Tekken utilizes two active ingredients with different modes of action representing FRAC groups 3 and 7 to control pathogens of turfgrass.

Labor savings is another issue with turf managers. How does the new Tekken help superintendents more effectively manage the time of the maintenance crews?

Tekken helps golf course superintendents with labor savings in two ways. First, it is a premix formulation that saves time in the mixing process by not having two separate products to add into a spray tank to achieve multiple modes of action for broad spectrum control. Second, the patent-pending formulation in Tekken offers up to 28 days control on the key diseases golf course supers are most concerned about. Having control for 28 days means less time on a spray rig and more time tending to the other issues on the course.