Preventative Medicine

We’re seeing Summer 2018 bring some extreme temperatures to some portions of the country, while others are seeing pretty heavy rains. Superintendents have been pretty consumed with keeping up with mowing fairways and roughs due to a quick green up. What sorts of pest and disease pressure are you beginning to see, or that superintendents can expect to see on their courses?
Well, I can’t speak for everywhere, but I know in the Carolinas everything has taken off in the last few weeks. We are seeing a lot of fire ants and white grub’s due to the high temperatures and heavy rains. I have also seen a lot of disease pressure this year. With not having much of a spring and the hot humid raining weather, dollar spot and brown patch are everywhere.  Also crabgrass is out of control! Many applicators were a little late with pre-emergence this year and missed this window for control. In the northeast and southeast, not only crabgrass has emerged with a vengeance this year, but also green kyllinga and other sedges are growing rapidly, as well.

If superintendents missed their window to pretreat for these pests and diseases, how do you suggest they attack an outbreak or infestation?
Post emergent herbicide applications and curative insecticide applications are a must.  For many of the weeds that have broken through a pre-emergence program, there are several good post emergence products that can help clean up the courses. For insects, it is really important to monitor peak activities before spraying a curative insecticide application.

In the back of most turf managers’ minds is the worry over pesticide resistance. What advice can you offer to help guide supers on how to avoid this issue?
Pesticide resistance is going to be a concern moving forward. I know from talking to turf researchers there is already a number of pests that are resistant to certain pesticides. As a result, superintendents are looking for solutions. Superintendents should pay attention to the pesticide chemistry and look at alternate pesticide modes of action, so they can to rotate chemistry as often as possible.  Several researchers have discussed looking back at some of the older chemistries for possible answers, as long as it registered and available for that specific pest use.

As summer play increases, tournament season kicks into full swing, and the stress and pressure of extreme climate conditions sets in, what advice can you offer turf managers to ensure they’re cultivating the healthiest turf possible to resist these stressors and still maintain a playing surface that meets player expectations?
Superintendents and players should both keep in mind that our industry revolves around a living thing. As the extreme conditions set in, turf managers are going to have to make sure they stay on top of a good fungicide program, proper nutrition regiments and water are all in place for their courses. Even things like raising height of cut, rolling greens and skipping a mow helps increase the quality of the turf without sacrificing too much ball roll throughout the summer.

What support can industry suppliers offer turf managers as they deal with extreme climate or disease pressure?
As part of the research and development team at UPI, our goal is to develop pesticide programs and evaluate on various pests at several universities across the U.S. The data we obtain from our trials helps us tweak and modify programs that will work to suppress disease, insect and weed pressure in many different states. We would like to offer superintendents with a working pesticide program that is backed through science and non-biased data.

I know it’s still a good three to four months away, but what advice can you offer about fall prep that superintendents may want to start thinking about now, or begin building a strategy for season’s end?

 For turf managers in the north, the summer is a good time to think about snow mold programs and reflect on what worked the best last year.  As you recall, we all had a long, cold, hard winter with lots of snow in most areas.  I would suggest looking at university research data and planning your program well in advance so when it arrives you are ready to go.  For the guys in the south, I would look at fall preemergence herbicide applications as a preventative tool to help knock those pesky winter annuals before they emerge.  The one thing that I can say for certain, it will be here before you know it.