Weather and Turf Disease –Early Spring 2013

Nobody needs to be reminded that March 2013 has been colder than the last several years.  The good thing is that wintry conditions prevent wasted fungicide applications.  Keep watching the summer patch soil temperature monitor.  Remember that there are several elements to the decision rule.  The cardinal temperature seems to be around 65F—in soil at 2” depth.  Also understand that the pathogen does not emerge from dormancy like an “on/off” light switch.  It is more like a dimmer switch, which reinforces the notion of waiting until the natural warming period prevails, rather than hastily making an application in response to an unnatural spike in soil temperature.

 

I doubt that anyone has had the opportunity to apply early season sprays for dollar spot control.  Results from our research over the past 3 seasons indicate that fungicide sprays would surely be wasted if applied over the past 4 weeks.

There is a trend among basic manufacturers to combine active ingredients to improve efficacy and broaden the spectrum of activity of treatments for turf disease control.   Below is a list of fungicide combinations that may serve as a resource for identifying the active ingredients in new fungicide products.