Turfgrass Disease Update

May 5, 2010 in Extension

Although the Northeastern United States has not had the considerable amount of rain that the people in Nashville have experienced, the late evening thunderstorms followed by temperatures continuing to climb towards 80F are prime for diseases.

Now that The Masters is over and The Players Championship is about to begin, golf is in full swing. With the high maintenance requirements for golf courses comes a higher incidence of potential disease problems. In the field we have been seeing increased cases of brown ring patch (waitea patch), leaf spot in some of the roughs, and continuing problems with anthracnose.  Although I would have thought that it was too early for dollar spot, I have heard of reports of the disease starting to appear in Northern New Jersey.  As unbelievable as it seems, we have also heard from a superintendent in Maryland who is reporting brown patch (Rhizoctonia solani) on his ryegrass fairways. This is extremely early for the disease to be starting, so we could be kicking off a very strange season regarding diseases!

Reports from the Turf Diseases Facebook page indicate that many of you are seeing excellent growing conditions and that the recent rains may even have you scrambling to get your roughs mowed to a playable height.  These conditions, however, have been excellent for those of you who timed your aerification right and recovery is now happening at a fast pace.

Other than that, not much chatter is happening around the region as everyone is probably in full swing with their season.  I suspect that it will be at least a month before the calls really start to roll in regarding problems in the field. In the meantime, enjoy the nice growing conditions and relatively healthy turf.