Disease pressure
If you’ve seen any odd diseases this year take a look at blog from earlier: Waitea Patch and Grey leaf spot
High Growth Levels
PrimoMaxx is a commonly used product around the UK & Ireland and the plant health benefits are clear to all who use it. During these warm spells of high growth (for any grass that didn’t get scorched – irrigated) it can be used to help reduce the labour needed to keep on top of grass growth or even just reduce the amount of clippings that need to be dispersed after cutting.
There’s a whole section here dedicated to blogs about Primo and it’s well worth taking a read through to ensure you’re getting the best out of it. Link here…..
The key factor for me is to remember that the longevity is closely related to temperature. The warmer it is the faster the plant will burn through it, the cooler it is – the longer it will last.
I spend a lot of time talking about greens management and at those low rates the longevity won’t be varied much as you only have small variability in rates. On outfield areas you have a much wider range of rates available to you and you can increase longevity by increasing the rate.
BUT doubling the rate will NOT double the longevity, so you’re much better tightening or elongating the application windows based on temperature than varying the rate.
Exact longevity is hard to give exact figures for outside areas due to the variables – Soil, Moisture, Grass species, etc
But leaving untreated control plots to establish longevity and then relating that to our GDD calculator is a great place to start.
In short – if you’re on a monthly application program on outfield areas you could probably be getting more out of your investment by looking into GDD.
Crane fly
I can’t leave without mentioning Crane fly – As I speak we are beginning to enter the hatch period – please keep logging your sightings at PestTracker. We are starting to see some sightings coming in now…
23/08/2022
Don’t forget you can listen to the most recent On the Horizon turf podcast with Glenn and Henry. It’s free and easy to listen to while you’re out on your mower.
Septembers episode is out now, take a listen.