Category: Disease

All experienced turf managers know there are some weather conditions that lead to high Microdochium patch pressure. Prolonged periods of leaf wetness and optimum temperatures are exactly those. I wrote an article recently on this concept and how these factors influence the development of Fuz. Read it here….. By plotting these two factors on a…

It’s a tricky time of year to manage disease right now and true to form there’s a lot of disease pressure floating about. The biggest problem I see is that turf managers hope or believe that small amount of a disease will grow out because they are still getting some growth. Preventative fungicide applications are…

All the way through this trial we’ve talked about the stresses that are generally forgotten about: Golfer traffic Machine wear UV light Temperature August has a habit of delivering some awkward disease weather, longer dews, humidity and dropping temperatures. Add in a renovation period and disease can sneak up on you quite quickly. So once…

I’m seeing and hearing about a lot of Anthracnose rumbling around at the moment. I thought I’d share my thoughts on why we are seeing this now, some clues, what dangers to look out for and best turf management practices if you’re in this situation. Why are we seeing it now? If we roll the…

We have some good news for you all – we now have Red Thread on the label for Instrata Elite. Particularly for those of you in Lawn Care where Red Thread is a much larger issue. I’ve been with Syngenta just Over 2 years now and Instrata Elite has been with us a little longer.…

What is Red Thread? Red Thread is a turf disease found in across the UK and Ireland. It’s fairly common, it can impact the appearance of turf but generally doesn’t disrupt playing surfaces. What causes Red Thread? Red thread is caused by the fungi Laetisaria fuciformis. When growing conditions are good infection may be transient…

What is anthracnose? Anthracnose (Colletotrichum graminicola ) is a turf disease pathogen that can affect turf across the UK and Ireland. It is typically viewed as the second most common turf disease, after microdochium patch. Anthracnose can affect all turf species but is most prevalent on Poa and Fescue grasses. The pathogen can result in…

Thanks to the TurfCareBlog team for inviting me along to their turf chat tonight on Fairy Rings. Really interesting chat about the challenges of managing fairy ring on Cricket pitches. It’s a great blog – well worth a visit. Click here to go see…………… The interesting bit for me was talking about how to get…

Had a nice catch up with Saila from Berner in Finland this week and after she saw my blog about Spring purpling she talked me through what they see in Finland. After all if this phenomenon is related to a combination of low temps and high light levels you’d expect to see quite a bit…

We’re reaching that time of year when we start hoping for some decent frosts. A sustained period of cold weather will really help slow the progress of any Microdochium and it generally signals a period of drier weather too. Now assuming you’ve come through this Autumn with clean surfaces so far then cold weather is…