We are now entering this period and whether your seeing outbreaks of fusarium or not the disease population will be growing during weather conditions that are suitable.So what are the key drivers? Mild temperatures Long periods of moisture allowing the disease to spread Soft lush growth We don’t really need a prediction model to recognise…
Author: Glenn Kirby
Shady work at STRI Research 2018
Just back from a really interesting couple of Days presenting at STRI Research 2018.This year we presented our current joint trial work with ICL, looking at the impacts of shade and light on turf. Our work will give us a really interesting insight into how turf can be managed under low levels of light. The…
Accelerating the pressure
As we are entering a key time for turf disease management I decided to try to accelerate the pressure a little to try and pick out the optimum timings for fungicide application.Knocking down Microdochium populations early will help to keep disease pressure lower through this high pressure time from early September through to November when…
Mounting Microdochium Pressure
As we move closer to the period of high disease pressure I’ve begun taking a look at the historical disease pressure in my area. 2017 shows disease pressure ramping up around the 10th September. Historically this is also the time when growth growth potential begins to slow and drop below the 60% mark and whilst…
Operation Pollinator tour
The last couple of weeks the team and myself have had the great pleasure of touring some of our best operation pollinator sites with Mike Edwards (watch this space for an article soon). I picked up a few great tips from him that I’ll quickly share with you and then below is a brilliant article…
Cranefly time
We are reaching that time of the year when the Cranefly will be on the wing again and as one lifecycle ends another begins. Most of you will be familiar with the Cranefly; the leatherjacket; the damage it can cause – and its appeal to foraging birds and badgers that can ruin surfaces. The leatherJacket…
Yellow Tuft anyone?
I’ve had a couple of phone calls and messages at the end of this week asking any idea what this is? Well I’m pretty confident were looking at YellowTuft which is a disease traditionally associated with cooler months and wetter areas on greens. A quick look at the greencast website to pull off some data…
Fairway wetting agent?
I’ve taken a few phone calls this week all asking a similar question: it’s as dry any point continuing my fairway wetting agent program?Well there is never a simple answer but here goes: If you have fairway irrigation or water available to irrigate your fairways then you’ll get a huge benefit from continuing to use…
Perfect storm for Anthracnose risk
The tail-end of Hurricane Chris has sent shockwaves of thunderstorms and torrential rain across southern and central England today (Friday 13 July). And after it passes over, temperatures are predicted to surge into the mid-30’s for the weekend. That’s going to be some welcome relief for parched fairways and hard baked pitches. but the combination…
Dormant fairways
I have just received this great image of a course in South Africa using our new pigment Ryder on their dormant fairways rather than costly overseeding. I thought it was a great piece of lateral thinking that many of you would find interesting. This method presents huge value over the cost of the labour and…