Program '11: Develop a fungicide program in 4 easy steps

Designing a fungicide program for golf course putting greens is a daunting task, even for the most experienced golf course superintendent. There are many factors to consider, and at times it seems too many products to choose from. However, I think it becomes a lot easier if you break it down into 4 easy steps:

1. Which diseases do I need to prevent? It should seem obvious that developing a good fungicide program is impossible without first answering this question. You need to know which diseases you're trying to control in order to design a good program! Yet, it is not uncommon for superintendents to skip this step or get it wrong. For example, I see a lot of superintendents throughout NC spraying unnecessarily for take-all patch, which is only a problem at high elevations in the western part of the state. On the other hand, a lot of people with older bentgrass varieties like Pencross, Pennlinks, Dominant, Crenshaw, and L-93 do not treat their greens for anthracnose, which is a common problem on these varieties.
2. What weather conditions trigger development of these diseases? Now that you've selected the diseases you need to control, it's time to become familiar with the conditions that trigger their development. Each disease develops under a specific set of conditions, whether it be a range in soil temperatures, night temperatures above a certain threshold, or other factors. These conditions, to the best of our knowledge, are explained in detail in our disease profiles. Take the time to become familiar with the diseases you need to control and what conditions favor their development.
3. When can I expect these diseases to be active in my location? Weather conditions vary widely across a state like North Carolina, so it's not possible for us to develop a blanket recommendation for application timing that everyone can follow. Fortunately, the State Climate Office of North Carolina has 30-year average climate data for a number of weather stations across the state, which are easily accessible on their website. Using this historical weather data, you can pinpoint the approximate date on which diseases will tend to become active. For example, looking at the historical data from Raleigh, night temperatures tend to rise above 50F on May 1. For root diseases, use average daily air temperature to estimate soil temperature. For example, average air temperatures reach 55F on about April 7, so this would be the time to start preventing fairy ring.
4. Which product or products will control all of the diseases I need to prevent? This is still the hard part, but we've made it a lot easier by answering the first three questions. For every week during the growing season, we know which diseases are expected to be actively developing in the turf. Now all you need to do is work through the season, and for every week make sure that you are protected against those diseases. For this, you need an information source that ranks fungicides based on their effectiveness. The Disease Management Utility on TurfFiles was developed just for this purpose. This online decision aid allows you to select up to 5 diseases and it will return a list of fungicides ranked in order of their average effectiveness against the diseases you selected. Detailed information on each fungicide, including trade names, formulations, application rates, application intervals, and specific application instructions are also available on this system.

If you work your way through these steps, you should come out with a really solid program for your putting greens. Of course, every year is different, and it is important to adjust a program during the season as necessary, again using the conditions that favor your diseases as a guide. Next week, we'll take a look at the fungicide program that we developed using this system, and through this blog we'll keep you up to date on how we change it through the year. Stay tuned in one of the following ways!

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