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COURSE CARE

Water Woes

By Bob Vavrek

| Jul 8, 2014

Just one short period of wilt due to a broken mainline was the trigger that caused a rapid outbreak of basal rot anthracnose to Poa annua on this putting surface.

It’s just one problem after another for Poa annua this season. Most of the Poa on the green pictured in this regional update somehow managed to survive an exceptionally harsh winter only to succumb to basal rot anthracnose. A recent bout of moisture stress caused by a broken irrigation mainline pipe seems to have been the trigger that incited a rapid outbreak of disease activity. Once again, we are reminded that anthracnose truly is a stress-related disease. Let’s hope that yesterday’s fertilizer application and tomorrow’s fungicide treatment can check further injury to the putting surface.

Source:  Bob Vavrek rvavrek@usga.org

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