This week at FarmLinks seemed to fly by. My colleague Bob Beyer really helped me out while I was gone. He conducted three Insignia pre-aerification demonstrations in the central Pennsylvania/Philly area. The trials focused on examining the outcomes of early preventative applications that take place during aerification when the soil temperature is between 55 and 65 F. This key temperature range marks the beginning of seasonal disease activity at the soil level. Some customers may aerify early while the turf is still dormant in an effort to apply the treatments closer to key temperatures to get their money’s worth. Key diseases that become active then are summer patch, take-all patch, anthracnose and pythium root dysfunction.

From my point of view, this disease/turf relationship is a classic example of a predator-prey relationship. When applied at the proper time and with proper watering, these diseases can be significantly reduced during summer stress by cutting them off at the pass. Actual inoculation occurs early and symptoms are seen later when stresses occur.

(more…)