Westward Ho…
I spent a few days out West with Fred Eckert, Senior Sales Specialist with BASF Turf & Ornamental. Fred is based in Manhattan Beach, California, which is a suburb of Los Angeles and as such, Fred is known as “Hollywood Fred” to those of us based outside the City of Angels.

Fred and I were joined by Todd Burkdoll, Marketing Development Specialist, Thavy Un, Marketing Manager and Michael Kropp, another California-based sales rep. – all with BASF.

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Tropical storms cause disease & weeds on FL and Puerto Rico golf courses
Recent steady rains and tropical systems really have disease and weed pressure percolating from central Florida to Puerto Rico. The heat and precipitation are really stressing the turf.

Stadium with leaf spot & patch diseases gains control with BASF fungicides
I spent some time in Orlando and Miami this week. I had the pleasure of meeting with Robert Sample, Superintendent of Grounds at The University of Central Florida. UCF built a new football stadium last year and has consistently battled leaf spot and patch diseases.

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Golf course superintendents prepare for Zoysia Patch & Large Patch outbreaks
Trinity™ fungicide continues to get more exposure in the zoysia patch segment. Every golf course superintendent I’ve spoken with after using Trinity has been very pleased with the results. Fall and spring applications at 1-2 oz. are the standard recommendation here in the Ohio Valley. Some will go with 2 oz. in the fall then 1 oz. in the spring; a few might go 2 and 2, and some are going down with 1 and 1.

Trinity™ fungicide controls Large Patch in warm season turf on golf courses
Trinity on Large Patch (a.k.a Brown Patch) in Seashore Paspalum (and other warm season turfgrasses such as St. Augustinegrass, centipedgrass or bermudagrass)

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Rapid Blight conditions ripe as the Southwest enters fall/ winter months
Rapid Blight is not a new disease. It’s been around for a while and affects the Southwestern states particularly in the fall/winter months of September, October and November. Rapid Blight occurs predominantly because of poor quality irrigation water with high salinity.

Conditions favoring this disease are usually seen in the late summer and early fall as salt build up in the soil becomes elevated due to irrigation water with high sodium content and/or naturally occurring high sodic soils. Rapid Blight is characteristic of its name, and infection is usually very devastating to turf greens and fairways if left untreated. The disease causes rapid decline and death of cool season grasses, thus in Bermuda greens or fairways, which are over seeded for the winter dormant period, the disease can be devastating.

Rapid Blight, courtesy of Dr. Bruce Martin, Clemson University.

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