Plant-parasitic nematodes are important pathogens of intensely-managed turf used on golf courses. Two of these nematodes that are common in the southeastern US are Belonolaimus longicaudatus and Mesocriconema ornata. Currently, there is a lack of effective treatments that can be used to manage these important pests. Turfgrass field trials evaluated DL-methionine as a turfgrass nematicide agains...

Shade and traffic can reduce turfgrass coverage and playability on both golf courses and sports fields. Five cultivars of bermudagrass and seven cultivars of zoysiagrass were planted in the summer of 2007 and maintained under typical golf course fairway and sports field conditions. Plots were shaded continuously beginning spring 2008 with a 50% light reducing fabric. A second study was implemen...

BACKGROUND Developmental resistance, i.e. reduced virulence and speed of kill of late instars, is a limiting factor in the use of baculoviruses for caterpillar control. Agrotis ipsilon multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgipMNPV) is highly infective to young black cutworms, Agrotis ipsilon, but too slow-acting against late instars for effective curative control on golf courses or sports fields. ...

Seed treatments of improved Kentucky bluegrass and fescue cultivars with carbofuran, oxamyl, and phenamiphos dissolved in acetone reduced seedling emergence, but treatments were not extremely phytotoxic. Phenamiphos was the most toxic, particularly at the 5,000 mug/ml concentration. Fresh weight of grass clippings 35 d following planting generally was greater in treatments than in controls exce...

Dollar spot is the most economically important disease of amenity turfgrass, and more fungicides are applied targeting dollar than any other turfgrass disease. symptoms small (3 to 5 cm), circular patches that develop in a highly variable manner within plot scale even under seemingly uniform conditions.

This laboratory study examined viability and infectivity of the entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar in solutions containing four different turfgrass soil surfactants: Revolution (Aquatrols Corp., Paulsboro, NJ), Aqueduct (Aquatrols Corp., Paulsboro, NJ), Cascade Plus (Precision Laboratories Inc., Waukegan, IL) and OARS (Aqua-Aid Inc., Rocky Mount, NC). Infective...

The relationships among the chemical, physical and biological aspects of compost and their role in suppression of turfgrass pathogens are reviewed. The composting process, mediated by microbial activity, is a€ected by physical and chemical characteristics which include temperature, aeration, moisture content, C:N ratio and pH. In the absence of parameter restrictions, the microbial community fo...

Polymer coated urea (PCU) is a N fertilizer which, when added to moist soil, uses temperature-controlled diffusion to regulate N release in matching plant demand and mitigate environmental losses. Uncoated urea and PCU were compared for their effects on gaseous (N2O and NH3) and aqueous (NO3(-)) N environmental losses in cool season turfgrass over the entire PCU N-release period. Field studies ...

Actively growing turfgrasses usually contain more than 75 percent water. Their “dry” matter holds 16 nutrient elements considered essential for survival, flowering and/or seed production. Turfgrasses receive three of these, carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O), from carbon dioxide in the air and from water. The remaining essential elements are minerals, most often supplied by the soil. Healt...

Dollar spot, caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, is the most prevalent and economically important turfgrass disease in North America. Increasing levels of fungicide resistance, coupled with tightening environmental scrutiny of existing fungicides, has left fewer options for managing dollar spot. More knowledge about S. homoeocarpa populations is needed to improve dollar spot management strategie...