Fairy Ring

The white marks are mushrooms that are produced by the fungi


notice the dark green arcs

the area right off the green arc has become hydrophobic

Whenever you play Squire Creek you will notice several dark green rings on all of the greens, this is known as fairy ring. Fairy ring is a disease that is caused by soil- inhabiting fungi. It appears as circles or arcs of dark green grass, often with thin or dead grass just inside or outside the rings. These rings become more visible when the grass starts getting hungry(low on nitrogen). It is not a problem that we need to treat or feel concerned about.

Dollar Spot

Tee box with dollar spot


Rough with dollar spot

mycelium on infected turf in morning hours

Pathogen- Rutstroemia Floccosum formerly known as Sclerotinia Homocarpa

Hosts- Bahia, Bermuda, st. Augustine, Zoysia, and several other cool season grasses

The spots you see all over the course are called dollar spot. This disease is characterized by round, bleached-out or straw colored spots, ranging from the size of a quarter to the size of a silver dollar. The spots appear as sunken areas in the turf. The spots are very visible in the morning when the grass is still wet, the grayish white, fluffy mycelium of the fungus can be seen sitting on top of the grass. This disease can be spread by mowers, humans, animals, and other maintenance equipment carrying the mycelium and infected tissue. This disease occurs when the temperature is between 60 degrees and 90 degrees. There are many different vegetative compatibility groups within Rutstroemia Floccosum that caused diseases at various temperature and humidity regimes.

Cultural management of dollar spot involves regulating the nitrogen level in the plant. One school of thought states, the number of infections will be greater with high nitrogen levels, but damage will be less severe than if nitrogen levels are low. This is the situation we are in, our nitrogen levels are keep very low, so the outbreak is widespread. Dollar spot can be managed with the use of many contact and systemic fungicides like myclobutanil, fenarimol, propizonazole, boscalid, and triadimefon applied every two or three weeks, or contact fungicides like chlorothalonil applied every seven to ten days.

This bottom line is this disease is not fun to look at, but it will not kill the bermudagrass. We will apply a little nitrogen to the course and we will be grown out of it before you know it.

SDS

16 approach
17 approach

Spring Dead spot is first evident in the spring after the grass starts breaking dormancy and begins to green up. This is one of the fungal diseases that we battle every year and this year it has won. The severity of this disease is dependent on the severity and length of winter dormancy. The longer the grass is dormant and the colder the temperatures, the more severe the disease will be. And this year we have endured a very long, hard winter. We now have to wait until the grass starts actively growing so we can grow these areas over. This is simply because the dead spots you see now all began in the fall of last year. That is why this disease is so hard to control, you have to treat these areas when the grass is green and healthy looking. We do three things to fight this disease: spray the proper fungicides, aerify, and vertical mow our mapped areas. Mississippi State University is researching ways to put a stop to this disease that effects bermudagrass in cool regions. So I think in the near future we will have better methods on controlling this disease.