Fusarium vs Species

[Steve Okula]

For all those people who hold forth about how bentgrass/fescue stands will save you soooooo much money in spraying fungicides, here are a couple of photos from my own golf course today.



Penncross creeping bentgrass tee ravaged by Fusarium



Fine fescue fairway losing the fight to Fusarium.

Just to demonstrate that bent/fescue swards are not the last word in disease control.

[John Kavanaugh]

Isn't "ravaged" just a bit strong for that condition of turf.  Looks great for a tee, fine for a fairway and stressed for a green.

[Steve Okula]

Isn't "ravaged" just a bit strong for that condition of turf.  Looks great for a tee, fine for a fairway and stressed for a green.

So I like a little hyperbole with my spores...

[John Kavanaugh]

And I thought all the dead grass this year was simply because of the heat.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Nothing is disease free I guess, but I still think (from a UK) perspective Fescue is the most resistant of the finer grasses by a long stretch. Of the coarser ones Rye is pretty hardy and Poa whilst it catches everything is a good recoverer. Creeping bents tend to be more disease resistant as the soils age. European or Colonials are pretty good too.

[Kyle Harris]

Fusarium or michrodochium?

Pink Snow Mold is common this time of the year and doesn't kill the turf outright.

Meh.

[Jon Wiggett]

Nice photos Steve!

Palustris is susceptible to Fuss but Fescue though it is affected will not usually die from it on mass. The best way to save money on spraying fungicides is not to ,

Hope the turf recovers okay,

Jon

[Jaeger Kovich]

Can someone qualified give a proper explanation of what Fusarium is and does?

[Kyle Harris]

Can someone qualified give a proper explanation of what Fusarium is and does?

Fusarium Patch or Michrodochium nivale are the pathogens which cause Pink Snow Mold. It's a relatively minor disease which requires cooler, moist conditions to thrive. The disease won't outright kill the plant but symptom expression will be as seen above. The fuzzy looking stuff on the bottom picture is the mycelia or hyphae which is the actual sign of the pathogen. If one were to take a bit of that and look under a microscope, one would find crescent shaped conidia which are the distinctive spore of the disease.

[Bill_McBride]

All I can say as a former green chair is, "Thank God for superintendents who know what the hell they are doing."


Thanks, guys! 

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