Minor Treatment Skip Reveals Major Difference Between Treated, Untreated Turf

This year, five golf courses are participating in the “Championship Rejuvenation” program where superintendents put various BASF products to the test. In this article, we get an update from three of the five superintendents who are about six weeks into their treatment programs.

Dollar spot made an appearance at Ruth Lake when a fungicide application missed a spot on the 11th hole.

During a recent fungicide spray on the 11th hole at Ruth Lake Country Club in Hinsdale, Ill., the crew had a minor skip with the sprayer, resulting in no coverage on a small spot of turf. A very unwelcome guest quickly arrived — dollar spot. While treated right away, the situation was a very telling sign for Superintendent Dan Marco.

“It’s a great indicator that the fungicide is working,” Marco says. “As advertised, it is giving us extended control for dollar spot. I am very pleased with what I’m seeing so far.”

Marco is treating his 26 acres of fairways, three acres of tees, and four acres of greens with a variety of BASF products, including Lexicon® Intrinsic® brand fungicide – a broad-spectrum fungicide – and Xzemplar® fungicide. Xzemplar provides curative and preventative control over dollar spot. It is both a contact fungicide and a long-lasting preventative treatment.

Heading into July, Marco reports that he has not had a great deal of disease pressure thus far. But he can see that the BASF products are working well. “The turf looks really good heading into our battle months of July and August. Our rooting looks exceptional, and it appears that the cultural practices – along with the timely applications of product this spring — are paying off.”

Extended Coverage is Golden for Sterling Farms Golf Course

Through the end of June, Mike Golden, Superintendent of Sterling Farms Golf Course in Stamford, Conn., had seen nearly 20,000 rounds of golf played this season. With such heavy traffic, Golden needs to minimize the amount of time he has sprayers on the course.

He has been able to achieve this by requiring fewer treatments thanks to the extended coverage he is getting from Emerald®, Xzemplar and Lexicon Intrinsic brand fungicides.

“Being able to put down the products and get 28 days of coverage – and still not seeing any disease on tees and fairways – has been huge. I’m definitely pleased with what I’m seeing from the BASF products so far,” Golden says.

Golden and his crew have applied Lexicon Intrinsic brand fungicide twice, with a focus on controlling summer patch. He dealt with a challenging, wet spring, followed by heat and high traffic, adding to the challenges he faces daily.

“I’m amazed that the course is in the shape it is. We have done so much sodding and seeding since February, and coming into July, I couldn’t ask for the course to be in any better shape than it is,” he says. “You can see that the quality of the products is second to none.”

No Signs of Disease or Stress at Edina Country Club

For Edina Country Club Superintendent Brandon Schindele, no news is good news. After one treatment of Lexicon Intrinsic brand fungicide, all greens are healthy and performing as expected. There are no visible signs of disease or stress on any of the greens.

In August, Schindele and his crew will be performing another Lexicon Intrinsic brand fungicide treatment a week before an aeration treatment. Schindele says he will be evaluating how quick his recovery time is both with and without the product treatment.

Schindele is treating all his ornamental beds with several BASF products, including Pendulum® AquaCap herbicide, which controls a wide variety of unwanted grasses and broadleaf weeds.

“So far, we are weed free, so I am very happy,” he says. “It has greatly cut down on labor time weeding beds around the property, which frees up my crew to do other things.”

(L to R) BASF Technical Service Representative Kyle Miller, Schindele and BASF Sales Specialist Nathan Mezera tour Edina Country Club.

Schindele knows that the big test of the products comes with the high summer season.

“I’m eager to see how these products can help me and my staff improve the course not just from a plant health perspective, but also from an allocation of resources, including labor,” he says. “It is very important to my membership and me that we continue to push and elevate the already high standards we have for the Edina Country Club.”

Photos: BASF