Research

Meet Chrissie Segars, the new Extension turfgrass specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife

April 22, 2019 By
Hello, turf lovers! My name is Chrissie Segars, and I am the new Extension turfgrass specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife in Dallas. I grew up in a small town of fewer than 1,000 people in South Carolina, where the peaches ...

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Effects of monthly urea applications (Photo: Emily Braithwaite)

Microdochium patch disease development

Microdochium patch (Microdochium nivale) can severely damage annual bluegrass turf when it’s cool and wet for long periods. This disease has been controlled with fungicides, but applications of urea to reduce wear from golfer traffic have been known to incite ...

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Photo: Golfdom

Off-type grasses in ultradwarf bermudagrass greens

March 12, 2019 By
Golf course superintendents have reported issues with off-type grasses in ultradwarf bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon x C. transvaalensis) putting greens over the past several years. These “weedy” grasses have disrupted putting green aesthetics and surface uniformity (Figure 1). Fundamentally, off-type grasses ...

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Annual bluegrass weevils (Photo: Charles Mazel)

Mowing down weevils

March 7, 2019 By
Many turfgrass managers in northeastern North America would rather forget the 2018 growing season. Record-breaking rainfall throughout the region affected most aspects of turfgrass management, including insect pest control. The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW), Listronotus maculicollis, is one insect pest ...

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Annual bluegrass weevil damage (Photo: Katherine Diehl)

A lesser of two weevils?

The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) can inflict severe damage on annual bluegrass (Poa annua) fairways, greens and collars. Because the ABW showcases a strong preference for annual bluegrass over creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera), we hypothesized that manipulating traditional insecticide programs ...

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Cool-season fairway species (Photo: Cale Bigelow)

Midwest cool-season fairway water requirements

January 31, 2019 By and
Fairways are some of the largest areas of irrigated golf course turf. Although regions like the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast (where creeping bentgrass is widely used) are considered “humid,” acute drought can persist for weeks. Combine drought with water scarcity ...

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