Research

Half-life is not the whole story

May 28, 2019 By Rick Latin, Ph.D.

There’s been a fair amount of chatter lately about fungicide half-life and what it means for disease control and fungicide resistance risk. Half-life is the time required for a substance to be broken down into half the original amount. It ...

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Compost amendment (Photo: Pete Landschoot)

Compost amendments on the golf course

May 7, 2019 By Pete Landschoot, Ph.D.

If you are a golf course superintendent struggling with poor or marginal soils, compost amendments may provide some relief. A good-quality compost can improve structure in soils with a high amount of clay, reduce compaction and increase infiltration. Amending compost ...

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

April 22, 2019 By Chrissie A. Segars, Ph.D.

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

March 28, 2019 By Brian McDonald, Alec Kowalewski, Ph.D., Clint Mattox, Ph.D. and Emily Braithwaite

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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Off-type grasses in ultradwarf bermudagrass greens

March 12, 2019 By Eric Reasor, Ph.D.

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 Ben McGraw, Ph.D.

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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