Research

Another day, another dollar

July 18, 2018 By Joseph A. Roberts, Ph.D. and Cody Beckley

Dollar spot (Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennett) is a common disease of turfgrass worldwide. Even with adequate fertility and deployment of cultural controls, multiple fungicide applications typically are required for control. While organic amendments are considered promising alternative management tools, we ...

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Foliar fertilizers and soil nutrient levels

June 6, 2018 By Miyuan Xiao, Kevin W. Frank, Ph.D., and Thomas A. Nikolai, Ph.D.

Foliar fertilization is the application of a dilute solution of plant nutrients to foliage with the objective of nutrient uptake by leaves. Initial interest in foliar fertilization began in the 1990s over concern about picking up granular fertilizers during mowing ...

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Primo Maxx: To reapply or not?

June 6, 2018 By Austin Brown, Jim Harris and Scott McElroy, Ph.D.

Making the decision to apply a plant growth regulator like Primo Maxx (Syngenta, trinexapac-ethyl) on ultradwarf bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon x C. transvaalensis) is easy. In addition to growth suppression, Primo can provide enhanced color, increased density and more consistent green ...

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A new index for sodicity risk assessment of irrigation water

May 22, 2018 By Qiyu Zhou, Douglas Soldat, Ph.D. and William Bleam, Ph.D.

Golf courses with poor quality irrigation water must worry about sodium accumulation in soil. Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) is the primary criterion of estimating sodium hazard of irrigation waters. However, SAR has been shown to underestimate the risk of sodium ...

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Winter bermudagrass overseeding: Does it hurt or help?

May 14, 2018 By Cale A. Bigelow, Ph.D., Gregg Munshaw, Ph.D., Mike Richardson, Ph.D., Xunzhong Zhang, Ph.D., Mike Goatley, Ph.D. and Kevin Jackson

Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is the choice for golf course fairways and tees in the South and in the Transition Zone because it tolerates close mowing (less than 3/4 inch) and forms a dense, durable and persistent turf. One of the ...

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Predicting dollar spot just got easier

April 12, 2018 By Allison Anthony, Jim Kerns, Ph.D., Paul Koch, Ph.D and Damon Smith, Ph.D.

As spring approaches, some especially devastating diseases once again rear their ugly heads. Argued to be the costliest disease of turfgrass worldwide, dollar spot will be on a lot of minds and in a lot of budgets. With warmer temperatures, ...

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