Date: June 22, 2001
Category: Diseases Subject: Brown Patch, Fusarium Blight, Take-All Patch
Diseases seem to come and go quickly with the variable weather. The recent
hot and humid weather resulted in BROWN PATCH on both close mown putting
greens and lawn height turf. The current cool nights and days will eliminated
disease activity as well as a fungicide. FUSARIUM blight is a foliar disease
that occurs in hot, humid weather on high N turf. It was diagnosed this
week on both golf course turf and an athletic field sample. This fungus
takes advantage of stressed turf. Symptoms can be variable and include
a reddish-brown color or even a wilt/water-soaking similar to Pythium
blight. It does not usually require a fungicide when the weather is cooling
down. The fungus does produce abundant spores, however, that can be easily
spread by feet and mowers. TAKE-ALL PATCH is active in young plantings
of bentgrass. Symptoms may be patch-like or just a thinning of turf in
sand greens. Long term management should emphasize lowering the pH with
ammonium sulfate as conditions permit. Short-term, azoxystrobin works
well when watered-in.
