You Are Here: Management Updates 2002 Archive July 11, 2002

Date: July 11, 2002
Category: Diseases
Subject: Gray Leaf Spot on Perennial Ryegrass, Poa Problems

Gray Leaf Spot on Perennial Ryegrass
Gray leaf spot has been diagnosed in Kentucky on a newly seeded lawn with lots of irrigation. This is a very early diagnosis, but a very conducive disease situation. Start watching ryegrass in lawns, athletic fields, and fairways for unusual leaf spot activity. It is not possible to diagnose this disease in the field. Please send unusual samples to the diagnostic lab for confirmation. The cool weather after today is good news. I don't expect to see any GLS in our area until next month at the earliest.

Poa Problems
Golf courses are noting suffering Poa annua on greens and in fairways. Unfortunately, it is not easy to make a diagnosis except in the lab. In the past few days, I have made the following diagnoses: anthracnose, summer patch (suddenly showing up following last week's hot weather), nematodes, bacterial wilt (but only in very poor growing conditions and annual types), Pythium blight (also on bentgrass), brown patch (also on bentgrass), and drought (the dry air of the past weekend was very hard on Poa in thatchy areas).

- Submitted by: Dr. Gail Schumann