Tuesday, November 14, 2006
172-15

Summer disease management with programs including fosetyl-AL on bentgrass putting greens.

David Han, Auburn University, Dept. of Agronomy & Soils, 202 Funchess Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849-5412

Fosetyl-AL has been used with increasing frequency as an addition to traditional fungicide spray programs to manage summer diseases and stress on bentgrass putting greens in the humid southeastern United States. In this study, fosetyl-Al (Chipco Signature) was added to several popular fungicide rotation regimes for the control of common diseases such as dollar spot, brown patch and leaf spot on a bentgrass putting green (‘Crenshaw' / ‘Dominant' blend) in Opelika, AL throughout the summer. Plots were rated for disease incidence, recovery and overall turfgrass quality. The highest turfgrass quality was achieved with a rotation of chlorothalonil and iprodione sprayed every 14 days, with each fungicide tank mixed with fosetyl-al. Other fungicide rotations also produced high turfgrass quality. The addition of fosetyl-al did significantly increase turfgrass quality over the rotations without fosetyl-al. These results suggest that adding fosetyl-al or a related fungicide to an existing rotation to manage summer stress on bentgrass may enhance turfgrass quality and lower disease problems.