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Rust - To treat or not to treat

August 20, 2009

Rust occurs every year on Iowa turf but as a general rule fungicide applications are not necessary. This year may be the exception to that rule. Several calls with specific circumstances have led me to recommend fungicides for rust control. Before we get to the rest of the story let’s review the normal approach to dealing with rust. As diseases go, rust can be easily identified by the yellow to orange flecks that develop on leaves and stems. As the disease progresses orange and cinnamon colored blisters and pustules form. Clouds of spores can turn your shoes orange when walking through turf heavily infested with rust.

- Rust occurs on Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass, but we are even seeing it on tall fescue this year. Immature turf that was seeded in the spring or early summer has been especially impacted by rust this year.

- Rust is usually more severe in turf that is growing slowly. Low light intensity, inadequate fertilization (especially nitrogen), drought stress, and infrequent mowing encourage rust development. A little extra shot of nitrogen is usually all that is needed to stimulate leaf growth that allows mowing to remove infected tissue. The idea is to keep the grass growing fast enough so that grass clippings are generated each week. Sufficient nitrogen and irrigation are required to “out grow” the rate of rust infection. If the grass stays at the same height and mowing is not needed, then rust can eventually cover the entire plant.

- Excessive irrigation and irrigation practices that extend the period of free moisture on the leaf surface encourage rust. The best time to water is at dawn because the turf is usually already wet from dew. Avoid watering from 10 am through dusk, this only extends the period of leaf wetness. Night time irrigation, after dew has formed, would be the next best time for watering to reduce rust.

Hopefully most of you may not need to justify a fungicide application. Those of you with actively growing turf may not be experiencing severe rust problems as the summer season begins to wind down. Golf Course Superintendents may choose to accept some turf injury on lower priority areas such as golf course roughs with the expectation that recovery usually occurs later in the autumn. However, here are the circumstances from my university extension visits that have resulted in fungicide recommendations to control rust in 2009. Most of them involve athletic fields.

- Most of the calls have come during late July and early August so that only leaves about 30 days until the field will open for play. If we have extended conditions in September that favor rust infection, high traffic areas will quickly fade.

- Three calls had fields that were newly seeded in the spring and early summer. Germination and establishment were going quite well with the mild summer temperatures this year. However, the establishing grass did not have substantial vertical growth so when the rust hit, it quickly covered the entire plant and growth completely stopped. Four lbs of N per 1000 sq.ft. had already been used on the native soil field during establishment so the manager was reluctant to use more nitrogen that could incite other summer turf diseases such as brown patch and pythium. It is full of rust and they want to play football in 14 days. I recommended a fungicide and another pound of nitrogen. At a separate spring seeded field they were using a rain train to irrigate. It takes three 8-hr sets to irrigate the entire field so the rain train was running 24-7 for over a month. That also means that leaves were wet for too long because half of the water was being applied during the day time. The field was covered with rust and turf growth had stopped. I recommended a half pound of nitrogen per 1000 sq.ft., a rust control fungicide, and cutting back on irrigation by only watering for one 8-hr set during the night from 10pm to 6am.

- Another field had no means of irrigation and was intended for practice only. The worn field was over-seeded in May and the grass was establishing nicely with the mild summer, but again the new turf was stunted and covered with rust. For this field I recommended a pound of nitrogen per 1000 sq.ft., but did not recommend a fungicide. It just didn’t seem logical to apply fungicides when turf was not irrigated.

- Fungicide Treatments – It is unlikely that fungicides would reduce the blemishes on plants that were already infected. New growth is very important to recovery from existing rust. The fungicide applications were intended to reduce infection on new growth. Some of the fungicides that I recommended for this control strategy were: azoxystrobin (Heritage), chlorothalonil (Daconil Ultrex), propiconazole (Banner MAXX), and triadimefon (Bayleton).

It has been a peculiar year with little pressure from our typical turfgrass diseases. This year I found myself recommending fungicides to control, the normally non-destructive, rust on athletic fields where the disease pressure could have adversely impacted the football playing season.

Dave Minner

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Diseases Running Wild (Leaf Spot, Rust and Summer Patch)

July 13, 2015

As the wet rainy summer continues, disease pressure continues to be high. As noted in a May 15th blog post, dollar spot has been extremely active this year. Leaf Spot has also been lingering across the state for 2 months. Leaf spot is an ascomycete fungi caused by Bipolaris spp. and/or Dreschslera spp. A majority of the damage recorded to this point has been on Kentucky bluegrass lawns, athletic fields and golf course rough, but symptoms on bentgrass fairways/greens have also been seen. Please refer to earlier posts for symptoms, pictures, and control options. 

In addition to the leaf spot calls, I have received several regarding Rust (Puccinia spp.). I first noticed rust at a Kentucky bluegrass sod field in the Des Moines metro about two weeks ago. It usually begins to show up about the first of August – mid September, however, in the last two years rust has showed up in early to mid-July. While several fungicides control rust, I usually do not recommend chemical treatment unless it is on high-maintenance areas. Furthermore, rust is usually a sign of relatively low nitrogen, and the addition of nitrogen and regular mowing will help in the removal of the disease. The yellow to orange flecks on the leaves and stems can be used to easily identify rust. As the disease progresses, orange and cinnamon colored blisters and pustules form. Clouds of spores can turn your shoes orange (as seen below in the pictures from Larry Ginger) when walking through perennial ryegrass or Kentucky bluegrass heavily infested with rust. 

Figure 1: Picture courtesy of Larry Ginger showing a close-up of rust on perennial ryegrass

Figure 2: Additional picture from Larry Ginger showing rust on shoes

Figure 3: The brown colored area on the left side is experimental plots that will be highlighted in future blog. A little tough to see, but the entire top portion is rust on Kentucky bluegrass along with small spots in the forefront.

As mentioned in the previous post by Nick Christians, summer patch (SP) reports are also coming in. A majority of the SP damage occurs between June and September on Kentucky bluegrass/annual bluegrass.  It is known as one of the “frog-eyed” diseases.  In mixed stands of grass, the symptom patter is more irregular. The best way to identify SP is by the sparse, dark colored runner hyphae on the outer surface of the roots. The infected roots are unable to supply adequate water to the turf causing the appearance of moisture stress.

Furthermore, SP survives winter as mycelium, and begins colonizing roots between 68-90oF. The fungi spread along roots and rhizomes from plant to plant. Summer patch damage is often large because it can spread long distances through aerification and infected sod. Often recovery is slow, since new roots are inhibited by high soil temperatures. Hot, wet weather, compaction, high pH soils, low mowing heights, south facing slopes, and the use of soluble fertilizers increase the risk of SP. Summer patch is most severe in 2-5 year old turf established from sod.  Severity can also increase when “muck soil sod” is placed on native Iowa soil.

Several curative and preventative fungicides are labeled for control. Applications need to begin early in the spring, when soil temperatures reach approximately 64 oF. Repeat application 2-3 times in 21-28 day intervals through mid-August. Once symptoms of SP appear, it is often too late for fungicides. Curative fungicides have proven to be inconsistent and cultural controls are the most effective option. Summer patch research has observed the best control using combination products containing DMI’s and strobilurins. DisarmTM, HeadwayTM, and ArmadaTM are a few of the chemical trade names that fall into this category. Other products such as fluxapyroxad, propiconazole, myclobutanil, thiophanate-methyl, trifloxystrobin, and triadimefon are labeled for summer patch control. 

When summer patch symptoms appear, it is most cost effective to control culturally. Foliar spoon-feed applications of ammonium sulfate at 0.1 -0.3lbs./N/1000 sq. ft. can briefly reduce severity. If foliar feeding is not an option, use slow release products rather than high rate applications of soluble nitrogen fertilizers. An annual spring application of magnesium sulfate may also reduce summer patch issues. 

In addition, raising the mowing height during high stress periods will reduce disease pressure. It is prevalent in compacted soils, so improving internal drainage through core aeration, and deep-tine aeration will help. If summer patch is an annual problem, consider overseeding resistant varieties. If battling summer patch exclusively Barvette, Nuglade, Midnight, Impact, and Sky are just a few of the Kentucky bluegrass varieties less susceptible.  Additional pictures from Doug Watt at West Marshall High School can be found below. 

Figure 4: Summer Patch pictures courtesy of Doug Watt

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RUST DISEASE ON PERENNIAL RYEGRASS

July 22, 2014

On July 17, I received an e-mail from Larry Ginger of American Lawn Care with a picture of rust disease showing up on perennial ryegrass, but not on Kentucky bluegrass.  Rust is a fungal disease caused by fungi in the genus Puccinea.

Picture from Larry Ginger showing rust on ryegrass patch in lawn taken July 17.

I had not seen this problem at that time, but yesterday (July 21) I took data on the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) trial at the research station.  I found that many of the cultivars were covered with rust.  I took data on the rust problem this morning (July 22).  I have not seen the problem on the Kentucky bluegrasses as of today, but it clearly a severe outbreak on some of the perennial ryegrasses. Rust often shows up in August on Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and even on tall fesuce (see earlier blogs).  This year it is early and appears to be hitting the ryegrasses first.
 
 Close up of rust on Kentucky bluegrass from last year.

Rust spores on my shoes after taking data.

 Three pictures of individual ryegrass plots covered with rust on July 22.

 Rust is clearly cultivar specific and there were cultivars covered with it and adjacent plots that were completely free of the disease.  This is another reason for choosing your grass seed carefully.  There is usually a good reason to spend a little more on grass seed.  I have not analyzed the data on which cultivars were affected, but that will be in next year's report.  NTEP does have data available on ryegrass susceptibility to this disease at ntep.org.

Rust is a fungi and there are fungicides that control it, but we generally recommend that you let the disease run its course.  It usually goes away by itself.  You may want to treat on sensitive areas, such as sports fields if it becomes necessary.  

These plots will be on the tour at the turfgrass field day this Thursday, July 24.

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RUST, LEAF SPOT, AND DOLLAR SPOT

March 13, 2014

I am currently teaching the advanced turf course, Hort 451, on the web.  A part of that course, each student completes a paper or project.  Mary Broadfoot, a senior in Animal Ecology, chose to do 9 extension type bulletins.  Three of these are on turf diseases, three are on insects, and three are on weeds.

These tuned out so well that I have decided to share them on the blog site.  I will include them three at a time over the next few days.  The first three are on diseases.  She chose Rust, Leaf Spot, and Dollar Spot.

They are attached as pdf files below.  You can get the full text by clicking on the individual words below.  Several of the pictures used are from the internet.  She has sited each location from which information was used.

 Rust

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSX2eos6s6hbTVHTEMxUktYREE/edit?usp=sh...

 Leaf Spot

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSX2eos6s6hMkNVaHZBV19tY0k/edit?usp=sh...

Dollar Spot

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSX2eos6s6hMGMxV3UxcTY0SFE/edit?usp=sh...

 

 

 

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RUST DISEASE SHOWING UP IN NORTH CENTRAL IOWA

September 24, 2012

Here are some pictures of rust disease on Kentucky bluegrass submitted by Damian Richardson, Landscape and Conservation Specialist from Alden, IA.  Rust is caused by fungi in the genus Puccinea.  It is common on Kentucky bluegrass and other grass species in Iowa, but there has not been a lot of it so far this year.  It usually begins to show up about the first of August.  This is the first report of it that I have received this year.  This one was on September 20.  These are some good closeups of the rust pustules on the individual blades of grass.  Thanks for submitting them Damian.

While there are several fungicides that will control rust, I usually do not recommend chemical treatment unless it is on a critical area.  It is usually a sign of relatively low nitrogen.  Just add a little nitrogen and mow regularly and the problem should run its course and disappear.  Some cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass are more susceptible that others.  If it is a continuous problem each year, you may want to kill the existing cultivars with Roundup and replace them with more tolerant varieties.  For information on which varieties show tolerance of rust, see the National Turfgrass Evaluation (NTEP) web site at  (http://www.ntep.org/).  They have data over several years on rust infestation of many cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass.

If anyone else is seeing a lot of rust, let me know.

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WHAT IS HAPPENING AT TURFGRASS RESEARCH

October 11, 2010

It has been a busy time at turfgrass research this fall. Here are a couple of new things for next year.

The first is a new seeding of 007 Creeping Bentgrass. I often get calls at this time of years asking how late can bentgrass be seeded. We have a 10,000 sq. ft. area that we will be seeding over the next few weeks. The first one quarter of the site was seeded on Oct. 8. We will continue to seed each additional quarter on Oct. 15, Oct. 22, and Oct. 29. We will have this on next years field day and you will be able to see the results in August.
 

007 Creeping Bentgrass area

The second major trial is a new National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) Perennial Ryegrass trial. There are 88 Perennial Rye cultivars in this trial, replicated 3 times. It was seeded on Oct. 1, which is a little late for rye. The wet weather prevented an earlier seeding. The picture below is from Oct. 11. It is amazing how fast perennial rye can establish if conditions are right.

It has been a great fall for Rust (Puccina grminis) on Kentucky bluegrass. The close up shot below was taken on Oct. 11.

Notice how the two clumps of perennial rye in the picture below are not affected and the bluegrass is severely infested with the Rust.

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