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Hot temperatures and high humidity swept through much of the state last week. Undoubtedly, many of you were busy applying plant protectants at your facility. A great deal of thought is usually given to product selection, application rate and timing, spray volume, etc., but how much thought is given to the type of nozzles on your sprayer?

Spray nozzles affect the amount of product applied to an area, uniformity, and the potential for drift. Most nozzles operate between 30 and 60 psi and as pressure increases droplet size decreases and the potential for drift is greater. The four nozzle types most commonly used for turf applications are: flat-fan, air-induction, pre-orifice flat-fan, and flood-type nozzles.

Flat-fan (A): These are the most common nozzles used for turf applications and produce a fine to medium droplet. Spray coverage is excellent but drift may be a concern.

Air-induction (B): These nozzles produce a medium to coarse droplet which shatters upon contact with the leaf blade to provide better coverage. The potential for drift is reduced with air-induction nozzles.

Pre-orifice flat-fan (C): These nozzles reduce pressure internally and produce a larger droplet than the traditional flat-fan nozzles. As a result, the potential for drift is greatly reduced.

Flood-type nozzles (D & E): These nozzles produce extremely coarse droplets and drift is greatly reduced. These nozzles are great for applying products that must reach the soil but are not recommended if good coverage of the leaf blade is required.

Critical factors to consider when selecting nozzles are droplet size, chemical mode of action, and the location of the targeted pathogen. Contact mode of action products require thorough coverage of the leaf blade in order to be effective. These types of products should be applied through a nozzle which produces a fine to medium droplet size. In contrast, products that target a pest in the soil can be applied through nozzles which produce much coarser droplets.

The goal when selecting nozzles should be to achieve good coverage while minimizing drift. Products generally fail to provide adequate control when spray volumes are too low and droplet size is too coarse to provide adequate coverage. Research has shown that air-induction nozzles provide equivalent control compared to flat-fan nozzles while reducing the potential for drift.

More detailed information about nozzle selection may be viewed at: http://www.turf.uconn.edu/pdf/research/kaminski/gcm_74_83.pdf

Marcus Jones

Graduate Research Assistant

This is an area on our #4 green south. Over the last 3 seasons we have seen the same symptoms in the same area each year. The area gets wilted very easily and the roots are dysfunctional. We thought it was take all patch. This is on a Penn A-4 green. This spring we treated the green with 2 applications of Heritage. It is not as bad as in prior years but it was showing up again in the hot weather.
 

We sent a sample off and it did test back as take all patch. Recommendation from the lab was to solid tine aerify, keep the nitrogen level up and to do multiple fungicide applications in the late fall and early spring. Also to incorporate Manganese sulfate in our spray next spring. It does look better this week.

Rick Tegtmeier

Throughout the 2009 season, we have experienced lots of extremes, both in weather and disease. The year started out extremely warm in January through March, with soil temps reaching close to 60 degrees. This rise in temps fell off soon after aerification and remained throughout April and into May. Since then temperatures have soared and so has disease. There have been many cases and outbreaks of Pythium, Zeae, dollar spot, brown patch and red thread. The heaviest cases coming from June 15th through the 29th when we had days in the upper 90's and lows in the mid to upper 70's (Picture on right shows extensive tracking lines from golf carts that had heavy mycelium growth in the morning and were like this by night fall the same day. They were sprayed later that morning with mancozeb and banol and no more activity was seen).

With the heat came a great deal of humidity and disease. Soil temps reached over 98 degrees and stayed there for a good 10+ days damaging many roots and leaving the grasses susceptible to pythium and root rot. Some practices used both at my course (Royal Meadows) and several other courses in the area were the use of a pull-behind Planet Aire. This machine slices tear-drop size slits in the green with minimal surface damage but can go 6 inches deep, done in the same time as a greens mowing with golfers barely noticing. It allowed us to manage our root-zone and keep the damaging water and moisture under control. Many superintendents use solid tines or spikers, but the speed and efficiency of the Planet Aire is second to none, a highly recommended machine to add to your collection.

As we have moved into the typical hot and disease prone months of July and August, the courses with cool-season fairways will have some interesting chemical and fertilizer purchases. With revenues down and temperatures up many course managers need to slash budgets, even when we as superintendents need to increase our spending for these difficult months. Some successful practices that I have seen on Bent/Poa fairways in Kansas City are as follows:

- Calibration of equipment, correct nozzles (AIC 11010vs) and proper rates (50 gal/acre for fairways)

- Use of generic pesticides when applicable (typically have less time between sprays, weather and products not sticking to plants as well, but huge cost savings!) If you would like a list of products that we have field tested and found as the best generics email me at golfnewt@gmail.com

- Stress fighters and Phosphites (control of pythium by building larger cell walls and improving plant health)

- Spot Spraying in low areas for Pythium and other water prone diseases (pre disease is best) instead of broad applications that are extremely expensive

- The use of contacts and systemics, with rotations of different modes of actions, chemistries and formulations at different times of the year

- Growth Regulators, both for seed head suppression in the Spring and restricted/controlled growth in certain times of the year

- Above all is always being aware of your golf course, knowing each and every trouble spot, watching water usages, remember a dry golf course is a lot better than seeing a solid cotton field of disease

If you have any questions concerning your spray rig set-up, fungicide timing, application rates or even our fungicide program at Royal Meadows please let me know. It is a tough world out there with all of us constantly balancing our budgets and beauty of our golf courses.

Mark Newton
General Manager & Course Superintendent
Royal Meadows Golf Course
mnewton@eaglegolf.com

We have received a few questions regarding how to leave a comment for a post. Anyone can leave a comment, but there are a couple of different ways to go about doing so. At the bottom of each post, there is information regarding who posted the article, the date and time the article was posted, and if there are any comments on the post. (The envelope icon allows you to forward a post to someone using e-mail).

o leave a comment, just click on “0 comments” directly below the post. This will open a new screen where you type in your comment and some other information. Type your comment in the box provided. A “word verification” is located below the comment box. You will need to retype the word verification that appears on the screen. Next, you need to select an identity. The first two options require that you have a Google Account or an account already established with one of five Open ID services (Open ID, LiveJournal, WordPress, etc…). If you have one of these accounts and want to leave a comment, check the appropriate box and follow the directions.

If you don’t have one of those accounts, you will need to check “Name/URL” and type in your name (you can leave the “URL” box blank). If you wish to leave an anonymous comment, check the anonymous box. You can preview your comment by clicking on the “Preview Button”. This allows you to see your comment and make any last changes (if you need to make changes click on “edit comment” in the lower left hand corner of the comment box). Otherwise, click on “Publish Your Comment” and that’s it, you just commented on a post.

Another topic I’ll discuss quickly is how to subscribe to the blog. You may have noticed the “Subscribe via email” gadget along the right hand column. By subscribing to the blog, whenever a new post is added it will automatically be sent to the e-mail address you provide. This is an easy way to receive content without ever actually visiting the blog.

Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant

You've seen and identified some unusual weeds on this blog. Do you know the name of this tree? The pictures were taken on August 4th at Hyperion Field Club in Johnston, IA.

John Ausen
Hyperion Field Club