Dollar spot issues Cancel The title field is required!

1. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   10/18/2018 9:10 AM

   Hi all,
   
   It was a particularly tough year for us with dollar spot, we would fight it on two of our greens, and as I went back through records in 2016 one of those greens had trouble as well, so there might be other issues with that green, our other greens did ok, but I'm wondering if I have some resistant strains to Group 7 fungicides? I only made two applications this year and last year, but in previous years, especially when Xzemplar came out ( first used in 2014 with great success), I'm wondering if I over used them, I never went over the seasonal rate on the label, but in 2016 I made 4 group 7 applications, in 2015 I made 5 group 7 applications, and in 2014 I made 6 applications of group 7 fungicides. (those first few years it was Emerald spring and fall and Xzemplar in the summer, I've tried Velista last year with similar poor results on the dollar spot, all group 7 fungicides). I did recently take a webinar where they explained using group 7 fungicides when dollar spot was active hurries up the resistance process. I did keep it in check on most greens going back to the contact routes.
   
   I had changed some stuff up this season, dropping our Nitrogen levels from 2.72 lbs. N in 2017 to 1.92 lbs. of N this year, greens looked healthy, I was foliar applying most of the N, we are on USGA sand based greens (except for four old ones), I had wondered if that might have been part of the problem, but when we were struggling in 2016, we had more N applied then in 2018. So I'm ruling out that for the moment.
   
   I still have to look at weather patterns, I know this was the first year the Smith-Kerns model was out, but following that it seemed like a brutal year for dollar spot, but not knowing what those readings would have been like in previous years, I don't know if this year was different for us in the transition zone compared to other years, but seeing those numbers from the model were quite eye opening to me.
   
   I post this to see if others had made similar observations, or to see if everyone was smarter then I was, and I'm hoping for suggestions or observations I should do moving forward? Step one is to not use group 7 fungicides next year, any thoughts of how long I should go before trying again?
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
2. Larry Allan

   

   0 posts
   
   10/18/2018 10:10 AM

   Mel, I think it was just a tougher season for DS. I know we are a thousand miles divided but up here it was considered one of the worst years

   
   
   
   
3. Paul Double

   

   37 posts
   
   10/18/2018 9:10 PM

   I agree with Larry. Here in Ohio, dollar spot was having the time of its life. I also have 2 greens that seem to get dollar spot before any others did. I had soil test done this past spring and found pH level low on those 2 greens. Used higher rates on fungicide and shorter span between apps. We might have had struggles, but know fungicide companies were probably loving to see product going out the door faster than they could produce.

   
   
   
   
4. Andrew Cross

   

   5 posts
   
   10/19/2018 8:10 PM

   Mel,
   
   Tough year in Chicago area as well. We switched to 10 day rotation on Greens a few years back and it has allowed us to stay clean. If you are a Syngenta user reach out to your Syngenta rep as they will test for resistance. I was told they do this for free as a service to their customers.

   
   
   
   
5. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   10/20/2018 9:10 AM

   Andrew Cross said: Mel,
   
   Tough year in Chicago area as well. We switched to 10 day rotation on Greens a few years back and it has allowed us to stay clean. If you are a Syngenta user reach out to your Syngenta rep as they will test for resistance. I was told they do this for free as a service to their customers.

   
   
   Thanks Andrew.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
6. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   10/20/2018 9:10 AM

   Thanks for the information so far.
   
   I have another question,
   
   As I've stated above, I'm going to start working (thank goodness for the winter), on trying to put numbers into the spreadsheet of the Smith-Kerns model for this past year, and for further back, especially 2016, so I can compare years. My problem is so far, I have only been able to go back to August 20th with the local National Weather service to get average humidity readings. I take them daily when I do my on course weather station, (using the Kestrel 3000, but that would just have the humidity at the time of the reading, which could be between 9 and 10 in the morning, (after morning jobs) or could be after lunch depending on what I'm doing, so I know I'm not getting the true average. Just wondering if anyone knows where else I might find that data?
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
7. Christopher Thuer

   

   101 posts
   
   10/22/2018 3:10 PM

   The last few years our tees have been hammered with dollar spot. This year was really bad. Fairways and approaches had a little but you had to know what you were looking at.
   
   I rotate classes religiously.
   
   The tees and approaches get sprayed together with the same tanks. 1 for the range through 8t and 1 for the rest. They are sprayed in sequence: DR tee, 1t, 1ap, 2t, 2ap, 3t, 3ap, etc. The fertility is the same too.
   
   The only big difference is the tees are Penncross and the aps and fairways are Pennlinks / Penneagle blend. The tees are sand capped while the fairways and aps are native soil.

   
   Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN
   
   
8. Donald Smith

   

   10 posts
   
   10/23/2018 6:10 AM

   Has anyone looked at the research UMass did on rolling and reduction of $ Spot on fairways. Pretty dramatic results by Geunhwa Jung and his team. 60-65% reduction at the highest frequency of rolling alone.

   
   
   
   
9. Andrew Cross

   

   5 posts
   
   10/23/2018 6:10 PM

   Melvin Waldron, CGCS said: Thanks for the information so far.
   
   I have another question,
   
   As I've stated above, I'm going to start working (thank goodness for the winter), on trying to put numbers into the spreadsheet of the Smith-Kerns model for this past year, and for further back, especially 2016, so I can compare years. My problem is so far, I have only been able to go back to August 20th with the local National Weather service to get average humidity readings. I take them daily when I do my on course weather station, (using the Kestrel 3000, but that would just have the humidity at the time of the reading, which could be between 9 and 10 in the morning, (after morning jobs) or could be after lunch depending on what I'm doing, so I know I'm not getting the true average. Just wondering if anyone knows where else I might find that data?
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   
   Check wunderground.com; here is a weather station close to your golf course https://www.wunderground.com/personal-w ... 1023/myear

   
   
   
   
10. Keith Fellenstein

    

    0 posts
    
    10/24/2018 10:10 AM

    Christopher Thuer, CGCS said: The last few years our tees have been hammered with dollar spot. This year was really bad. Fairways and approaches had a little but you had to know what you were looking at.
    
    I rotate classes religiously.
    
    The tees and approaches get sprayed together with the same tanks. 1 for the range through 8t and 1 for the rest. They are sprayed in sequence: DR tee, 1t, 1ap, 2t, 2ap, 3t, 3ap, etc. The fertility is the same too.
    
    The only big difference is the tees are Penncross and the aps and fairways are Pennlinks / Penneagle blend. The tees are sand capped while the fairways and aps are native soil.

    
    
    Fertility on sand could be more of the issue than cultivar?

    
    
    
    
11. Alden Maddocks

    

    11 posts
    
    10/30/2018 5:10 AM

    How often do you roll your greens?
    
    We have a new permitting system in VT and within our permit states our buffer zones for spraying. When I became aware of the actual buffer zones, I stopped spraying a few area that had been previously sprayed...and changed a few mowing line to incorporate a larger buffer zone. I did nothing to them and they lit up with dollar spot, compared to areas we treated with fungicides.
    
    I plan to incorporate both areas into our daily greens rolling program. One area is an approach and the other is a tee that is very close to the green, so adding these area to be rolled should only add about 15 minutes to the rolling routine.
    
    I can't wait to see the difference in dollar spot severity between next year and this year, with out the rolling. I did not do anything to the areas, this year, just to see what they would look like. It wasn't pretty, so I'll be testing out that rolling reduces dollar spot theory next year on these no-spray areas.
    
    Alden

    
    
    
    
12. Donald Smith

    

    10 posts
    
    10/30/2018 5:10 AM

    Alden,
    One of the things UMass discovered in their 4 year study was that you need to incorporate your rolling program ahead of any Dollar Spot pressure. In two out of the first three years, their rolling started ahead of the pressure. In the middle year, Dollar Spot started showing up about the same time as their program started, and it took quite a while to get it back under control.

    
    
    
    
13. Melvin Waldron

    

    43 posts
    
    10/31/2018 1:10 PM

    Alden Maddocks said: How often do you roll your greens?
    
    We have a new permitting system in VT and within our permit states our buffer zones for spraying. When I became aware of the actual buffer zones, I stopped spraying a few area that had been previously sprayed...and changed a few mowing line to incorporate a larger buffer zone. I did nothing to them and they lit up with dollar spot, compared to areas we treated with fungicides.
    
    I plan to incorporate both areas into our daily greens rolling program. One area is an approach and the other is a tee that is very close to the green, so adding these area to be rolled should only add about 15 minutes to the rolling routine.
    
    I can't wait to see the difference in dollar spot severity between next year and this year, with out the rolling. I did not do anything to the areas, this year, just to see what they would look like. It wasn't pretty, so I'll be testing out that rolling reduces dollar spot theory next year on these no-spray areas.
    
    Alden

    
    
    We have a set of rollers that go on our triplex. If we don't mow, we are rolling, during the spring and fall, we probably mow 5 days per week, and roll the other two, during the summer, we will usually mow one day and roll the next.
    
    Mel

    
    Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO