Too Much of Everything is Just Enough

Right along with stormy skies, the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory is firing up with golf turf samples. We’ve seen it all lately: anthracnose, summer patch, slime molds, take-all, Pythium root diseases, annual bluegrass weevils, black turfgrass ataenius, and lots of wear and tear. Here are a couple of random notes from the last week or two:

Slime mold-just because they are cool. Photo: Howard Szczurek

Slime mold–just because it’s cool. Does this look like dog yak? Photo: Howard Szczurek

[Read more…]

Take(-all) it to the Limit

A sample diagnosed with take-all patch of creeping bentgrass was the highlight of the turfgrass submissions to the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory this week. This sample marks the first in the seasonal transition on golf courses from diseases common to late-winter and early-spring (snow molds/yellow patch) to the late-spring and early-summer problems (take-all/brown ring patch). Yes, it was an exciting day for the turfgrass pathologist!

Take all disease on plug of L-93 creeping bentgrass. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL

Take-all patch on a plug of ‘L-93’ creeping bentgrass. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL

 

[Read more…]