First let me apologize for the absence of posts lately, it has been a roller coaster of a summer so far. As you all know I'm sure, we ran out of water early on in July. The irrigation pond was the lowest I have ever seen it in the nine years I've been here, with the top of our intake pipe visible. This is probably because in 2002/03 there were water restrictions in place during that drought. This year there have been no restrictions, just low well volumes and virtually no rain in June and the first week of July. Then, around July 9th, it started raining and has been wet since. That coupled with the extreme heat is causing a whole different set of problems. We are now experiencing several different turfgrass disease's and have also seen crabgrass/goosegrass start to take over anywhere we were weak during the dry period. We are diligently spraying for both and will work to eradicate the disease and weeds as soon as possible.
Below are a couple pictures of the "pythium" fungus that we had on tees this week. This is probably the most devastating disease to bentgrass there is and can wipe out a green or tee in very little time.
You can see the "greasy" look this fungus has
This shot shows what we call the "smoke ring" that is very gray around the edge and the orange/brown dead turf in the middle. The smoke ring will have mycelium with it in the morning's and can be spread very easily by mowers or foot traffic.
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