Megan Kennelly, KSU Plant Pathology
It is June 8 and summer is in full swing.
Fungicide resource:
I wanted to remind everyone of this excellent commercial guide to fungicides:
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/ppa/ppa1/ppa1.pdf
It is developed by University of Kentucky, University of Wisconsin, and Rutgers University. It is based on research and reports by universities all across the country. I mention it every year and at every turf conference. It is definitely worth downloading, bookmarking, and/or printing out.
Dollar spot forecasting resource:
The Smith-Kerns dollar spot forecasting model is available online here:
https://www.greencastonline.com/dollar-spot-solutions
You can type in your zip code and see daily disease risk assessments, based on weather conditions. It uses 5-day rolling averages of temperature and humidity to designate a risk factor. (If you want more details on how it was developed and how it works check out this article.)
Here at KSU we are doing a trial this year looking at this forecasting model as part of a multistate project led by Wisconsin. Several states are working together to examine how the model performs in varieties of bentgrass with different inherent susceptibility levels. Stay tuned for research reports in the future.
