We all know that turf diseases will attack the most stressed and least healthy grass on the putting green. With that in mind, here are some practices to reduce summer stress:
- Raise Mow Height: This can reduce mowing frequency as well as increase the amount of leaf blade on the plant. Replace some of the daily mowing with rolling and remove brushes and other grooming devices to reduce stress as well.
- Proper Irrigation: Hand water localized dry spots to avoid oversaturating other areas of the green. The use of wetting agents applied through an applicator when hand-watering can greatly decrease localized dry spots.
- Needle Tine or Spike: Needle tining can help create small non-disruptive holes to increase gas exchange and improve root zone aeration.
- Preventative Fungicides: Maintaining a proper fungicide rotation during the heat of the summer is crucial. Any disease outbreak during times of stress can be devastating to the turf. Making sure you stay ahead of the diseases with proper rotational fungicides is very important.
- Foliar Stress Relief: There are many products on the market that can help reduce stress in the heat of the summer. Adding a silicon product to the foliar applications can greatly reduce stress from heat and heavy foot traffic.
Adding some of these practices can help to keep your bentgrass golf greens stress-free during the most difficult time of the year!
