The Never Ending Spray Season

 2023 started off as a carbon copy of 2022, droughty and cooler.  Playing conditions for much of the spring were ideal with firm and fast being achieved without much effort.  Then came July.  Since July, rainfall and humidity have been plentiful.  Certain weather patterns favor certain diseases.  This spring it was just being able to apply water to extremely dry turf.  When temperatures and humidity are high, coupled with rainfall, Brown Patch and Pythium Blight are possible.  When temperatures are moderate and humidity and rainfall are high then dollar spot is probable.  From July to this week, it has been ideal for dollar spot, no matter if it is in the rough, fairways or tees.  Our greens are not susceptible due to daily mowings first thing in the morning, our pesticide and fertility programs and our cultural programs.  Normally, we make 3 to at most 4 rough applications per year, but this year we have had to make 5-6.  Fairway sprays usually last 14 days at the least on a normal year, but this year we were getting 5-10.  The picture above is our 17th fairway 5 days after a dollar spot spray that probably should have lasted 17-20 days.  This was our 3rd spray in 30 days and we just made our 4th today.  This disease has been rampant all year and it is almost laughing at our sprays.  You do not really notice it because we will make immediate follow up applications if there is breakthrough.  What may begin to happen now is that we can start to get resistance to certain chemicals if we over use them.  We also have some very old bentgrass patches on fairways that are more susceptible to the fungus than others.  We started rolling fairways on days we do not mow them to take the dew off first thing, but with the recent fog and humidity, the dew is back on them by 7am.  We will continue to fight the fight and will look at all avenues to address this moving forward.  Next year depending on weather we may not even see it, but indications are this may be our biggest nemesis moving forward.  This is why fungicide budgets begin to increase over time.