Golfdom, November 2018

RESEARCH FOR REAL SUPERINTENDENTS Hosted by Clark Throssell Ph D clarkthrossell@ bresnan net Super Science SITE SPECIFIC IRRIGATION USING SENSORS AND MAPPING SIPCAM AGRO RECEIVES By Chase Straw Ph D and Brian Horgan Ph D A study was initiated at Bracketts Crossing CC Lakeville Minn to encourage adoption of site specific irrigation using in ground soil moisture sensors and mapping technologies We conducted course surveys to map soil moisture and place nine fairways into similar groups of three in which each group is a replication in the study One of three irrigation treatments will be applied in 2019 and 2020 to fairways within each group soil moisture sensor based evapotranspiration ET based or traditional For soil moisture sensor based treatments irrigation management zones have been delineated around heads within the fairways We used soil moisture maps to create classes within delineated zones and heads within each class will be programmed to run together One Toro Turf Guard sensor has been installed within each soil moisture class Irrigation will be allowed within a class once plant available water has been reduced 50 percent For ET based treatments 70 percent of reference ET will be replaced every three days For traditional treatments we will ask the superintendents to irrigate normally Total depth of irrigation applied will be recorded for each treatment and totals will be quantified and compared on an area basis Normalized difference vegetation index NDVI will be used to evaluate turfgrass quality between treatments Long term goals of this research are to encourage adoption acceptance and regular application of sensor and mapping technologies to reduce irrigation in the turfgrass industry G Chase Straw Ph D and Brian Horgan Ph D are turfgrass scientists at the University of Minnesota Chase Straw can be reached at cstraw@ umn edu for more information NEWS UPDATES FEDERAL REGISTRATION FOR ENDOW GRANULAR FUNGICIDE Sipcam Agro has received federal registration for Endow Granular Endow G fungicide We are excited to add a granular fungicide expanding the number of solutions we can offer our customers said Michael Maravich vice president of specialty for Sipcam Packaged in 30 pound bags Endow G is registered for use on all turf types and use sites including golf courses commercial turf and residential lawns Azoxystrobin the active ingredient in Endow G is a quinone outside inhibitor It offers broad spectrum control of multiple diseases such as anthracnose brown patch Pythium blight take all patch gray leaf spot spring dead spot and gray and pink snow mold by impeding the fungus cells ability to produce energy causing the fungus to die November 2018 Golfdom 25 Golfdom com PHOTO BY CHASE STRAW Soil moisture classification process within delineated irrigation management zones SEEDHEAD COVERAGE IN PLOTS TREATED WITH PROXY IN EARLY FALL WAS 5 PERCENT TO 6 PERCENT A GREATER THAN 90 PERCENT DECREASE FROM NONTREATED PLOTS Aaron Patton Ph D see story on page 26