Golfdom, March 2018

TODE TROUBLE Continued from page 18 Normally on an 80 degree day wed literally have to hand water in the morning go back out again at noon back out again at 2 p m and sometimes again at 4 p m Newton says Hand water hand water hand water It was a pain Wed probe them and instead of them being rock hard like you would see in isolated dry spots it would be like butter like there was nothing in the ground Newton recalls We have a lot of organic matter so we attributed it to that After they started cutting cups on the back of No 9 green a pin position they hadnt used in a while they noticed the problem spreading to that area Newton sent soil samples to the University of Missouri and the University of Florida What came back was something they never could have seen with the naked eye a sting nematode population 10 times above the normal threshold It was eye opening for me Newton says Id never been at a course where nematodes were an issue Canyon Farms was the first course in Kansas City to try Indemnify on its greens Newton describes it as a night and day difference After applying a nematicide he and his crew could water in the morning and everything holds He saved 18000 in labor on hand watering in 2017 And the greens are excellent Nematicides arent cheap by any means Newton says But were doing applications again this year Its a no brainer A history of nematodes Superintendents have battled nematodes for years The battle was considerably easier with chemical controls With the removal of Nemacur fenamiphos Bayer from the market several years ago superintendents searched to find an effective consistent and affordable chemical control product When trying to control nematodes its vital to know which species of nematodes are present and the number of each species present Proper sampling is the only way to answer these questions Sampling Instructions for Nematode Assay by T Mekete and W Crow provides step bystep instructions to collect and submit a sample for nematode analysis http edis ifas ufl edu sr011 When sampling keep in mind that nematode populations fluctuate dramatically during the growing season and are not distributed uniformly across a putting green You must sample during periods of active root growth and take multiple soil core samples from the area of declining turf You may have to sample several times during the growing season to get a good understanding of the problem A nematode assay provides important information on the nematode species present but nematodes present results are difficult to interpret While published damage threshold numbers for many nematode species are helpful dont interpret nematode counts as black or white when considering treatment options Assess the turfs condition and talk to colleagues Continued on page 22 20 Golfdom March 2018 Golfdom com PHOTOS BY MARK NEWTON Mark Newton Canyon Farms Golf Clubs struggle with nematodes as seen on the practice green inset and the No 18 green