Cultural Control Strategies Flashcards
A cultural disease and pest
management program should:
- Improve the growing conditions for the turf stand
- Create unfavorable growing conditions for the pest or pathogen
What are some issues that can arise when selecting seed?
- haveing a Monoculture
- grasses that are not adapted to your intended use
- poorly adapted for growth in your area
- “cheap” seed may be contaminated
- some grass has a potential to get hit hard by disease
- High seeding rates increase some diseases
- species that is a good food source for insects
What is the advantage to using a blend of turfgrasses?
- More diversity in your stand = more stability
- less susceptile to disease
what are problems caused by high seeding rates? why are they caused?
- High seeding rates can cause disease because each plant is growing so close to eachother, they create a favorable environment for disease to turn on.
How can you overcome seed problems?
- Use genetically superior seed
- Disease and insect resistance
- Pick locally adapted cultivars
- Endophyte enhanced cultivars
- Check the NTEP trials
- Use blends and mixtures
- Seed at recommended (lower) rates
What does potassium do for turf?
it is needed for the plant to perform physiological functions.
What is the limiting factor in Turfgrass performance?
Nitrogen
What are the effects of excessive Nitrogen input on turfgrass?
- Promotes succulent turf with thin cell walls
- Promotes vegetative growth over root growth
- Diverts metabolites to growth and away from resistance mechanisms
- Favors - brown patch, pythium blight, leaf spot diseases, gray leaf spot, snow molds, armyworm, cutworms
What are the effects of having a lack of nitogen input in turfgrass?
- Slows growth and recovery
- Favors - red thread, pink patch, dollar spot, rust,
anthracnose, billbug, chinch bug
Rooting depth and density ________ with ↑ N
decreases
Carbohydrate reserves ________ with ↑ N
decrease
Knowing your soil and water pH is extremely important….Why?
- It is going to determine what products you put down
- some products may lower or raise your pH
- You need to maintain a proper pH to keep it in a zone that promotes healthy growth and keeps disease away
What does Amonium Sulfate do to the pH?
Drives the pH down
What does calcium nitrate do to the pH?
raises the pH
What pH levels do most turfgrasses thrive?
5.5 - 6.5
When you have disease pressure, what do you want to consider when fertilizing?
- You want to avoid overstimulating the grass with too much Nitrogen, it will become lush and problems will arise.
- Spoon feed (1/10 lb every week or two)
- Use slow release products
To overcome disease problems….what is a good way to maintain pH at a level that you want it?
Add Lime sparingly to help balance the pH
What form of N do you want to use in the spring and fall?
Granular
What is the best practice to decrease compaction?
Aerification
What physical impacts does mowing have on the turf?
- Cuts hole in leaf tip
- Dull blades leave tattered edges
- Mower traffic creates compaction
How does mowing affect the spread of disease?
- Several fungi spread with mower
- Leaf litter carries insect eggs and fungi
How does mowing weaken grass?
- Low mowing removes surface area needed for photosynthesis
- Frequent mowing removes youngest tissue which is more photosynthetic
- Results in low carbohydrate reserves
- Low reserves = shorter root systems
- Results in slower recovery
- Increased inputs needed to maintain quality
Rooting depth and density _______ with ↑ HOC
Increases
Carbohydrate production _______ with ↑ HOC
increases
What is the best way to irrigate to keep plants healthy, but to reduce the chance of disease?
- Deep and infrequent (keep it growing without killing it)
- site dependant
- time irrigation to minimize leaf wetness
- water duting dew periods
- Syringe to reduce heat stress
