Weather and Turf Disease –Early Spring 2013

Nobody needs to be reminded that March 2013 has been colder than the last several years.  The good thing is that wintry conditions prevent wasted fungicide applications.  Keep watching the summer patch soil temperature monitor.  Remember that there are several elements to the decision rule.  The cardinal temperature seems to be around 65F—in soil at 2” depth.  Also understand that the pathogen does not emerge from dormancy like an “on/off” light switch.  It is more like a dimmer switch, which reinforces the notion of waiting until the natural warming period prevails, rather than hastily making an application in response to an unnatural spike in soil temperature.

I doubt that anyone has had the opportunity to apply early season sprays for dollar spot control.  Results from our research over the past 3 seasons indicate that fungicide sprays would surely be wasted if applied over the past 4 weeks.

Combination Fungicide Products – 2013

There is a trend among basic manufacturers to combine active ingredients to improve efficacy and broaden the spectrum of activity of treatments for turf disease control.   Below is a list of fungicide combinations that may serve as a resource for identifying the active ingredients in new fungicide products.

Product Name	#	Active ingredients	Equivalent products
Headway	2	azoxystobin + propiconazole	Heritage + Banner
Briskway	2	azoxystrobin + difenconazole	Heritage + difenconazole
Concert	2	propriconazole + chlorothalonil	Banner + Daconil
Instrata	3	propiconazole + ctl + fludioxanil	Banner + Dac + Medallion
Renown	2	azoxystrobin + chlorothalonil	Heritage + Daconil
Tartan	2	trifloxystrobin + triadimefon	Compass + Bayleton
Reserve	2	triticonazole + chlorothalonil	Triton + Daconil
Interface	2	trifloxystrobin + iprodione	Compass + 26GT
Honor	2	pyraclostrobin + boscalid	Insignia + Emerald
Encartis	2	boscaild +  chlorothalonil	Emerald + Daconil
Pillar G	2	triticonazole + pyraclostrobin	Trinity + Insignia
26/36	2	Iprodione + thiophanate-methyl	26GT + Cleary 3336
Twosome	2	iprodione + thiophanate-methyl	26GT + Cleary 3336
Stellar	2	fluopicolide + propamocarb	Fluopicolide + Banol
Disarm M	2	fluoxastrobin + myclobutanil	Disarm + Eagle
Disarm C	2	fluoxastrobin + chlorothalonil	Disarm + Daconil
Dac-Action	2	chlorothalonil + acibenzolar	Daconil + acibenzolar
Junction	2	mancozeb +  copper hydroxide	Fore + copper hydroxide