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Untreated turf plot |
In the first week of April, GCI Assistant Editor Katie Tuttle traveled down to Atlanta, Ga., to take a look at what’s new with Valent.
The trip’s focus was on Valent’s product SureGuard, and the research done by Patrick McCullough, assistant professor of Crop & Soil Sciences - Weed Science at the University of Georgia Griffin Campus, and Tom Reed, University of Georgia graduate student.
SureGuard is a unique herbicide for bluegrass control, but Valent is also looking at ways to use it to manage Bermuda grass, zoysia grass, St. Augustine grass, centipede grass, and seashore grass. Last year, SureGuard had excellent results in goosegrass control.
What to expect
In the south, crabgrass is the number one summer annual, replacing poa annua, which is the biggest winter annual to control. Another problem grass you might see this summer is goosegrass. Once goosegrass is up and the plants mature, it becomes extremely tolerant to herbicides.
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Treated turf plot |
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Careful where you step
Herbicides can be tracked, both by foot traffic and cart traffic. If you have warm season grass boarding cool season grass, they require completely different care and you want to be extra careful that you don’t overlap the products. However, SureGuard solves that problem. You can apply SureGuard close to cool season turf and not have to fear tracking or damage to the grass.
Temperature is everything
When examining the testing plots, it was somewhat difficult to see extremely obvious results. The results were still there, but the unseasonably cold weather in Georgia had a very obvious effect on growth.
