One of superintendent Hoyt Ellspermann’s struggles at The Creek Club at Reynolds Plantation is keeping ahead of large patch across the course’s 45 acres of Zorro Zoysia.
“The biggest challenge is keeping the grass healthy,” he says. “If I do that, it all works out.” Keeping the grass healthy includes proper fertilization, proper irrigation and timing of preventive fungicides. On fertilization, he wants the grass growing well enough to keep ahead of any disease pressures, but not so fast that it is soft and more susceptible to disease. He uses a UF fertilizer in the spring and fall because of the slow-release benefits.
On irrigation, especially in the fall, he likes to back off whenever he can. He says, “You have to watch for hot spots, but don’t overwater. Here again, I want good, but sturdy growth.” Proper drainage is also important. He says, “If you have a wet season, you don’t want the excess moisture to stay on the surface. You want it to drain away.”
Improving drainage is always a good way to stay ahead of disease, he says.
Even with healthy turf, if weather conditions are right, large patch is going to rear its ugly head. Observation and timing are the critical keys to preventing its spread. “You want to get your fungicides on before it starts,” he says.
It is most important to hit the timing window coming into fall. “I want to hit the first application early. You have to watch soil temps and the weather,” says Ellspermann, since the right combination of soil temperatures with wet weather will start growth of the spores.
“Even if the temperatures are up, if the days are cloudy and/or wet, I will probably get my first spray down. With a dry fall, you are better off,” he says. He makes a second application about 28 days later.
He watches areas that were infected in previous years even more closely than those that weren’t. “The spores are present in those areas. They are just waiting for the right conditions,” he says. “You are much better off getting your fungicides down for large patch before it gets a foothold than you would be if you waited until it’s moving across your fairways.”
