FAIRY RING Q&A While some diseases like Fairy Ring remain fairly constant in their symptoms, causal pathogens and disease cycles, the strategies Superintendents use to battle them are fortunately evolving. Dr. Lane Tredway, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology at NC State University, recalls a time when Superintendents had a hard time controlling Fairy Ring. “Before we started researching it,” he says, “fairy ring was one of the more common complaints I had from Golf Course Superintendents. Looking at it, there really werenʼt any sort of specific recommendations on how to manage or prevent the disease. As a result, Superintendents were shooting in the dark and many were missing.” We contacted Dr. Tredway for a quick Q&A exchange: Does fairy ring make it in the top 10 list of annual disease problems? ”Fairy ring is absolutely in the top 10 disease list,” says Tredway, ʻmaybe even in the top 5 in many areas of the country.” If fairy ring feeds on organic matter in the soil, is it a problem with USGA greens? “In the southeast, we experience the greatest problems with fairy ring on USGA putting greens. These sandy soils are very prone to turning hydrophobic, which is one of the ways that fairy ring can cause damage to turf.” Is there a time of year when fairy ring is more prevalent? “In the past, most people were making the mistake of attempting to control or treat the disease on a curative basis. The problem was in the mode of infection of the pathogen, since it doesnʼt necessarily infect the actual turf.” Dr. Tredway explained further. “The fairy ring fungus grows on the thatch and organic matter in the soil, and in doing so changes the physical and/or chemical properties of the soil. This, in turn, leads to a change in the growth, appearance, or health of the turf plant.” The problem, he said, with attempting to ʻcureʼ the disease is that once the symptoms appear, the soil has already been compromised. Unfortunately, a fungicide application at this point wonʼt return the soil back to normal. This is why, using a broad-spectrum DMI fungicide like Tourney on a preventative basis for Fairy Ring rather than a curative one has shown tremendous results in university studies, as well as season-long control in real-world golf course applications. Tourney is also effective in controlling many other diseases including Dollar Spot, Brown Patch, Anthracnose, and Gray Leaf Spot to name a few. As always, read the label for specific rates and application instructions.

Tredway teamed up with Lee Miller (now Assistant Professor with the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri) to study the preventative use of the DMI class of fungicides and found several products, including Tourney, which is a member of this class, “have been very effective for these preventative applications.” Miller has gone on to explain that you have to be careful with your application strategy. DMI fungicides are plant growth regulators in themselves, so itʼs not a good idea to mix other PGRʼs in the tank. He also explained that many superintendents, in their curative attempts to control fairy ring, used wetting agents in the tank to help move the fungicide into the thatch/mat layer since hydrophobic conditions existed. BUT, as a preventative application, wetting agents are not necessary, as the fungicide should be watered in with 1/4 to 1/8” of water and wetting agents may move the product past the target area. Remember, the hydrophobic condition doesnʼt exist yet in the preventative mode. For more information on Millerʼs research, please click this link: http://turfpath.missouri.edu/reports/