This morning when I went out to mow the plots at the farm, the SR 1020 was hammered with dollar spot. It appeared to be pretty consistent on all the mowing heights. Since we have not started applying all the treatments, I did not worry with rating the plots for severity. The weather has been warm and humid the last couple of days. We have been having some pretty severe thunderstorms over night and some during day time hours.
We went ahead and sprayed Headway (azoxystrobin + propiconazole) on the green to try and curratively control the small outbreak. The green is kept pretty lean on N compared to many locations, so reduced N may also help give Sclerotinia an edge.
Hopefully this application will whipe it out and we can move forward. This may be a good sign that we will be able to get some data on Dollar spot severity differences if they are visible with our treatments.
Peace out.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Plots are established and began mowing
I began mowing my plots at the farm on May 4, 2010. Initially, I only mowed the plots that would be maintained at 0.100 and 0.125 at 0.125 inches. The 0.156 plots were not mowed the first two days to allow them to increase in height, but were first mowed on Thursday May 6, 2010. The mowing heights of the 0.100 plots were slowly decreased throughout the past 0 days. Today, May 12, 2010 was the first time these plots were mowed at 0.100. I will mow them at these heights for a day or two before beginning rolling treatments. Rolling treatments are going to consist of rolling plots 0, 3, or 6 times per week.
The mowing treatments are going pretty well. One issue that may arise in the future is the need for some type of movable mat to turn the mower on. At this point, I am turning the mower in the alleyways, but it seems this may wear them out quickly, especially in the summer months when temperatures become higher. At this point, I am considering ordering walk away mats for this purpose.
Things are going to be picking up quickly now, so post will probably become more frequent if this methods seem to be successful.
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