Missed it by that much...

They say that timing is everything, and this past week we missed the perfect timing for a fairway fungicide application by one day.  We had planned to spray fairways on Thursday, however, as it turned out, Wednesday would have been a better choice.

With all of the rain Tuesday and Wednesday, there was plenty of prolonged humidity and leaf wetness, creating the perfect growing environment for Dollar Spot disease.  Finding Dollar Spot isn't at all unusual, but it typically starts out as a few minor spots.  Instead of this usual slow progression, on Thursday morning the fungi's mycelium made it look like it had snowed on the course.

The fairways weren't the only area of the course which was impacted, as the rough got clobbered as well.  We stuck with the plan, and the fairway fungicide application was made on Thursday, followed by a primary rough spray on Friday.

Fortunately, at this time of year, the turf will quickly grow out of any foliar damage caused by the disease.  However, this is definitely a lesson in not letting your guard down.  A month from now, trying to stretch fungicide intervals could lead to Pythium Blight--a disease which the turf will not quickly recover from!