Greens Update

     We have had a new development to our green problem.  Dr. Miller sent our samples off to have a Nematode count done.  He felt we had too much damage to our root system and he was not totally convinced it was due because of disease and the heat.  He was right.  Our Nematode counts came back high with two types of Nematodes, Ring and Lance.  The Ring Nematode count was at 630.  That is 130 points over the threshold.  Our Lance Nematode count came back at 1230.  That is 10 times over the threshold of 120.  Needless to say this is serious.  Nematodes are parasitic feeding off the root system of the bentgrass.  Damage is seen most of the time in the hot summer.  Bentgrass stop growing roots when the soil temperature is above 85 degrees.  Feeding causes the bentgrass not to be able to take up moisture and nutrients from the soil.  Roots start to die back.  The plant can not compete with the Nematodes if it can't grow new roots.  Turf begins to thin and die. 
     If you remember we had a Nematode problem last year.  The species we had last year was Root-knot.  We used a new product called Avid and eradicated them.  Our greens turned around and we did not have anymore problems.  This season I decided I would use a preventative approach to keeping Nematodes at bay.  I sprayed 3 applications of Avid in May, June and July.  The test show we did not have any Root-knot Nematodes.  Avid had no effect on the Lance Nematode and we did not get control of the Ring Nematode.  Last years Nematode count showed we had Lance Nematode at a count of 60 well below the threshold of 120.  But something happened and the Lance Nematode count exploded this year.  After researching I have found out that the Lance Nematode is one of the hardest Nematodes to control.  With today Nematicides, control options are limited.  Fortunately I have found some older Nematicide that should work on these nasty critters.
     We have applied the Nematicide down to our worst greens.  I am going to treat all greens but it has been raining the past 2 days.  We will get it out as soon as possible.  We have been fertilizing greens weekly to get them to grow out of this problem.  We have raised mowing height and are alternating mowing and rolling.  We will over seed all thin areas and plug and sod the bigger voided areas.  It will take some time but we will recover from this.  We will slowly lower height back down on our better greens and continue to walk mow the weaker ones until they are healed.   Thank you for your patience at this time.  I know the greens are not rolling the way you expect.  We will work very hard to get them back in shape.  Below is a picture of a Lance Nematode.  They are about 1mm long.  One of the largest Nematodes.