Nematodes

    
     The Lance Nematode we had last season are back.  This is very frustrating to say the least.  I have tested 5 greens, # 4, # 5, # 9, # 15, and # 18.  The only green that did not have Lance nematode over the threshold was # 18.  In fact it hardly has any turf feeding nematodes at all.  We have treated all greens.  10 greens were treated with some older reliable chemistry and 9 greens were treated with a brand new Nematicide. 
     Lance Nematodes are the hardest species of turf feeding nematodes to control.  They live in the soil and inside of the plant roots.  This is why they are so hard to control.  If they are in the roots the only way to kill them is with a systemic Nematicide.  There is only one systemic Nematicide on the market today and the testing has been mixed.  Dr. Crow from the University of Florida has had some positive trails with it but has also had little control or no control. Dr. Miller from University of Missouri is doing some trials this year on the 3 Nematicides available.  Hopefully he has some good results.
     With the hot weather on its way next week.  We are in a fight to keep our greens in good shape.  We are alternating mowing and rolling greens.  We are also raising the height of cut on greens from .125 to .135. We will be spraying extra soil conditioner on our greens to help our root system recover from the damage the Nematodes have done.  I plan on testing a few more greens to see where Nematode levels are at.  Not all greens will have Lance nematode over the threshold but we have no way of telling without testing them.
     This is the 3rd year we have had problems with Nematodes.  Next season I plan on going on a nematode control program.  This will be an expensive program.  We will be using biological products along with Nematicides to protect our greens.  There has been some good results using the Biological products to protect the roots of the turfgrass plant.  The days of applying a product to kill nematodes is gone.   The new Nematicides have to be applied before you have problems and you need a minimum of 3 applications.  We will do our best to give you the best greens to play on.  Greens will be a bit slower as we try to get through the dog days of summer.

Nematode feeding on root.