Pump up your disease control with superintendent and researcher insights

As we reach the end of 2020, we wanted to reflect on success stories of how superintendents maintained healthy turf conditions. Throughout the year, Syngenta partnered with Golf Course Industry and Golfdom magazines to showcase effective turfgrass solutions, including how superintendents and researchers alike used them to control tough turf diseases. You can read some of these success stories below. 

To find a Syngenta agronomic program that fits your needs, or to order a free agronomic program poster, visit GreenCastOnline.com/Programs.  
 

Testing … 1, 2, 3

Golf Course Industry, August 2020 

In early June, university researchers learned the identity of three solutions they had been studying for years: Posterity® XT, Posterity Forte and Ascernity® fungicides. Syngenta is responsible for introducing the trio of fungicides, which offer control for diseases on cool- and warm-season turf. Their development provides insight into the methodology behind researching new products. Testing desires and procedures vary by company. Syngenta uses blind tests for new products. 

What did Dr. Bruce Clarke (Rutgers University) and Dr. Jim Kerns (NC State University) — along with Syngenta Technical Services Manager Mike Agnew, who helps facilitate trials — learn through the extensive testing? The trio spoke with Golf Course Industry about testing procedures and their work with the new solutions. 

Learn more about what this trio of researchers learned about the latest #TurfInnovation products from Syngenta.  
 

POSTERITY: A Game Changer for Dollar Spot Control

Golfdom magazine, April 2020 

For many years, Bristol, Indiana’s Elcona Country Club encountered a variety of challenges with dollar spot because of its older Penncross bentgrass fairways. Recently, Ryan Cummings, Elcona’s superintendent since 2014, heard about the success of Posterity fungicide in research trials, particularly for controlling dollar spot. Those rumors were verified by Troy Rippy, a Syngenta territory manager, along with Luke Baker of Turf Ventures. Both described Posterity as a “game changer” for late-season dollar spot suppression.  

“I was simply amazed at the longevity and performance of Posterity,” he states. “It allowed us to meet and exceed our membership’s expectations for playability and aesthetics throughout a busy fall season.” 

Learn more about Cummings’s experience with Posterity to address his dollar spot problems.  

 
Growing Up

Golf Course Industry, September 2020 

After more than 25 years in the industry, Ocean City Golf Club Superintendent Mike Salvio develops new tools — and implements new products — to lead his crew. “My chemical building looks like a Syngenta warehouse,” he jokes. “They’re all part of my regular rotation, every year.”   

While Syngenta products provide him with “healthy turf” and “reliable, predictable control,” he still experienced turf issues — chief among them the chronic spring dead spot on 22-year-old Midlawn Bermudagrass. “I was at my wit’s end with the third fairway on the Newport Bay golf course,” he says. “No matter what we applied in the fall, every spring, the patches coalesced and it would be (late July) until it was nice again.” His longtime territory manager Doug Rider suggested a trial on the worst fairway, treating half with Velista® fungicide and half with tebuconazole. “The results were so dramatic,” Salvio says, “that I expanded Velista treatments the next year. Our worst fairways became our best.” 

Read more about how Salvio was able to address his turf issues with Syngenta products.  

 

BRISKWAY: A proven fungicide for high temperatures

Golfdom magazine, May 2020 

Briskway® fungicide was developed primarily to perform in high temperatures. It has no heat restrictions, and superintendents can apply it at low use rates in extremely hot and humid climates. Bryan Johnson, superintendent of Valley View Club in Cambridge, Illinois, has used Briskway as a preventive fungicide and has sprayed each of Valley View Club’s Penncross greens himself. In doing so, he has seen firsthand how Briskway considerably improved the greens’ conditioning and performance, as well as provided complete recovery from two diseases that previously were prevalent issues: anthracnose and brown patch. 

“My confidence level has been very high with Briskway,” he says. “Its results have been consistent from a conditioning, performance and recovery standpoint, time after time.” 

Learn more about how Johnson uses Briskway for his greens.

Stepping up the fungicide game

Golfdom magazine, August 2020

Both rapid blight and anthracnose were present, as well as turf scalping, prior to the start of this study. In the end, Ascernity was among the top treatments, according to Jim Baird, Ph.D., the University of California, Riverside. (PHOTO BY: JIM BAIRD)Golfdom magazine, August 2020 

This summer, Syngenta launched three new fungicides: Posterity XT, Posterity Forte and Ascernity. If the initial feedback from researchers is any indication, the new fungicides in the lineup could give industry standards a run for their money. 

Jim Baird, Ph.D., a turfgrass specialist at the University of California, Riverside, began testing Ascernity around 2014 or 2015 and was also impressed with the results. After repeating the trial, the team realized the product was doing more than combat diseases. 

“This is really the first time I’ve ever really seen additional plant health benefits from fungicides,” Baird says. “With Ascernity, it was not only combative against anthracnose and rapid blight: it also restored turf health.” 

Read more about what researchers discovered with these latest Syngenta solutions.

All photos are either the property of Syngenta or are used with permission. 

©2020 Syngenta. Important: Always read and follow label instructions. Some products may not be registered for sale or use in all states or counties and/or may have state-specific use requirements. Please check with your local extension service to ensure registration and proper use. Ascernity®, Briskway®, GreenCast®, Posterity®, Velista® and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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