Two weeks ago, we were in the middle of a 6" rain period. One morning a member saw us watering greens and thought that looked suspicious. What we were doing in fact, was watering in a fungicide that controls pythium root rot, known as Banol. A Superintendent must understand the life cycle of the fungus, where it affects the plant and finally, how a particular fungicide works. Superintendent life consists of an understanding of applied biology and chemistry.
Just as it's name implies, root rot is a root disease. Therefore, I needed to get the chemical into the root system. Running sprinkler heads is the prime way to do that. Running the sprinkler heads for 3 minutes, washes the chemical off the grass blades and into the soil where it can be taken up by the roots or kill the fungal spores that are attacking the grass plants. Root rot is commonplace in Highlands with 100" of rain, annually. It runs ramped during times of prolonged soil moisture.
