Its a Monday morning and it seems like it's done nothing but rain the last week. On the golf course, you see a sprinkler head running. What gives?
Sprinkler systems are used for more than just supplementing rainfall to the turf. In the case of this morning, we are irrigating greens for 2 minutes following the application of a fungicide that offers preventative control of Pythium Root Rot. Given the disease is one that affects roots, the fungicide must be delivered to the roots. The only way to make that happen is to apply the fungicide to the surface and lightly water the product into the root zone. This application is made every 14 days; essentially every other Monday. In a climate with excess rainfall, root rot is our major disease challenge but a routine fungicide program eliminates concern for it.