This week we were privileged to have former professor Tom Cook to come and speak to our Hort. 418 class. The topic of interest was maintaining annual bluegrass especially here in the PNW. I will give a quick summary of what he went over with us. He discussed three different types of Poa, an erect type, a spreading type, and compact types. Most mature Poa putting greens consist mainly of the compact types while patches in home lawns or fairways is more commonly erect types. Poa annua typically flowers in mid April through June (+ or - two weeks depending on temperatures). The flowering is the only downfall to Poa being used for a putting surface, not only is it bumpy, it is also rather distracting to the eye. Typically in the PNW bentgrass is planted for the putting surface and the battle begins to keep Poa off the greens. Encroachment of Poa can be controlled until it reaches about 25% coverage on the putting surface and then it really begins to take off. On the other hand, some choose to have Poa as the main putting surface, Eugene Country Club comes to mind first. The process of maintaining Poa consists of good cultural practices including a balanced fertility program with adequate NPK ratios, coring and topdressing spring and fall with an optional 1/4" tine in the summer. Lastly application of growth regulators. Most commonly Proxy and Primo applied together, Proxy for seed head control and Primo for improved quality. As far as diseases go, Microdochium patch, Anthracnose, and Gray/Pink snow mold are the main concerns. Irrigation will directly affect the risk of Anthracnose so keep it uniform and consistent. Keeping it a little on the dry side with daily syringing is a good goal to shoot for. Thank you to Tom for sharing with us yet again and as always it was a pleasure to learn more from him.
And as always, have a nice day!
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