New Research indicates live bacteria applications can mitigate risks from dollar spot, a damaging turfgrass disease becoming increasingly resistant to fungicides
Golf course and turf management professionals are finding success from Velocity Green’s ACF-SR, designed to improve soil health, minimizing the need for costly and ongoing fungicides applications.
Science Daily reported findings from Penn State University researchers that show Dollar spot – a disease that proves to be an ongoing challenge for North American Golf Course managers – is becoming resistant to fungicides being used to control it.
Golf courses spend thousands of dollars on several applications per year, but the repeated applications “act as a selection pressure on fungal populations and may lead to reduced field efficacy of certain active ingredients,” according to researcher John Kaminski, professor of turfgrass management and director of the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
“That selection pressure is a driving force favoring the dominance of resistant isolates in managed turfgrass systems. Not only can fungicide resistance result in increased spending on fungicides, but the loss of active ingredients due to resistance may limit available control options for turfgrass managers.”
With the goal of managing the disease with fewer inputs that are causing the resistance, golf courses are looking to live bacteria applications that actually make amendments to the soil structure, allowing it to uptake more nutrients.
The bacteria in ACF-SR help the roots grow deeper, while creating more hair roots so they can
absorb water from deeper soil. In general, the plant is healthier as the bacteria aid in transforming inorganic nutrients into organic, water-soluble forms, as well as improve nitrogen and phosphorous uptake.
The patented brewing process creates an optimal environment for the 5 species in ACF-SR to reproduce rapidly before applying.
The 5 Bacteria include:
- Rhodopseudomonas palustris to enhance soil bioactivity & nitrogen fixation
- Bacillus licheniformis to enhance soil bio activity & provides plant growth hormones
- Nitrosomonas europaea to convert ammonia to nitrate & solubilizes phosphates
- Nitrobacter winogradskyi to convert nitrite to nitrate & solubilizes phosphates
- Bacillus subtilis to solubilize phosphates & siderophore production
ACF-SR totes many attributes that are attractive to the golf course managers (namely that it’s 100% Organic Certified and 100% non-toxic, making it a safer, more cost efficient alternative to chemicals typically used to manage turf), but the drastic improvements to tees, fairways, greens and rough in early applications are being touted as a game changer for the ongoing challenge of managing Dollar spot disease.
For more information, email michael@velocity-green.com or call 289-981-9080
