Trinity® herbicide Success Snapshot

 

Carlton Woods Country Club- Houston, Texas.

The Club at Carlton Woods near Houston, Texas, aspires to provide its private members a stellar golf experience. For director of grounds Eric Bauer, reaching that goal requires vigilance on every inch of turf.

Bauer has managed the Tom Fazio Championship Course and Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course for more than seven years.His most pressing pest challenges are yearly zoysia patch outbreaks on the Fazio Course’s zoysia grass tees and fairways,and isolated brown patch outbreaks on the Nicklaus Course’s Tifway 419 fairways in the late fall and spring.

“When zoysia patch hits, it’s unsightly,” said Bauer. “The turf is thinner coming out of dormancy and is not actively growing. So the large, irregular circles of diseased turf really stand out. Once it pops up, we have to look at it all winter until we can rely on Mother Nature to help the turf start growing again in the spring.”

Determined to find a product with highly effective preventative and curative properties, Bauer set up test plots using several products and experimented with different application rates on the course’s high-pressure areas.

BASF sales specialist Travis Klosterboer was aware of the courses’ problems with zoysia patch and brown patch and suggested Trinity™ fungicide as a solution.

“Travis knows our course expectations and heard my concerns with competitors’ products,” Bauer said. “He keeps me abreast of cutting-edge chemicals and helped put Trinity in front of us.”

Bauer tested Trinity on his No. 7 fairways in October 2007,applying 2 ounces per 1,000 square feet. He used ProStar® on the rest of the course’s fairways.

“The control from the October test treatment was so obvious that I made the decision to apply Trinity in December and February on all 46 acres using half of the normal rate — 1 ounce per 1,000square feet,” Bauer said. “I couldn’t not spray the product on the entire course after I saw that it put everything in check.”

Bauer experienced 95 to 100 percent preventative control of bothzoysia patch and brown patch after the initial October application and continued control following the two subsequent half-rate applications. He also observed excellent knockdown in a few areas of the course that were missed by the spray application and treated curatively.

“It was almost instant — I could see the disease was no longer active in four to five days,” Bauer said. “In about 14 to 21 days we began to get growth.”

Bauer found that he could get the same high-quality prevention using a lower application rate compared to other products he tried.

“I’ve tried cutting other products’ rates before and we’ve had some of the worst brown patch I’ve ever seen,” Bauer said. “If I can make a 2-ounce application with Trinity and make two 1-ounce applications 45 days apart and not see it at all, that’s the way I want to go.”

“I’m getting three applications, using less product, without seeing any signs of the patch diseases popping up all winter,”Bauer said. “I’m saving my club nearly $10,000 and my course is much cleaner.”

 

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