Photo of the week: Guessing summer patch

When we posted this micrograph up on Twitter last week, several different guesses were made as to its identity. Knowing that this fungus was growing on poa roots was an important hint. Other key features that narrowed its identity down to summer patch, caused by Magnaporthiopsis poae, included the presence of simple hyphopodia and growth cessation structures. Congratulations to Dr. Maria Tomaso–Peterson, who was the first to correctly identify this pathogen. See this PACE Turf Reference on Summer Patch for…