Warning on gray leaf spot and dry soils

We have seen several situations in this last week, when a combination of low soil moisture and warm, humid weather contributed to gray leaf spot outbreaks. In some cases, superintendents were drying out fairways for a tournament. In others, the cause of dry soils was poor irrigation distribution. Whatever the reason, low soil moisture produced turf stress, which made ryegrass and kikuyugrass plants more susceptible to the disease.

The bottom line? Keep turf adequately irrigated to avoid stress, and to…