The warm weather is begining to takes its toll on some of the poa annua on the fairways. You may have noticed some discoloration on the fairways. The yellowing turf is the weaker poa plants displaying some heat stress symptoms. Most of it is concentrated on fairway edges where soil conditions are compacted.
Poa is extemely intolerant of heat and suceptible to a wide range of fungal pathogens. For these reasons, poa is not a very desirable turfgrass. Although the discoloration is not aesthetically pleasing, it is not all bad. We will take this opportunity to overseed these weaker areas with some bentgrass seed. With the poa in a weaker state, the bentgrass will have a competitive advantage and will likely allow for more germination. Bentgrass is much more tolerant of weather extremes and better suited to ward off attacks from fungi.
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| Discolored poa on #11 fairway |