Mike Coker and son Troy work on golf courses ... - Backed By Bayer

his ryegrass/Poa annua fairways <strong>and</strong> bentgrass
greens <strong>and</strong> tees. But he keeps on a regular
schedule with his disease management
program on greens, spraying an average of
every seven to nine days during summer
months. His biggest problems are brown
patch, dollar spot, anthracnose <strong>and</strong> Pythium.
His fungicide rotation schedule includes
Compass for brown patch <strong>and</strong> Banol® for
Pythium.
“I can live with a little dollar spot, but I
can’t live with brown patch <strong>and</strong> Pythium,” he
says.“Compass is phenomenal for controlling
brown patch. As far as Pythium, I spray preventatively
on fairways <strong>and</strong> tees, but I don’t
spray fairways until I see a little activity. If the
weather looks ugly, I will hit my hot spots
with Banol.”
Charting enhanced turf quality
In 2004, Roedell participated in the Signature
Hole Trial program suggested by his Bayer
Environmental Science sales rep, John Wiblishauser.
The program allowed superintendents
to try Signature fungicide free of
charge on several greens throughout the
growing sea<strong>son</strong>. Participating superintendents
also received a journal to chart their results
<strong>and</strong> a digital camera to record the enhanced
turf quality promoted by Signature.
Roedell noted a definite improvement in
overall turf color <strong>and</strong> plant health on the
greens treated with Signature. “There was a
synergy effect,” he adds. “Those greens were
healthier, happier plants.”
The program turned the Talamore superintendent
into a believer. He regularly used
the product on greens during 2005. He credits
improved plant vigor for getting his greens
through the brutal summer weather with no
major problems.
For grub control, Roedell uses a tried-<strong>and</strong>true
product: Merit® insecticide. “I first tried
Merit in 1995,a year after it came out,”he notes.
“It was a pretty rough year, but wherever we’d
used Merit, it looked like we had painted the
fairways. Everyplace else got hammered.”
He has been using it faithfully ever since,
applying the product at recommended rates
on fairways <strong>and</strong> tees each May.
Roedell aerifies twice a year <strong>and</strong> lightly
topdresses greens every four to six weeks,
backing off when hot, humid weather approaches.
He fertilizes greens at six pounds
nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.
A Simple approach
“I like a dry, firm, lean golf course,” he explains.
“I don’t like to overwater, <strong>and</strong> I prefer
a natural look more than an overly manicured
look. In addition, I like to keep everything
in check, without getting super-aggressive.
It’s a simple approach. I believe in fixing
the bottom before the top.”
With so many golf courses in the Philadelphia
area, Roedell shares information quite a
bit with his fellow superintendents. He has
even been known to share products with
them from time to time.
“I love to talk to other turf professionals to
see what’s <strong>work</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> what’s not,”he says.“I
also review a lot of research over the winter,
look at trials during university field days <strong>and</strong>
read a lot of the industry publications.”
Roedell credits his distributor, Pocono
Turf Supply, for helping him out when he
needs products or supplies in a hurry. Tommy
Hunter, his Pocono rep, will make deliveries
on a Saturday or Sunday morning, if necessary.
“They are awesome,” Roedell affirms.
Future plans for Talamore include
drainage <strong>work</strong> throughout the course <strong>and</strong>
laser grading for all tees, as well as reconfiguring
<strong>and</strong> enlarging several of them. Roedell
also constantly overseeds bentgrass into areas
where Poa annua has tried to move in.
After surviving the summer of 2005 with
all his greens intact, Roedell plans to continue
with his simple approach.“If you keep the
grass healthy, everything else will follow,”says
Roedell. “Fungicides, insecticides <strong>and</strong> herbicides
all <strong>work</strong> better if the plant is healthy.”
John Roedell, right, golf
course superintendent
at Talamore Country Club
in Ambler, Pa., talks
with his Bayer sales rep,
John Wiblishauser,
about his disease
management program.
www.bayergolfadvantage.com Golf Advantage 33