It may be necessary to check the turf or rootzone for contamination
inside a plastic bag. The natural rootzone moisture should be sufficient to maintain them and no additional water should be added to the sample prior to posting.
If symptoms of damage develop on the turf which don’t fit neatly in to the above categories, speak to someone who will be doing the analysis for you, explain the symptoms and ask for guidance on the most appropriate samples to send. If in doubt, I would always suggest sending a hole changer core sample wrapped in newspaper. This can be used to identify, or dismiss, the possibility of fungal disease, will indicate possible problems with the rootzone that could be causing or contributing to the sward damage and can also be used to give an indication of invertebrate pest problems and plant parasitic nematode infections. If nematodes are suspected from this initial analysis, it may be necessary to follow up with bulked hollow tine core samples to identify the background types and populations and identify more clearly which nematode is likely to be the cause of the problem.
On occasion, it may be necessary to check the turf or the rootzone for contamination either from accidental or deliberate damage. Fortunately,
deliberate vandalism is not too common but, when it occurs, it is important to know what has been used to damage the turf so that the most efficient and effective remedial treatments can be implemented as quickly as possible. Similarly, accidents happen with contaminated spray equipment, over application of a product or application of the wrong product to the turf. If you suspect that the turf has been damaged there are a couple of things that you should do straight away. Firstly, take a photograph of the symptoms so that you have a record of where the damage is and, if it does subsequently develop over time, you have an accurate record of how the symptoms have changed. If you have long-term problems with turf quality, again, these early photographs will help you to confirm whether the weak sward is in the same area as where you had suspected damage. We all have enough things to remember on a day-to-day basis without having to remember things that can be recorded simply as a photograph. Photographs are an excellent tool for recording pest and disease outbreak too, but it’s surprising how infrequently they are used to record such problems. Secondly, you can complete a very
quick growth test to determine if there is likely to be a problem in getting seed to germinate on the damaged area. Remove several small hollow tine cores or, if easier, a hole changer core sample from the damaged part of the turf and, also, take a similar sample from a known healthy area as a comparison. Place the damaged and healthy material in to separate plastic plant pots, label them so that you will know where the sample material came from and sprinkle a few mustard seeds on to the surface of each (you can buy a packet of seed at any garden centre and once opened, seal the packet and store it in a cool place). Gently press the seed on to the sample material, lightly water them and cover each pot with a sheet of plain paper to exclude light until the seed has germinated. After a couple of days the seed should have germinated and the paper can then be removed. The material in the pots should be kept moist by regular, light watering and the relative growth of the mustard plants on each sample will tell you if there is likely to be a problem with over-seeding the damaged area. If the seed fails to germinate or if the plants on the damaged sample grow in a slow or deformed manner when compared with
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