Technical
With the inclement, milder, wet weather recently experienced in most parts of the country, we are seeing a significant rise in algae and moss problems on turf and on artificial sports surfaces.
Report by Laurence Gale MSc Moss and Algae
Sterling effort
Springy turf moss (Rhytidiodelphus squarosus) T Moss
There are three main types of mosses found in turf:
Cushion forming: Tiny upright clusters of growth, associated with closely mown and scalped turf situations.
Trailing: Feathery types of moss, associated with poor drainage and shade problems.
Upright: Larger tuft type mosses, associated with drier, acidic soils.
Symptoms
Mosses grow slowly and are tolerant of shade and close mowing. They are able to populate turf situations when turf grasses are under stress and bare soil areas are available for the moss to invade. Moss can spread either by spores or by detached fragments of the parent plant material.
However, mosses are less tolerant of wear. Mosses are not the cause of turf decline but a symptom of environmental conditions or poor maintenance regimes. Mosses are also a common sight on infertile acidic sandy soils that are allowed to dry out. Mosses may
124 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014
here are over 12,000 species of moss and algae, of which over fifty are found to affect turf surfaces. Mosses are primitive, non-flowering plants that have no root structure and rely
on sufficient moisture being present in the environment for reproduction and survival. The majority of them are tolerant of acidic conditions and are stimulated by cool, wet, humid conditions when they can easily compete with vascular species that favour warmer conditions.
Rapid colonisation of moss and algae usually occurs during the autumn and winter months when soil and artificial sports surfaces are lying wet and saturated for long periods of time, and particularly when little or no regular maintenance has been undertaken.
The recent loss of chlorothalonil as an approved ingredient may have compounded the problem, as it helped inhibit the growth of difficult to control moss species such as Silver-thread Moss (Bryum argenteum).
required!
Moss on putting surface
Good cultural practices would have avoided the ingress of this moss
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