It is generally considered that, if a chemical control option is to be implemented, preventative


findings. Plant growth regulators are now


frequently used in fine turf management and applications have not shown them to aggravate Anthracnose disease but, in many cases, have been shown to reduce disease severity. Anthracnose diseases are generally described as stress diseases and management practices that can damage the plant have often been implicated in disease development.


One such practice is verticutting, but


research has confirmed that damage to the plant is not a pre-requisite to infection, i.e. the fungus does not need to enter through a wound. Verticutting to a shallow depth (3mm) has been shown


to have no detrimental effect on disease severity, but verticutting to 5mm can increase Anthracnose on P. annua. Mowing height is also another factor that is often implicated in Anthracnose development, and an increase of less than 0.5mm in height of cut can cause a noticeable reduction in disease severity. Raising the height of cut can have a significant effect of reducing many fungal diseases as it reduces the overall stress on the plant by increasing the plant’s photosynthetic capacity. Light and frequent sand topdressing applications have been shown to reduce Anthracnose severity, and water limitation, interestingly, has been found


applications will be more effective than curative ones


to increase it. The latter is likely due to the detrimental effect that low water availability can have on the physiological processes of the plant and that, if the turf is under water deficit, the plant will be weakened and more susceptible to disease development. Infection of the plant by the fungus still needs water to be available on the surface either as rainfall/dew or irrigation. With regard to chemical control of Anthracnose diseases, the benzimidazole (e.g. thiophanate-methyl), DMI (e.g. fenarimol, myclobutanil, propiconazole) and QoI (e.g. azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, trifloxystrobin) classes show significant curative activity. That


from


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