Fairy Ring/Localized Dry Spot Reduction Program
By Brian Lachowsky, Sr., Regional Sales Manager

Fairy Ring is a very common problem that gives superintendents a headache. Nature Safe can help you relieve Fairy Ring Headache.

Fairy Ring is traditionally associated with decaying woody residue. Where there is Fairy Ring, we could dig down and find a rotting limb, stump, or some other source for the Fairy Ring pathogen to live on. However, in my work throughout the Southwest United States, I have seen this pathogen on newly constructed or reconstructed greens after only a couple of years. Conventional treatment is effective in stopping the outbreak but doesn’t seem to keep the problem from reoccurring. Nor do conventional treatments do anything about the localized dry spot that it leaves behind.

A working definition of insanity is, “to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. Let’s look at another way of approaching this problem.

To be effective, disease control has to incorporate several approaches:
• Stop the disease with a curative application.
• Prevent the disease with a preventative program.
• Remove the host that the disease lives on.
• Provide an environment that discourages the growth of disease.

Conventional practices include:
• Curative fungicide (Prostar, etc.) applications.
• Wetting/penetrant agent applications for dry spot.
• Verti-cutting and core aerification to remove the disease's host.

These conventional practices are the only way to cope with Fairy Ring and maintain the quality turf that the public demands. These courses of action result in significant demands on turf managers in terms of money and labor. Here’s a slightly different approach that includes all the above but offers a real opportunity to effectively remove the host, return the hydrophobic soil to a normal soil, and significantly reduce the underlying disease pressure: add Nature Safe into the equation. Do something different and experience superior results.

Preventative  
Nature Safe should be used at least monthly on greens and tees (NS 8-3-5, NS 5-6-6) to accomplish several tasks related to disease control. Nature Safe promotes a rapid rise in beneficial microbial populations. The magnitude of the change takes your base populations from hundreds of thousands per gram of soil to billions and even trillions (supporting research: Influence of Nature Safe on the Microbiology of Soil, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Lazarovits). After consuming Nature Safe, these microbes consume thatch and organic residue in the turf. This effectively and quickly (one or two growing seasons) will reduce thatch to a desirable level and remove the host for Fairy Ring. Nature Safe also provides a slow and consistent feed for your turf. This will eliminate the up and down feed pattern that induces turf stress, reduces applied salts, conditions the soil, provides chelated calcium and phosphorous, and results in healthier turf, roots and soil.

Curative
When you have an outbreak of Fairy Ring, treat it as you would normally and continue the regular use of Nature Safe. This is the most effective way of ultimately reducing the populations and incidence of this disease. It is critical that regular applications of Nature Safe are made. Try to spike at least 1 lb. N per 1,000 sq. ft. Use a nail board or a needle tine. Then drench using a good wetting/penetration agent. Repeat as often as needed in monthly applications. You will accomplish a deep placement of Nature Safe. The beneficial microbes that result from this placement will consume the waxy organic coating on the soil particle that makes the soil hydrophobic and serve to reduce thatch (the host for the Fairy Ring pathogen). Your soil will return to a normal profile within a few applications. It is important to continue with the regular applications of Nature Safe as a foundation to your overall fertility program. Use NS 8-3-5 or NS 5-6-6 to maximize the microbial stimulation.

Nature Safe’s ability to control Fairy Ring is also validated through another research study entitled, Evaluation of Fungicides and Nature Safe For Control Of Fairy Ring and Localized Dry Spot Caused By Bovista Plumbea and Agrocybe Pediades; Wendy Gelernter and Larry Stowell, Pace Turfgrass Research Institute.

Review the research studies on our web site that validate the effectiveness of Nature Safe in providing healthy soil and turf.