Fairway Renovation with Fraise Mowing Cultivation and Dazomet Fumigation

Renovation is an opportune time for golf courses to address annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) weed populations. Dazomet (tetrahydro-3,5-dimethyl-2H-1,3,5-thiadiazine-2-thione) is an effective fumigant, but without a tarp cover, it is only effective at the highest labeled rates. Fraise mowing cultivation could be used to help remove surface material and allow practitioners to effectively fumigate at lower rates. In Summer 2018 and Summer 2019, two cool-season fairway renovation experiments were conducted in East Lansing, MI. The objective of these experiments was to assess annual bluegrass control and creeping bentgrass establishment following dazomet applications to fraise mowed surfaces. In the first experiment (fraise mowing surface disturbance experiment), dazomet was applied at a fixed rate (294 kg·ha−1) to fraise mowed plots at varying levels of surface disturbance (0%, 15%, 50%, and 100%) to a depth of 1.9 cm. In the second experiment (dazomet rate experiment), fraise mowing removed 100% of surface material at a depth of 1.9 cm and dazomet was applied at five rates (0, 294, 588, 147 + 147, and 294 + 294 kg·ha−1). Both experiments were conducted on two soils (sand topdressed vs. native) and evaluated two methods of fumigant incorporation (solid-tine cultivation vs. tillage). Five days after treatments were applied, plots were seeded with ‘Pure Select’ creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.). The level of fraise mowing surface disturbance had no effect on annual bluegrass emergence, and creeping bentgrass cover was poorest in native soils at the highest levels of surface disturbance. In the dazomet rate experiment, dazomet applied twice at 294 kg·ha−1 provided the most consistent control of annual bluegrass. With the exception to single applications of 294 in 2018, all dazomet treatments allowed for greater creeping bentgrass establishment than the nontreated control. Fraise mowing cultivation may simplify the removal of surface material from large areas; however, even when combined with dazomet applied at the highest rates, it fails to provide complete annual bluegrass control.