Poa Anna

[Field General]

I take care of a High School football field.I am really starting to have problems with Poa Anna intruding on my field. I have been looking for ways to combat the poa. Most info I have found says to either kill it all with round-up and start over , or go with the "you cant stop it - you can only hope to contain it" approach.

Has anyone had any luck trying to selectively killing the poa.

Any and all comments please.

Thanks

[mrkosar]

get a hold of osu researchers. at their outdoor seminar this year they had plots where they were controlling poa annua selectively. they are currently researching a couple different products i believe. can't remember the names, but they seemed to be working well. the problem will be the costs of these products might be very expensive. i'm sure you are on a budget.

the golf course i used to work on back in the day used the "contain it" approach, but they haven't had much success containing it. once it starts seeding you will find patches spreading. good luck!

[John Gamba]

I take care of a High School football field.I am really starting to have problems with Poa Anna intruding on my field. I have been looking for ways to combat the poa. Most info I have found says to either kill it all with round-up and start over , or go with the "you cant stop it - you can only hope to contain it" approach.

Has anyone had any luck trying to selectively killing the poa.

Any and all comments please.

Thanks


I have good success with core aeration over the area. I think the poa likes hard packed soil like you get on a football field.

[TurfProSTL]

Prograss will control poa annua

Prograss Label (http://www.turf.uiuc.edu/teaching/NRES300/labels/prograss.pdf)

Scotts has TGR on fertilizer for poa suppression.....

Good luck

[Field General]

Thanks for the input. I have always had some pao in my field, but in recent years it has gotten progressively worse. I have tried late summer and early fall pre-m applications with little or no success. The field usually looks good until mid to late august, then, even with irrigation it starts to die off. This makes the turf thin and then it only takes one rain game and the rest of the year it looks awful. I used to have a very nice stand of turf that I was proud of, but lately " not so much".

Thanks for the input.

[RigglePLC]

The chemists are gradually coming out with more products. Look up "Velocity" herbicide online. Read about results at Iowa State University. Works in some states not others--they are still trying to find the best time and rates and repeat intervals. $800 per pound--but a little goes a long way.

Do not use Roundup--it kills the grass, but not the poa seed already in soil--it will come back worse than before.

[John Gamba]

I have good success with core aeration over the area. I think the poa likes hard packed soil like you get on a football field.


I forgot. If you cut low and bag the infected area, it will help in removing allot of next years spread.

[tjsquickcuts]

Have you tried Revolver or Cosair.....What is the grass type? If its Bermuda, you can Nuke it now with it being Dormant.....I have even had good success using round up pro and over seeding with rye so Bermuda can grow in back over the roots......But control depends on the grass type.....

[The Ranger]

There are two herbicdes out now that work on undesireable grass. They are being developed for golf. Monsanto makes Certinty and the other is Velocity made by ????. Very expensive.

[RAlmaroad]

Is this what you have: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/P/W-GM-PANN-MP.001.html
Roy

[RigglePLC]

Velocity is made by Valent. A link to start you out:
http://www.turfnet.com/commercial/valent/
Read carefully--seems that it can be used on bentgrass, and on ryegrass, but not bluegrass. Anyone have experience with this stuff? What happened? I will be listening carefully at the Michigan turfgrass meetings next week.

[RigglePLC]

here is Certainty link. It doesn't say anything about controlling Poa annua at least on the first page.
http://www.monsanto.com/ito/layout/turf/certainty.asp

[Field General]

Grass types are ryegrass and bluegrass mix.

[Grassmechanic]

TurfProSTL has it correct. Prograss will wipe out Poa. After that, a Pre-emergent such as Dimension on an annual basis, along with the proper horticultural practices, will keep it in check.

[PSUturf]

Unfortunately you can't use Velocity on Kentucky Bluegrass. It will injure or kill some varieties and not others. It works great on taking Poa annua out of bentgrass (but not at putting green height).

[JWTurfguy]

Don't forget the Water factor. I've seen athletic fields with bad poa issues where the biggest factors were aeration and, yes, water. You could even see how some of the worst areas of infestation were the areas in which the irrigation zones were improperly overlapping. Poa loves compact soil with an abundance of water. So whether you choose to use chems on this field or not, be sure to check the irrigation.

[Field General]

I aerate at least three times a year. I also try to keep the watering to a minimum. I try not to apply more than one inch a week. The only time I will exceed one inch is during the hot dry months of July and August. I think if I can get the poa under control with chemicals I could be smilin' on game day again.

Thanks for all the help.

[tremor]

Certainty will take out the Ryegrass but it's great in a mono-stand of bluegrass. Take a look at the Syngenta agricultural herbicide Callisto. Turf is off limits (commercially) right now, but word has it the test plots are coming up clean.

http://www.cdms.net/ldat/ld56N005.pdf

[bx24]

Certainty will take out the Ryegrass but it's great in a mono-stand of bluegrass. Take a look at the Syngenta agricultural herbicide Callisto. Turf is off limits (commercially) right now, but word has it the test plots are coming up clean.

http://www.cdms.net/ldat/ld56N005.pdf


Is this better then Prograss? (or progress for AG).

[PSUTURFGEEK]

Stay away from the certainty, it's gonna get the poa triv but not the annual, I have had some luck with going in on fields like these in the fall with a coupl shots of Primo and then coming in and drill seeding with high rates of starter and was able to clear it up but not completely, Prograss is a good program also, I have used it for many years on my fairways.

[Athletic field]

Watch when you aerate. If the poa had seed heads, I would suggest not to aerate. You will be seeding more poa. If your budget allows keep throwing down desirable seed. At least there will be competition, and fill in the bare areas before poa does.

[John Gamba]

Watch when you aerate. If the poa had seed heads, I would suggest not to aerate. You will be seeding more poa. If your budget allows keep throwing down desirable seed. At least there will be competition, and fill in the bare areas before poa does.


If there seed heads set your deck low and try and bag the area where they are.

[golfguy]

Poa grows everywhere. It will grow in sun, shade, clay, sand, sidewalks, interlock bricks, wet, dry and just about any other place not mentioned. Poa has the ability to grow in all of these places because of its ability to genetically mutate (for lack of a better term).

Forget about all the cultural controls, you have one option and one option only and that is chemical eradication.

Every tuft of turf removed from your field during the season will be replaced by poa. Your field has millions of seeds in it just waiting to take off and grow whenever it can see the light of day

[Athletic field]

yes it will grow when it can see light of day. Therefore, Try to thicken the stand so it can't. Just part of an IPM prgram, and I agree chemcials can be part of it if budget permits.