IMPORTED WEEDCALLED THREAT TO TURF

A perennial weed being imported into theU.S. and other countries in foreign-grownseed has been called a threat to turfmanagers by an independent seed testinglaboratory. Seven states have alreadyplaced the weed on their prohibited list,meaning that seed sold in these statesmust not contain any seed of the plant.

Dale Kern, president of Seed Technologyof Marysville, OH, says there is no selectivecontrol for the grassy weed called serratedtussock. The clumpy weed spreads aggres-sively under dry conditions, as it.has in Aus-tralia, New Zealand, South Africa andArgentina. It has recently been discoveredin tall fescue, ryegrass and bermudagrassseed imported from these countries.

"Unfortunately, as we see more and moreimported seed enter the country, serratedtussock may be only the tip of the iceberg,"warns Kern. He points out that in Australiaalone, 184 potentially serious weeds areknown which are not currently prohibited asnoxious weeds in the U.S. "It's more impor-tant than ever to keep prohibited weed listsupdated," he adds.

Kern foresees a fivefold increase inimported seed over the next three years.One reason is the periodic banning of fieldburning, a process used by seed growers inthe Pacific Northwest to clean their fieldsafter harvest of debris, insects and dis-eases. "Seed producers have to turn over-seas to get the growing flexibility and eco-nomic advantages they need," Kern states."It's hard to quarrel with that if it keeps qual-ity seed affordable:'

Turf managers have several options toavoid planting seed contaminated byimported weeds, says Kern. The first is topress state officials to keep noxious weedlists updated. Another is to buy only certi-fied seed with the tagged analysis still onthe bag. Turf managers can also send seedto state or independent labs for testing.

"Nine-tenths of the battle is prevention,"he states. "Some of these weeds may bevery difficult or impossible to eradiate oncethey're in your turf'

ISA INKS FIVE-YEARDEAL WITH ASTROTURF

AstroTurf Industries, Inc., headquarteredin Dalton, GA, and the International Base-ball Association (IBA), based in Indi-anapolis, IN, have reached an agreementdesignating the company as the officialsupplier of synthetic turf to the IBA.

The IBA is the governing body of amateurbaseball around the world. With its 65member countries, it organizes the Olympicbaseball tournament, Senior World Cham-pionships, Intercontinental Cup, President'sCup, and two annual world youth champi-onships.

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Circle 129 on Postage Free Card May, 1989 11

THE EXTRA POINT".

STMA NEWS

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ithas been a very busy time for the Sports Turf ManagersAssociation. We have begun to implement all of theplans for the Annual Meeting and Conference, sched-

uled for January 19-21 J 1990 in Houston, TX. The programis being reviewed by the board and should be ready forpublication in next month's Extra Point. Exhibitors havebegun to reserve their booths inside and demonstrationareas outside. I think you'll find the seminars and theexhibits worth every penny of your trip.

The Western Sports Turf Institute at Cal Poly in Pomonawas a tremendous success and the Midwest Sports TurfInstitute at Harper College in Palatine, IL, is ready to go inJune. A date will soon be set for the Northeastern SportsTurf Institute at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. Bythe end of the year, nearly 1,000 sports turf managers willhave taken advantage of STMA regional educationalseminars.

STMA also had the opportunity to strengthen our inter-national ties by hosting a delegation of 50 representativesfrom the Institute of Groundsmanship in England. The lOGmembers were given a tour of some of the major sports turffacilities in Southern California. This provided a greatopportunity for our local members at these facilities toexchange ideas and experiences with their counterpartsfrom Great Britain.

The board of directors and executive committtee witl bemeeting this month in Houston. We will be looking over thesite and making final arrangements for the conference.

The primary topic on the agenda is amending the STMAbylaws. The bylaws, which the association is currentlygoverned by, were drawn up when we became an indepen-dent organization. Because STMA has grown in size andstature it is necessary to revise our bylaws to reflect thesechanges.

As always your input as members is welcome andneeded if STMA is to continue to grow and be of service toall who work in and are affiliated with the sports turfindustry.

Mark Hodnick

DUES INCREASE EFFECTIVE THISSUMMER

The board recently approved the first increase is STMAdues in more than four years. The change was necessaryin order to meet rising costs and to increase the effective-ness of the organization. The new dues take effect on July1 and will be reflected in invoices to be mailed later thismonth.

The new dues structure (in U.S. dollars) is as follows:Professional Sports Facility Managers $75Additional Members From Professional Facility $45Four-Year Colleges/Universities $75Additional Members From Colleges/Universities $45

All Other Schools, Parks, Exte;nsion Agents,Municipal Facilities $50

Additionalf\:1embers F~om School, ~arks,Municipal Category $30

Students $20Commercial Affiliates (U.S. and Foreign) $150Additional Affiliate Members $30Person Outside U.S. Other Than Commercial

Affiliates $50

MIDWEST INSTITUTE OFFERSFIIlE STEPS TOWI1RQPROFESSIONAtlSM

Sports turf managers iF!the Midw~t car~jgain afuoroaQ01knowledge of athletic field management in just one day.Junegt. Th~t is the day otthe annualMidw~st SP?~ts Turflnstitdte to oe held at Harper College in Palatine, II!.

The theme of this year's event is, '.'Athletic Field Manage-ment: From Design Through Maintenance, EverythJQg YouNeed To Know." While the title is long, the content of themeeting has been broken into five easy-to-grasp steps.

Step one is "Planning/Design, What's Invol~ed" byClaude Rodgers of Leisure Concepts and Design, Mt.Prospect, IL. Step two, presented b~ M~uc Van La~~u~t, ..i~"Construction, the Hows and Whys. Van Landuyt IS presi-dent 9f Van Enterprises in Mudelein, I~. The third step i~"Seed Selecting, Choose the RitJht TurHo Fit~eur N1eeds,"by Northrup King's Mark Grundman fr~m ~isc0nsinRapids, YVI.:"Equigment Useq on Ath!,et1c: Flelds:Pa§t@Present and Future" is tlJe fourth step presented l5y BooTegenoff of Howard Price Equipment, Chesterfield, ~O~.·GregPetry, park superintendent'of Waukeganvll, p~ovlde~the fifth and final step, "Maintepance, Attention to DetailMakes the Difference." .",

Outdoor exhibits and demonstrations will feund out theday's events. Lunch will be served on campus.

STMA encourages all membersand nOJ;Jme,[XlQ,ersto·take advantage of this unique "hands-oneducationalexperience. Call Ginnie at STMA hea~qua~ters orChuck,Gura at Harper College (312)387-300~ to sig[l up for thisonce-a-year event.

CATCH THE ACTIONMark.your calendar.

June 21 - Midwest Sports Turf InstituteHarper College, Palatin~, IL.

September (TBA)· Northeast Sports Turf Institute.College of Holy Cross, Worcester "MA.

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When the Colts slipped out of Balti-more in the dark of night, the stateof Maryland was shocked. How

could a professional franchise leave a mar-ket with such a tremendous interest insports? Had some oversight or lack ofcooperation contributed to the team'sdeparture for Indianapolis? The city and thestate were in a state of disbelief.

A second blow hit Baltimore a few yearslater, although it never made national news.Again the sport was football, and again theresult was embarrassment and disbelief.This time the victims were the membersand coaching staff of Towson State Univer-sity's Tiger football team. The week beforesummer drills began, the athletic trainerand doctors from the university's depart-ment of sports medicine declared theuniversity's practice field unsafe for playbecause it was compacted and uneven.Practices were moved to another field, butit was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The university's baseball stadium, Bur-dick Field, was also suffering from aninsufficient maintenance program. TheNCAA Division I Tiger baseball team did notwant the same thing to happen to them thathappened to the football team. From thishumble position, a new spirit of cooperationarose. And amazingly, two short years later,Burdick Field was awarded the BaseballDiamond of the Year Award in the collegiatecategory.

To Hoke Smith, president of the stateuniversity with more than 15,000 students,1986 was the year to draw the line and touncover the flaw in the system that led tosuch a senseless situation. He wanted toassure the students, coaching staff andalumni that something like this would neverhappen again.

To get to the root of the problem, Smithcalled Athletic Director Bill Hunter to hisoffice. Hunter knew the problem wasn't theskill or knowledge of the athletic depart-ment or physical plant staff. A long career inprofessional sports had taught him that thedifference between an average field and agreat one involves a commitment to qualityby both the management and the groundscrew.

Before joining Towson State in 1979 asathletic director and baseball coach, Hun-ter had played for the Orioles, Dodgers andYankees, coached third base for the Ori-oles, and managed the Texas Rangers. Theprevious year he had put together a ten-year plan to refurbish the university's ath-letic facilities and appointed Joe Ardolino asassistant athletic director in charge of them.

Placing the assistant athletic director incharge of athletic facilities was a novelapproach for universities, especially sinceHunter and Ardolino felt the facilities main-tenance staff should report to the physicalplant department and not to the athleticdepartment.

Ardolino, a graduate of Towson StateUniversity and former attacker for its long-successful lacrosse team, also had amaster's in athletic administration from the

14 sportsTURF

Towson State Tigers celebrate winning Eo

university. He had given up his assistantcoach's position on the lacrosse team tofocus all his attention on finding new waysto coordinate management and financing ofthe athletic facilities on the 300-acrecampus.

Paul Thomas had worked his way up theladder of the physical plant department tobecome grounds superintendent. He hadstretched every dollar of his grounds budgetas far as he could without some financialassistance from the athletic department."We had meetings before, so I was aware ofthe athletic department's needs and theywere aware of my budget and time restric-tions, but nothing got solved," recallsThomas. "When President Smith formed anad hoc committee to study the problem,things started to happen:'

The committee consisted of representa-tives from the physical education depart-ment, the physical plant, the department of

intramurals and recreation, auxiliary enter-prises, sports medicine department andacademics. The president wanted hisfaculty and staff to collectively contribute tosolving the problem.

"The facts are that the university is grow-ing by leaps and bounds and the demandon our facilities is greater and greater,"Ardolino says. "At one time only 20 percentof the students lived on campus. Now thecampus population has reached 18,000 and40 percent live on campus. We have morestudents who want to participate in a grow-ing variety of sports. We have to find ways tomeet this demand within our budget." Forexample, Ardolino points out that participa-tion in intramurals has jumped, with morethan 66 different teams in softball alone.

"It was clear that the university depart-ments using the grounds and athletic fieldshad to infuse dollars into the existinggrounds budget if we were to help Paul,"

srence Championship on field they help build.

Ardolino recalls. "He could put things intomotion, but we had to show some initiativeand coordinate budgets from variousdepartments to pay for them:'

A plan was presented to the president tocreate a "facilities improvement budget"within departments, part of which wouldsupplement Thomas' grounds budget. WithSmith's blessing, the athletic departmentwas the first to designate funds to help out."We've gone from zero to nearly $150,000 inthree years!" Ardolino exclaims. This moneypays for the salaries of three full-time ath-letic field specialists and for necessarymaterials and supplies. Even though themoney comes from the athletic department,the three specialists work under Thomas.

The new system, combined with an out-pouring of donations and assistance, hasturned Towson State University's athleticfacilities into some of the finest in the coun-try. Burdick Field's honor in being selected

the 1989 collegiate Baseball Diamond ofthe Year may be just the first of many futureawards.

Ardolino, who submitted the entry, wasquick to share the award with Thomas andathletic field foreman Dave Taylor. They alsoexperienced the thrill of victory in 1988when the baseball Tigers advanced to theNCAA Division I Championships with astunning Eastern Conference record of 12-2-0 on their renovated home field.

But like the championship team they are,the Towson State staff tells an amazingstory of teamwork that includes the vastexperience and contacts of Bill Hunter, theassistance of Pat Santarone of the Orioles,the support of President Smith, and thedetermination of Ardolino and Thomas tofind new ways to fund improvements.Towson State University and Baltimoredefinitely have something to be proud oftoday.

The improvement of Burdick Field beganwith the installation of new dugouts. All sup-plies, materials, equipment, and labor weredonated by local contractors, supporters ofthe baseball program, players, coaches,administrators and staff members. After thedugouts were completed, they presented astark contrast to the infield, which was in"deplorable condition," accord ing toArdolino.

Just as Hunter and Ardolino started figur-ing out a way to correct the condition of theplaying field, the dreaded announcementabout the football practice field was made.Compaction and uneveness were cited asthe primary reasons for declaring the fieldunsafe and President Smith formed the adhoc committee that would set so manychanges in motion.

While attending a local athletic field semi-nar, Ardolino met George Toma, director ofgrounds for the Kansas City Royals andChiefs. Toma suggested that Pat Santarone,groundskeeper for the Orioles, was the per-son he should contact for help.

Santarone has been a professionalleague groundskeeper for more than 35years. He has served the Orioles since.1968and has been a consultant to universities,racetracks, and other sports turf complexesacross the country. "There is a whole lot youcan do to improve baseball fields if youhave the knowledge and fortitude," heremarks.

Hunter made the call to Santarone, sincethey had been friends for years. Santaroneinvited Ardolino to visit Memorial Stadiumand also met with Hunter, Ardolino andThomas at Burdick Field. "Pat's sugges-tions were drastic," recalls Ardolino, "butthey were the only ways to correct the situ-ation and establish a good field that couldbe maintained on a continuous basis:'

Santarone recommended completelyexcavating the infield to restore a propergrade. "First you need to establish a centerline from home plate through second baseto the center field wall," he advised. "Waterflows away from this center point which canbe as much as 18 inches higher in centerfield than it is deep in foul territory''

The outfield grade was satisfactory, but18 years of adding dirt to the infield hadraised some areas as much as 16 inches.The entire infield plus the first 15 feet of theoutfield had to be regraded.

Santarone gave Ardolino formulas for theinfield dirt, the pitcher's mound and the bat-ter's box. He also suggested installing 4x4treated lumber as permanent foul lines inthe outfield, along the warning track in frontof the dugouts, and around the coaches'boxes and practice mounds in the bullpens.The wood only has to be painted two orthree times a season, instead of markinglines weekly. It also retains the stone dustand keeps the turf from encroaching.

Time was limited. They could not rip upthe field until the end of the fall baseballseason on October 25, yet they had to havea playable surface no later than February

continued on page 16

May, 1989 15

From Gloom To Glorycontinued from page 15

8-not great growing weather for the area.Furthermore, no funds had been budg-

eted for such a project. They had a plan, butno money, and only two weeks to secure theneeded equipment, supplies and laborbefore the fall baseball season was to end.

Ardolino and Thomas determined whataspects of the project could utilize univer-sity resources and identified others thatrequired outside help. Labor became theirgreatest concern. Both men had limitedmanpower due to their other daily opera-tional responsibilities. They decided to uti-lize their staffs only on an as-available basisand to tackle the problem primarily byrecruiting volunteers.

A list of potential volunteers was con-structed and Ardolino and Thomas bothwent to work in an attempt to secure com-mitments. The engineers in the physical

There was still some apprehension aboutgoing ahead, but the prospect of creating asafe and respectable field outweighed anydoubts.

They agreed to concentrate their ener-gies on completing the infield and thedugout warning track areas for the springseason. Other related projects, such as anirrigation system and subsurface drainage,would be phased in when time and fundingallowed.

On a Sunday afternoon, seven days afterthe project had begun, the regraded infieldwas ready for the sod. Santarone recom-mended sod containing a mixture of fiveKentucky bluegrasses which could be over-seeded later with perennial ryegrass. Thefive cultivars were Adelphi, Baron, Ram I,Touchdown and common Kentuckybluegrass. The common was included forits toughness, while the other four providedbetter color, texture and disease resistance.

Burdick Fieldwas ready for theNCAA EasternChampionshipsdespite two soliddays of rainbefore the event.

plant department agreed to donate theirtime to set the field grades. Several ofThomas' crew volunteered to help out.

Ardolino happened to have on his staff aformer City of Baltimore employee who hadworked under Santarone at MemorialStadium. Frank LiPira could not hear orspeak, but he knew how a baseball fieldshould be renovated. His schedule wasarranged so that he could work on theproject full-time. The Tigers baseball teamanxiously volunteered the remainder of thelabor necessary to complete the project.Within the first week, all labor commitmentswere finalized.

The next largest concern was the excava-tion. The university did not have the neces-sary equipment or operators to remove 200cubic yards or more of excess soil. Hunterapproached Potts & Callahan Excavation,the company that had donated equipmentto build the dugouts. By convincing theexcavation company and Santarone to helpout, the athletic director secured the twobiggest pieces of the puzzle in time for theproject to go forward.

With all the necessary components inplace, Hunter, Ardolino and Thomas gottogether to discuss further the feasibility ofthe project and to make a final decision.

16 sportsTURF

As the sod was laid, Ardolino and LiPiraused NCAA specifications to outline all theareas of the infield, including thebasepaths, home plate area, mound,coaches' boxes, fungo circles, and warningtrack. Three straight days of rain followed,which helped the sod but delayed the restof the project by almost a week.

Once weather permitted, LiPira andArdolino constructed the mound and bat-ter's box, while Dave Taylor, the new fore-man for athletic fields, and his assistant,Mike Andrychuk, installed the 4x4s. Thebaseball players helped out by building thewarning track, fungo circles and coaches'boxes.

Santarone made regular visits to inspectthe work and to give tips. He noticed onelow area of the infield and suggested to thetired volunteers that the sod there be liftedso that more topsoil could be added. Hav-ing come this far in four weeks, the crew didnot hesitate to correct the low spot. Santa-rone also felt that the dirt removed from thebasepaths could be reused with the addi-tion of a calcined clay soil conditioner.

With the infield dirt still piled outside thefence, bad weather and heavy morningfrosts brought work nearly to a halt. Thethought of not being able to complete the

infield before winter set in became a worry.Bit by bit, the infield dirt was moved into

place, leveled, rolled, and dragged. Byworking a few hours each day throughChristmas break, the infield was completedon January 8, 1987. That gave them onemonth to make any final touches before thebaseball team started to use Burdick Fieldfor practice in early February.

On March 8, the Tigers played their firstgame on Burdick Field against Navy. Theywent on to play 21 home games that springwithout a cancellation. "It used to take us aweek to get the field back in play after agood rain," says Thomas. "Now, we canplay or practice two hours after a downpour,just by adding some conditioner to the wetspots in the infield dirt'

Throughout the spring season, there wasmuch discussion about other improvementsthat could be made. Immediately after theseason, the group got back together to seeif some of these ideas were feasible. "Therewas a whole lot more confidence this timearound," says Ardolino.

Their list included an intensive main-tenance program for the outfield turf, instal-lation of a warning track in the outfield,rebuilding the bull pens, fencing to enclosethe entire field, and replacing the old score-board with a new electronic one. Ironically,the list did not include irrigation.

"We use Nelson Rain Train travelingsprinklers for the fields during the summer,"explains Thomas. "We check them everyhour, and they take about four hours toirrigate one field. But Burdick Field doesn'thave a hydrant nearby. We used to waterthe infield manually and we've neverirrigated the outfield. We suffered droughtsthe last two summers, so the outfieldburned to a crisp. As a result, we overseedin September with ryegrass to get the fieldready for fall baseball."

By late June in 1987, Ardolino andThomas realized that automatic irrigationfor the infield was essential. "The infield atBurdick is different from all the rest of ourcampus turf," Thomas explains. "It's high-maintenance turf and has to be managedthat way. We cut it lower (1 to 11/2 inch),usually three times each week. It alsoneeds more water and fertilizer (31/2 Ibs. ofnitrogen per year from Nitroform and onelate fall application of urea):'

Santarone helped out again, providingArdolino with a design for an infield irriga-tion system. The heads were valved so thatthe dirt could be wet down separately fromthe turf. Again, the athletic departmenttapped into its facilities improvementbudget to pay for the Toro system, andThomas' staff installed it that fall.

By the end of 1987, Burdick Field wascomplete. Cooperation among departmentsand the generosity of a host of volunteers'had overcome typical university budgetarylimitations. The Tigers had their field in topshape to take on their NCAA competitors.

"The baseball team could not wait to playat home," boasts Ardolino. They had a new

continued on page 18

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From Gloom To Glorycontinued from page 16

field and a new coach. Hunter hadpromoted assistant coach Mike Gottlieb tohead coach. After a slow start, the teamrebounded to finish the regular season with

May 6, and continued through the firstscheduled day of the championship. It didnot stop raining until 9:30 that night. Thegames committee pushed the scheduleback one full day, hoping to begin at noonon Saturday.

absorbed and firm footing was restored. Allstanding water was gone from the turf, andthe field was mowed in time for warm-upsfor the first game.

Three consecutive "beautiful days for aball game" followed. In front of their homefans, the Tigers won two games to advanceto the championship against Delaware. For

Removing built-up infield dirt with Grade-all (top). Finished diamond marked and ready for a game.

an overall record of 27-15-1 and a confer-ence record of 12-2-0. The Tigers earnedthe privilege of hosting the East Coast Con-ference Championships for the first timeever.

More than the team was tested duringthe championships. The field and the entirebaseball facility were also challenged dur-ing what was supposed to be a three-dayevent with eight games. Rain began to falltwo days before the opening day, Friday,

18 sportsTURF

Friday night, Ardolino and LiPira tried toremove the standing water from the warningtracks and turf. Only the mound and thehome plate had been covered with tarps. Itwas impossible to walk on the basepaths.They were not encouraged when they leftthe field that night.

They returned the next morning at 6 a.m.to help Thomas and his crew work on theinfield dirt. By working soil conditioner intothe basepath mix, excess water was

Pat Santarone of the Baltimore Orioles.

many spectators, it was their first glimpse ofthe new facility. Over 20 professional scoutswatched the games over the three days andcommended Hunter, Ardolino and Thomasfor the condition of Burdick Field. "Everycoach involved in the tournament, as wellas the Games Committee, could not believeit was possible to host the tournament thatweekend," boasts Ardolino.

The Tigers dominated Delaware and wonby a score of 21 to 9. They won the champi-onship in front of the home crowd-and ona field they helped build. From there, theytraveled to Miami for the national champi-onships.

Many at Towson State believe that theteam's success could be linked directly tothe field. That season the Tigers posted thefourth best fielding percentage in NCAADivision I baseball. Four Tigers wereselected as all-conference players andpitcher Chris Nabholz was drafted by theMontreal Expos.

Ardolino realized that maintenance wasjust as important as rebuilding the field. Hewas determined to protect the athleticdepartment's investment of both time andmoney by reserving part of his facilitiesimprovement budget for maintenance.

On one hand, he felt that the athleticdepartment should not take over field main-tenance. On the other, he wanted enoughcontrol over maintenance so that he wouldnot have to compete with other depart-ments and projects for the attention of thegrounds staff.

The decision was made for the athleticdepartment to use part of its facilitiesimprovement budget to hire athletic fieldspecialists. They would be part of the ADstaff, but they would be managed on a daily

basis by Thomas. The department wouldalso pay for supplies needed by the athleticfield specialists that were not alreadycovered by the existing grounds main-tenance budget. "The idea was to supple-ment the grounds crew with personnel andsupplies, not to create a separate groundsstaff," explains Ardolino.

Paul Thomas, grounds superintendent.

For its investment, however, the athleticdepartment expected more control overfield maintenance than it had before.Ardolino had picked Santarone's brains formonths in an effort to discover the main-tenance practices necessary to keep Bur-dick Field in top condition. He shared manyof these ideas with Thomas.

The two agreed that a specified routinefor each campus field was needed to helpdirect the athletic field specialists. "It tookus a whole semester to work the kinks outof a routine for Burdick Field," Ardolinoadmits. "But when we were finished, wehad one plan for the whole year, andanother one which spelled out what has tobe done on game days, practice days andoff days.

"Joe and I meet first thing every day to goover the field schedules, special events orweather problems," says Thomas. "I makesure everything gets done right and on time.He makes sure the crew has everything itneeds. It worked so well for Burdick Field,we now have a preplanned routine for ourfootball, lacrosse and intramural fields:'

Ardolino hopes that other universitydepartments will infuse dollars into the facil-ities improvement budget. "I never expectedto learn so much about sports turf manage-ment," reflects Ardolino. "But without thatknowledge, I wouldn't fully appreciate whatthe grounds crew needs.

"Now I know it takes both knowledge andmoney to do the job right, that is why wedecided to provide funds for trained athleticfield specialists. I think universities todayhave to make a commitment to proper turfcare if their athletic facilities are to remainsafe and in use. Our dark days are over, andwe intend to keep it that way!" ce.

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AT $99900Our Two Year Warranty OnlyApplies When Sold By Our

Authorized Distributors.

International Patent

®

May, 1989 19Circle 103 on Postage Free Card

DollarSpot first appears as yellow-green blou:hes on grass blades. Overallview of affated area shows pau:hes from afew inches to several feet

in diameter. Treat preventively at a rate ofl oz'/l,OOO sqft.every 28 days.

Red Thread, in its latter stages, is distinguished by the presence ofbrightcoral pink thread-like structures ~6-~ inch in length. Use Banner

preventively, before disease problems begin, with 2 oz. every 14-21 days.

Summer Pau:hfirst appears as small pau:hes of light green twfbut canfade within hours to a light straw color. Research indicates best results

are obtained with a preventive application of 4 oz. when soil temperaturereaches 60-70~ followed by a saond application 30 days later.

Anthracnose is most severe on RJa annua and first appears as irregularpau:hes ofyellowing turfwhich eventually tum bronze before fadingto light tan. Prevent damage with 1-2 oz. of Banner every 14-28days.

The firstpreventive fungicide thatle1Foryears,medical science Yetonlynow;with Banner" unique systemic fungicide.

has known that to achieve areyou finallyableto gain \\1th abroader spectrum ofthe most effectivecontrol, the same sophistication in control and amore efficientdifferent diseases often the prevention ofdiseases method of treatment thanrequire differingmethods on turf. any other yetdevised.ofprescriptive treatment. Because Banner is a truly Instead of one indiscrim-