The poa annua greens on the course present a challenge from many points of view. They are fickle to heat and humidity. A shallow rooted plant that grows dense and patchy, but seeds prolifically like no other plant on this earth. It is the only grass species that can seed when mown at green heights, one reason it is so tough to eliminate.
Also poa may be the most susceptible plant to disease. Our location, which is a pathologists dream with the conditions, now has a new disease from Japan that is making a mockery of our attempts to halt it's progression. Waitea Patch, otherwise known as Brown Ring Patch. Funny since it is neither brown, nor a ring or a patch disease specifically, this disease has invaded our greens and seems likely to be here for a long stay. You may have seen examples of it on the putting green and both 16 and 18 greens. It is everywhere and very persistent. The one thing it does not do is invade bentgrass.
So far we have used all the local and university research to apply a ridiculous cocktail of fungicides to stop the progression, and at this time I see little success and a lot of expense. This condition has us using fungicides when no other pathogens are present, which put simply means we are spending money and time to combat a single disease on poa when conditions are perfect for all other grasses. We are always looking for methods and practices to extend our protection levels and prefer to spray fewer times than more, but we have now encountered a disease that may require a nearly 12 month regime to combat. We hope that stronger and more preventative application made at the extremes of the season can reduce it's impact, but poa is so susceptible that if left unchecked we would slowly lose most of the grass on the greens.
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