Participation Needed for Take-All Patch Research!

Does your golf course suffer from take-all patch disease? 

If so, we need your help!

Kieran Molony, a master's student at the University of Guelph, is conducting his thesis project supervised by Dr. Katerina S. Jordan. The goal for this research project is to develop sustainable, effective cultural methods to control take-all patch in creeping bentgrass. Part of this project is to survey the presence of the two known causal agents of take-all, Gaeumannomyces avenae and Slopeiomyces cylindrosporus, in golf courses across Canada.

The goals are to determine:

1) Where both pathogens are found in Canada

2) If there is any correlation between where each pathogen is found and the soil characteristics it is found in

 If you believe your course does have, or has had, take-all patch in areas where you have creeping bentgrass (greens, fairways etc.), and are willing to send in samples of these affected areas, please contact Kieran at kmolony@uoguelph.ca

You might be asking, what benefits would I get from helping out with this project?

1. Free disease diagnosis (of turf you suspect has take-all patch disease) – $135 value
2. Free data of chemical and physical properties of the soil in sample – $50 value
   1. Soil fertility assessment including pH, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Cu, Fe, Mn
   2. Soil texture analysis (% sand, silt & clay)

If you chose to receive soil data, all that we would ask from you is to cover the costs of sample shipping. If you do not wish to receive this data, the cost of sample shipping would be re-imbursed. If the take-all patch pathogens are found in your sample, you may be asked to send additional samples from the same affected area at a future date.

In addition to sending samples, you will be asked to fill out a concise survey on your management practices and historical pesticide use.

Any published data collected from your samples will be combined with data from other superintendents to correlate management and fungicide use to presence of the disease. All individual data will be anonymized upon publication. Although specific golf courses won’t be mentioned, general geographic areas may be referred to. For example, a sample taken from the Guelph Turfgrass Institute would be categorized as a “Sample from Guelph, ON”.

Get involved:

1) ‎Taking samples from the course  

• All samples should be the diameter of a cup cutter and about 6” (15 cm) deep.
• If take-all patch symptoms ARE present: 
  • take a cup cutter sized sample from the edge of an active patch such that 50% of the sample is symptomatic turf and the other 50% is healthy turf.
• If take-all patch symptoms ARE NOT present: 
  • take a cup cutter sized sample from the area in your course where you have had take-all symptoms in the past and/or where you expect symptoms to develop in the 2025 playing season.  

2)  Preparing samples for shipping 

• Wrap soil in wet paper towel/newspaper and then wrap soil tightly in aluminum foil, saran wrap, tape or anything that will ensure the sample does not get destroyed in transport and that the soil remains intact.
• Package and seal samples in a box that fits the sample snugly with little extra room, or please pack the box around the sample to ensure the sample does not move around during transport.  

3) Shipping samples  

• If your course is close to the University of Guelph and you would rather drop off the sample/organize it to be picked up from your course, please let me know and I can gladly help you arrange this. 
• For shipping sample packages
  • We hope to have the samples within 24 hours from the time you take them from your course
  • Same-day or next day (24hr) delivery is required. 
  • To account for possible delays in shipping please ensure the samples are to be delivered to us from Monday-Thursday throughout the week. 
    • We advise not to send samples the week of a long weekend, this when we usually encounter shipping delays 
  • Shipping Address: 
    • Guelph Turfgrass Institute 364 College Ave E, Guelph ON N1G 3B9, Canada
    • It is important that you write out this address verbatim. If you just send your sample to the University of Guelph it will go to central receiving, and we will not get the sample for another week or so. 
  • Once you have dropped off your package, we ask that you reach out to us to let us know that you have done so and to give us your shipping number so we can track the package throughout its delivery 

4) Fill out the sample information form 

For further information about my project, please reach out to kmolony@uoguelph.ca

Thank you in advance for your support of nation-wide research!
On behalf of Kieran Molony and Dr. Katerina Jordan