MORE INFORMATION ON MOSS-2010

Nick Christians
Iowa State University
July 20,2010

This is another good year for moss on greens. It may even be worse than usual because of the rain. Here are some interesting pictures from Ames Golf & CC. The first one shows a heavy infestation of moss a few feet into the green. The interesting thing about the picture is that there is no moss in the clean up pass. I do not have a theory on why this is happening and I'm interested in the observations and thoughts that others have about this phenomenon. You can reach me at nchris@iastate.edu. Pictures would be useful. My recommendation was to add another clean up round within the first, but that would probably cause other problems, like an increase in Poa.

The second picture shows a plug cut from the moss areas on the same green. Notice that the moss penetrates at least one half inch under the surface. The final picture is of holes that suddenly open up in the green when the moss breaks down. Superintendent Mark Newton reports that these holes are a common problem in mid summer.