The critical features needed for long-standing structural protection against subterranean termites are chemical efficacy and stability of termiticides. Federal regulations concerning minimum product performance of termiticide treatments stress the importance of field-testing existing and candidate termiticides. Field tests are designed to simulate typical application conditions and provide the regulated community non-penetration data. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the termiticide Transport® in terms of providing structural protection and consumer satisfaction against Heterotermes aureus. Five residential structures were selected in Tucson for the study. None of the homes had undergone any treatment for termites within 12 months and all were of one construction type, frame stucco with slab foundations. The effectiveness of the termiticide Transport® in controlling Heterotermes aureus based on the five homes was very good. Termites were cleared in under a month when inspections were performed. Standard difficulties were encounter in gaining access to structures for inspections. Coordination with homeowners varied greatly and required persistence by the inspectors.

Rapid blight is a new disease of cool season turf grasses caused by Labyrinthula terrestris, an organism in a group referred to as the marine slime molds. A trial was conducted in fall 2006-winter 2007 to repeat an evaluation of efficacy of different rates and intervals of Insignia fungicide and elemental sulfur, both of which gave acceptable control in trials in 2005. The trial was conducted at a golf course in central Arizona with a previous history of disease and high salinity irrigation water (about 5 dS/m). Plots were established in August 2006 on a practice tee on which Champion 419 bermudagrass was overseeded with Poa trivialis "Laser". Treatments included pyraclostrobin (Insignia) as a preventive and as a curative, pyraclostrobin (Insignia) combined with Fore as a preventive, and elemental sulfur (DsiperSul) as a preventive. Disease symptoms appeared immediately after the first mowing. Disease ratings 15 days after first mow showed that applications of the high rate of Insignia at first mow gave excellent control. Moderate control was shown in applications with early applications of Fore combined with the lower rate of Insignia. Treatments with Insignia as a curative and with sulfur as a preventive were not acceptable.

Rapid blight is a new disease of cool season turf grasses caused by Labyrinthula terrestris. It is problematic in Arizona and ten other states in cool season turfgrasses at sites with elevated salinity of soil and/or irrigation water. L. terrestris colonizes Tifgreen bermudagrasses in the field, but causes no apparent disease. Laboratory trials have shown that as concentrations of sodium chloride in irrigation water increase, disease severity increases, and when calcium and potassium salts are used to increase salinity, disease is greatly reduced or not observed. In preliminary field assays of cool-season turfgrasses irrigated with effluent, L. terrestris was observed in laboratory cultures from non-symptomatic turfgrass. To further substantiate if L. terrestris and/or other Labyrinthula species were present in non-symptomatic turfgrass in the field and to determine if disease could be induced by increased salinity, a trial was conducted at the Karsten Turfgrass Research Facility of The University of Arizona. In August 2006, field plots were established in bermudagrass "Tifway 419" and overseeded with Poa trivialis "Laser" in October. Plots were treated with potassium chloride, potassium sulfate or sodium chloride salts to increase soil salinity. Other plots treated with fungicides that are ineffective in controlling rapid blight as well as a sulfur treatment also were included in the assays. Poa trivialis was sampled in December 2006 and April 200. In laboratory assays using a semi-selective medium, Labyrinthula was detected in all treatments. Incidence was significantly higher in the untreated control and fungicide treated plots than in the salt treated plots. Results show that increasing soil salinity did not induce disease or result in an increase in detection of Labyrinthula at this site. Results of this study on Poa trivialis and previous studies on Tifgreen bermudagrass suggest that Labyrinthula may be widespread in non-symptomatic turfgrasses.

Speedzone at 4.0 pt/A provided rapid control of khakiweed and gave 82% control at 17 days after treatment in one of three experiments. Spotlight at 1.0 pt/A alone was only effective at about 50%. BAS-514 and BAS-790 were not effective against khakiweed when applied alone. In a second experiment, sequential applications of Speedzone and Spotlight plus Turflon Ester provided exceptional control of greater than 95%. Initial applications of the POST applications that were combined with Gallery offered control of new emerging seedlings of khakiweed. Monument combined with Gallery gave decreased khakiweed control compared to Monument applied alone. An antagonistic effect could be occurring with the tank-mix combination of the two herbicides. Carfentrazone containing products, QuickSilver at 2 oz/A alone was not effective on khakiweed compared to the package mix product Speedzone. For the ALS-inhibiting herbicides, flazasulfuron and Certainty were the least effective while penoxsulam and Image were comparable to Monument in providing about 50% control.

This study was conducted in a greenhouse, using hydroponics system, to compare growth responses of three cool-season turfgrass species, Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera), Rough bluegrass (Poa trivialis), and Perennial ryegrass (Lolium sperenne) in terms of shoot and root lengths and dry matter (DM), and percent canopy green cover (%CGC) under salinity and drought stresses. Grasses were grown in Hoagland solution for 90 days prior to initiation of salinity or drought stresses. Then, 24 meq NaCl/L culture solution/day were added for each -0.1 MPa OP of salinity stress, or 75 and 119 g of PEG/L were added for -0.2 and -0.4 MPa OP of drought stress treatments, respectively. The treatments included control, -0.2 and -0.4 MPa OP salinity, -0.2 and -0.4 MPa OP drought stress. Four replications of each treatment were used in a RCB design experiment. During the stress period, grass shoots were clipped weekly for DM production, shoot and root lengths were measured, and %CGC was evaluated. The weekly clippings and the roots at the last harvest were oven dried at 60o C and DM weights were recorded. All 3 grass species were more severely affected by drought than salinity. Bluegrass was the most and bentgrass the least severely affected by either drought or salinity stress.

Hydro-Gro ( 10-0-0) and UAN 32 (32-0-0) were applied once every 10, 15 or 30 days on a bermudagrass green overseeded with Poa trivialis at the rate of 9.0 lbs. PLS/M in mid October, 2007. Regardless of application frequency, each product was applied to achieve a 020. lb./N/1000 ft² nitrogen rate. Hydro-Gro produced a darker green turf than did the UAN, when averaged over all application timings. Enhanced turfgrass color was more consistent when Hydro-Gro was applied every 15 days (2x/monthly) compared to the 10 and 30 day application timings of this product. For the UAN source, no single application timing scheme produced a consistently darker Poa trivialis turf compared to any other application timing for the same product. Turfgrass quality was slightly greater on average for Hydro-Gro than that of the UAN treatments, although each source produced a better quality turf at one time or another within the two month application / evaluation period (Nov 15, 2007 to Jan 3, 2008). The addition of supplemental P and K did not enhance visual color or quality for either of these N source products from November to early January. Neither N source, their application timings, or the addition of supplemental P and K had any affect on turfgrass density, texture or overall uniformity.

Use of low quality/saline water for turf irrigation, especially in regions experiencing water shortage is increasing. This imposes more salt stress on turfgrasses which are already under stress in these regions. Therefore, there is a great need for salt tolerant turfgrasses to survive under such stressful conditions. This study was conducted in a greenhouse, using hydroponics system, to compare growth responses of three warmseason turfgrasses, bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.), cv. Tifway 419, seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz), cv. Sea Isle 2000, and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata L), accession A55 in terms of shoot and root lengths and DM, and canopy green color (CGC) under salt stress condition. Whole plants, stolons, and rhizomes were grown in Hoagland solution for 4 months prior to initiation of salt stress. Then, plants were grown for 12 weeks under 4 treatments (control, 7000, 14000, and 21000 mg/L NaCl) with 4 replications in a RCB design trial. During the stress period, shoots were clipped bi-weekly for DM production, shoot and root lengths were measured, and CGC was evaluated weekly. The bi-weekly clippings and the roots at the last harvest were oven dried at 60o C and DM weights were recorded. Shoot and root lengths and shoot DM weights decreased linearly with increased salinity for bermudagrass and paspalum. However, for saltgrass these values increased at all NaCl levels compared with the control. For bermudagrass and paspalum, the highest values were obtained when the whole plants were used, and the lowest ones resulted when the rhizomes were used. The reverse was found for saltgrass. For the control plants, the measured factors were higher and the canopy colors were greener for bermudagrass and paspalum compared with saltgrass. The canopy color changed to lighter green for bermudagrass and paspalum as NaCl salinity increased, but saltgrass maintained the same color regardless of the level of salinity.

Spring transition (from ryegrass to bermudagrass) has been problematic for the last 20 years based on, in part, improved heat tolerance and lower growing cultivars of perennial ryegrass. Annual ryegrass is used sparingly for commercial properties and for home owners in southern Arizona. Hybrid ryegrass (cross between perennial and annual ryegrass) has been manufactured by seed companies in an effort to improve the transition of a grass used specifically for overseeding, with improved turf grass attributes over those of annual ryegrass. A field test was conducted to evaluate several hybrid ryegrasses, two improved annual ryegrasses, and Gulf annual ryegrass under homeowner conditions. The true annuals produced the quickest amount of ground cover in the shortest period of time. By early December, all plots had 98% or more cover, with FH having 95% cover. Transend, Transport and 041 Lh had consistently high quality scores throughout most of the 8 month test, with Transport and 04 1 LH scoring for fair turfgrass quality into mid June. Sprint annual ryegrass had excellent turfgrass quality scores in November and December, however, scores declined substantially in April and afterwards. After emergence and into early December, Transport and 041LH clearly had the darkest turf coloration, with 041LH producing a turf with a color intensity typical of medium green perennial ryegrass. Gulf and FH were noticeably lighter in color. Gulf, Sprint and Transcend developed ring/patch type disease symptoms in early February 2007, while others did not. "Stemminess" ratings in late spring (a time at which annual ryegrass is typically pronouncedly so) showed that FH intermediate and Gulf produced the most "stemmy" turfs, followed by Sprint annual. Transport and 041LH showed hardly any seed head culm development, with Transcend being intermediate. Interestingly, not all the entries which generally had the highest numerical rankings for density, texture, uniformity and overall turfgrass quality, had the highest percent plot living overseed during transition. Entry 041LH had 30% overseed, 46% bermuda, and 24% straw. Transcend had 16% overseed, 25% straw and59% straw on June 12. Transport had the highest retention of green overseed (72%), with 23% bermuda and 5% bare ground or straw plot cover. Sprint had 19% overseed, 20% live bermudagrass, and 61% bare straw plot cover, more so than that of Gulf. Final quality scores showed that 041LH and Transport had the best quality mean rank values, with all others having low quality scores on 12 June just prior to scalping to fully reconstitute the underlying Tifway bermudagrass. This shows vast improvements in turfgrass performance for INTERMEDIATES, which previously (and again) show near full acceptability in most turfgrass attributes, and now show enhanced color. Likewise, improvements in strict annual types show improved turf quality (Sprint) over Gulf.

Forty nine seeded entries were overseeded into Tifway bermudagrass maintained at 5/8" inch. Improved annuals showed better turf performance in most categories than GULF annual, while hybrid(intermediate ryegrasses) showed great improvement over original release material. Annuals and hybrids were more vigorous in plot establishment after emergence until late November/early December, when perennial types increased plot cover. Poa trivilais was slower to emerge than other grasses, but had excellent performance in the coldest parts of the winter season, only to decline early in the spring for overall turfgrass quality. Turfgrass color scores were greatest on 17 February and 27 March. On 17 February, the mean color scores ranged from a low value for Gulf annual (4.0), to the Jacklin blend which averaged 8.5 (Table 3). Other darker entries included the PHD blend (8.0), B-5.1095 ryegrass (8.0), B-6.1523 ryegrass (8.0) Pick EJ ryegrass (8.0), B-6.1523 (8.0), Brea ryegrass (7.8), Pavilion ryegrass (7.8), RX ryegrass blend (7.8), Acapella ryegrass (7.8) Ringer II (7.8) and PM 102 ryegrass (7.8). Physical mowing stress was evident on 2 May, in which grasses exhibited leaf tip shredding and elongated flowering culms. Gulf and Panterra annual aul ryegrass showed the least favorable mowing response. STR 4NV (intermediate ryegrass ) had mow stress-type symptoms similar to perennial ryegrass, which was much less than that of the annual types. On 19 June, bermudagrass plot cover ranged from 17.5% (Laser PT) to 100% cover on several other entries. The Rx ryegrass blend, Bar LM TL annual ryegrass, Leaguemaster blend, and Heat PR all had 100% bermudagrass cover. The non-overseeded checks had 95% bermudagrass on 19 June. There were nine entries with 90% or more bermudagrass, ten entries that had 80-85% bermuda, four entries that had between 85-90% Bermuda, and sixteen entries with 75% or less bermudagrass on 19 June. The Champion Fine mixture had 55% bermudagrass. PHD had 63%. Pavilion had 63% bermuda as well. The Poa trivialis entries had the least amount of bermudagrass present. Entries which had high quality scores on average throughout the entire test period (early November to July 12 included the entries, Champion RB (mixture of creeping red fescue and perennial ryegrass) (6.8) ; Champion GC (mixture of fine fescue and perennial rygrass) (6.8) ; the experimental ryegrass B-6.1523 (6.7) ; Jackilin Blend A (6.7) ; the experimental ryegrass B-6.1091 (6.9) ; and B-6.0756 (6.8) ; Entries which had generally throughout the entire season had good quality and high amounts of bermudagrass on 19 June included Heat (100%), STR 4TPC (93%), STR 4QT (90%), RX (100%), Jacklin Blend A (88%), B-6.1095 (95%), and Champion STF (98%). Other entries had a quicker transition, but had lower mean quality scores otherwise, while others had high quality scores, but a slower transition.

Overseeding bermudagrass with a cool season grass species is often necessary because of cold temperature dormancy (to bermudagrass) realized in the overwhelmingly large majority of winter seasons. Forty (40) entries of either perennial, annual, or hybrid ryegrass cultivars, blends and species mixtures, were evaluated for season long overseed performance under semi-arid conditions over Tifway bermudagrass mowed at 5/8". Treatment "mean squares" were statistically significant on all evaluation dates for turfgrass color, quality, density, texture, and percent canopy composition. Entries differed in mean quality performance based on the time of year (fall, winter vs. spring). Entries with high fall/winter quality scores included Cutter II perennial ryegrass, Dasher III perennial ryegrass, PST-2TQL perennial ryegrass, PST- 2TQL perennial ryegrass, Revenge GLX perennial ryegrass, 7.0516 perennial ryegrass, DGA ryegrass blend, Derby, 03 PT-3 Poa trivialis, and Palmer V. Entries which ranked highest for spring performance included New Arrival, Palmer GLS, L4O-6-XLT-1, Patriot 4, Overture blend, Shining Star, and 041- LH. Entries which ranked highest for year round quality included New Arrival, Palmer V, Palmer GLS, 03PT3 Poa trivialis, PST-2TQL, Overture blend 042LH hybrid ryegrass, and Top Gun II. Entries which had an early and strong transition as well as good quality prior to and including the transition included the following: Patriot 4, Shining Star, L040-6-XLT-1, 04-2 LH hybrid ryegrass, Applaud II, 7.0156, Revenge GLX, SPT-2T QL, Palmer 4 and New Arrival.