Firstline® and Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination Systems were monitored at 20 residential home sites in Tucson, Arizona for their ability to control Heterotermes aureus (Snyder) infestations. Firstline® and Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System were each installed at 10 homes. Five of the homes were designated either as curative (having active infestations) or preventative (having no active infestation). During the 2 year study, 3 residents terminated their involvement in the Firstline®, while all of the Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System homes remained in the program. Mean number of days to first hit at curative homes was 84 versus 96 for Firstline® and Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System, respectively. Average bait consumption for the Firstline® system was 14% for the curative homes and 10% for the preventative homes. In contrast, the average bait consumption for the Sentricon ® Termite Colony Elimination System was 51% for the curative homes and 58% for the preventative homes, which was significantly different at (P<.05).

Rapid blight is a new disease of cool season turf grasses that has occurred on over a dozen golf courses in Arizona. It is caused by Labyrinthula terrestris, an organism in a group referred to as the marine slime molds. A trial was conducted in fall 2005-winter 2006 to evaluate efficacy of selected fungicides for control of rapid blight 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 late October 2005 on a practice tee on which Bermuda was overseeded with Poa trivialis. Treatments included Insignia and Fore, alone and in combinations; elemental sulfur, potassium sulfate and potassium chloride as pre-plant applications on Bermuda; gypsum, Daconil Zn, Heritage TL, Soil Life and Soil Builder. Disease symptoms appeared immediately after the first mowing. Disease ratings at 3 weeks after first mow showed that applications of the high rate of Insignia at first mow and the pre-overseed application of sulfur gave excellent control. Moderate control was shown in applications with early applications of Fore alternated with the lower rate of Insignia, Fore alone, Soil Life, and of the high rate of Insignia combined with Fore applied as a curative at first disease. Treatments with Daconil Zn, Heritage TL, Soil Builder, and preoverseed treatments with potassium sulfate, potassium chloride and gypsum gave little or no control compared to the untreated control. At 10 weeks after first mow, treatments with Insignia and the high rate of sulfur were still effective but all other treatments were either marginal or not different from the untreated control. Results show that applications of Insignia at first mow are effective for severe early season disease, and extended intervals of Insignia applications give effective long term control. Results also show that treatments of Bermudagrass with elemental sulfur reduced disease dramatically indicating that preventive chemical applications before overseeding may be possible.

Sulfosulfuron, imazaquin, and halosulfuron applied beginning in May exhibited a high degree of nutsedge control from August to the end of September. Late spring initiated applications of imazaquin, sulfosulfuron, and trifloxysulfuron gave consistent nutsedge control that was better than 85% for most of the rating dates through the summer. Halosulfuron and flazasulfuron tended to decline in nutsedge control efficacy about one month after applications. The summer timing series of three monthly applications that began in July showed that sulfosulfuron and trifloxysulfuron provided an average of better than 90% nutsedge control throughout the summer. Applications of all herbicides in May caused ryegrass injury. Halosulfuron applications initiated in May were marginally safer on overseeded ryegrass while providing a moderate degree of nutsedge control. Bermudagrass was very slow to recover and to achieve full cover in sulfosulfuron and imazaquin treated plots.

The treatments that included 2,4-D, mecoprop, and dicamba effectively controlled burclover and malva in the dormant bermudagrass turf. The addition of carfentrazone to the hormonal herbicides (Speedzone*) appeared to enhance malva control earlier than the other treatments. Surge* containing sulfentrazone with hormonal herbicides gave the highest degree of malva control. Fluroxypyr (Spotlight*) was not effective against burclover and showed moderate control of malva in this test.

Sulfosulfuron showed the highest degree of nutsedge control after the first application among all of the treatments at 4 WAT. Nutsedge control began to decline at 6 WAT after a single application of sulfosulfuron. Halosulfuron, trifloxysulfuron, and penoxulam showed very good nutsedge control at 2 WAT after a second application was made. Trifloxysulfuron at 0.026 lb AI/A and penoxulam at 0.125 lb AI/A performed very similarly to halosulfuron at 0.047 and 0.062 lb AI/A. Halosulfuron and flazasulfuron were more effective at higher rates of application when a series of rates were compared. Halosulfuron at 0.047 and 0.062 lb AI/A were very similar at most rating dates and both rates gave acceptable nutsedge control of 86 to 88% control at the end of the season. The two highest rates of flazasulfuron at 0.023 and 0.047 lb AI/A gave almost acceptable control. Sulfentrazone was not effective in providing acceptable nutsedge control at the rate tested.

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.