Plant health products containing defense activating compounds have become increasingly utilized by superintendents as a component of turf integrated pest management programs. While they may offer little to no direct antimicrobial activity, activated resistance compounds such as Civitas Turf Defense may enhance disease control through increasing production of plant defense compounds. While primarily used for disease control, there is little known regarding other potential side benefits of these compounds as they relate to turf performance under common abiotic stress conditions such as drought or traffic. In this 60-minute webinar, presented by Intelligro, Ben Wherley, Ph.D., highlights findings of field and greenhouse research trials conducted in recent years at Texas A&M University. Various nutrient product programs have been evaluated over multiple seasons on both hybrid bermudagrass and zoysiagrass fairway turf managed under restricted irrigation inputs and/or traffic stress. Results of these studies indicate the potential of plant health products to offer benefits extending beyond disease control, as a tool for sustaining turf quality under moderate levels of drought and traffic stress.
