Poa Annua Control

Over the last 3-4 weeks you may have seen myself or my assistant Craig on a sprayer around the golf course.  What were we doing?  Trying to get some control over poa annua, also known as annual bluegrass.  Poa is a winter annual that will germinate in the fall, grow all winter long, flowers profusley in the spring and then later dies when temperatures soar over the summer.  Due to the moisture we have recieved this fall and the warmer than normal temperatures, we have had an abundance of poa start to come up on the course.  We made two applications over the last 3-4 weeks and really have gotten some great control out of a product called Reward.  Reward is a perfect herbicide for this time of year because you get quick control and it can only be sprayed on dormant bermudagrass.  Reward cannot be sprayed close to our greens because it will translocate through the soil and be harmful to our bentgrass greens.  We will make a roundup application later this month and in Feburary that will take care of that.  Below are some before and after pictures showing some of the control that we have recieved.

Before picture of #16 Tee, green poa on dormant bermudagrass

Application of Reward being made on Friday 12-30-11

Picture of #16 Tee after application on Tuesday 1-3-12