What are common cultural and chemical strategies to manage dollar spot in warm-season turf?

• A. Reduce leaf wetness via irrigation scheduling, avoid excess nitrogen, increase air movement; apply preventive fungicides and ensure proper fertilization.
• B. Increase irrigation amount at night and apply surface pesticides.
• C. Ignore leaf wetness and fertilize heavily.
• D. Only use systemic antibiotics.

Answer: (A)

Dollar spot on warm-season turf is driven by leaf wetness and nutritional status, so the best management combines cultural practices that reduce moisture and canopy conditions with preventive chemical protection and proper fertilization. Reducing leaf wetness through irrigation scheduling keeps leaves drier after dew or rainfall, while avoiding excess nitrogen prevents overly lush growth that is more susceptible and tends to stay wet longer. Increasing air movement helps the foliage dry faster, reducing the time the pathogen has to infect. Using preventive fungicides provides a barrier before symptoms appear, and maintaining proper fertilization supports a healthy turf that resists infection.

Increasing irrigation at night would raise leaf wetness and favor the disease, so that option isn’t effective. Relying on surface pesticides alone without addressing moisture and nutrition won’t reliably control dollar spot. Ignoring leaf wetness and fertilizing heavily promotes the disease. Systemic antibiotics are not used to control fungal turf diseases.