Renovation of Established Golf Course Putting Greens Using Non-Disruptive Techniques.

Traditional conversion involving complete renovation is costly and time consuming.  The objectives of this research were to determine the effect of propagule pressure, bispyribac-sodium, and paclobutrazol on the succession of an established golf course putting green to ‘Penn A-4’ creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.).  Plots were located on an established practice putting green maintained at 3.2-mm.  The green was comprised of an unknown cultivar of creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass.  Experimental design was a split block where seed sown in strips across each replicated block were whole plot treatments and applications of bispyribac-sodium or paclobutrazol were sub-plots.  A Maredo seeder with vibratory spikes was used throughout the season to seed into the existing canopy at 73 kg ha^-1 for seasonal totals of 220 or 659 kg ha^-1.  Bispyribac-sodium was applied every 14 d at 24 g a.i. ha^-1 starting 4 June 2010 and concluding 16 July 2010 for a total of four applications.  A fifth and final application of bispyribac-sodium was made 1 October 2010 at the same rate.  Paclobutrazol was applied every 14 d at 105 g a.i. ha^-1 starting 4 June 2010 and concluding 10 September 2010 for a total of eight applications.  Cultivar identification was performed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.