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Thanks to the TurfCareBlog team for inviting me along to their turf chat tonight on Fairy Rings on cricket pitches.

Really interesting chat about the challenges of managing fairy ring on Cricket pitches.

It’s a great blog – well worth a visit. Click here to go see…………...

The interesting bit for me was talking about how to get a fungicide into the soil so it can target a soil based pathogen.

First thing

Do you need to apply a fungicide? – a fungicide approach is a longterm battle to manage and ultimately get rid of the fairy ring. If the fairy ring isn’t impacting playability – do you need to do it?

Management by masking

I talked alot about masking fairy ring, which l couldn’t really explain to well in that format, but fundamentaly its:

• Don’t allow soil to become hydrophobic – once it’s dried out it will be very difficult to re wet
• Use wetting agents – this will help the fairy ring “recieve” water when applied
• Use nitrogen to visually mask the green rings
• Manage organic matter content

However if you do need to manage it with a fungicide:

Ideally at application time you’d:

• Punch holes
• Use a wetting agent
• Water in

However I understand that can cause problems in cricket – put simply – the more of the above you can do the more effective the treatment will be.

Doing this at the end of the playing season once play is over could also have a positive impact on the intensity of the fairy ring the following year and a well applied HeritageMaxx application at the end of the season would be my preference over a poorly applied one with optimum timings.

Thanks again Brian – and I’m always here if you want to invite me along again.

Glenn

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Please ensure any wetting agents you may propose to use are non ionic.

Andy Mackay ECB Pitch Advisor is recommending the use of non-ionic wetting agents as a way of reducing water input in squares but advises that you talk to your fertiliser rep regarding which ones, as not all are suitable for cricket squares.

If you have any further questions why not ask us on turfchat, tomorrow evening at 7.30 pm on this link – https://turfcareblog.com/turf-chat/

Feel free to also comment below, if you have any thoughts or questions.

Brian