Studies on the control of fairy ring fungi in turf: A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the subject Plant Pathology in the Degree of Bachelor of Horticultural Science

Abstract

The "fairy ring" has been an object of wonder and mystic significance, since and probably before, the Middle Ages, thus Ramsbottom quotes: "When ere you heare my piper blowe, From thy Bed see that you goe, For nightly you must with us dance When we in circles round doe prance." They have been attributed to many things through the centuries. Some of these so-called causes include the following explanations. In the Tyrol it is believed that a winged dragon passed over the fields and scorched the rings with his tail; in Holland it was held that they were formed where the devil rested his churn; in England they were thought to grow, as a result of fairies dancing in a circle; but, however formed, magic was always involved. An advance in research during the sixteenth century revealed the cause of fairy rings was lightning: Since supernatural causes had been scorned, a reasonable explanation had to be found for the scorched appearance of the grass - what more logical than lightning? Fungal mycelium was also found in the soil of the dry area and this was explained as being 'the faeces of both sulphurs' and had very good fertilizing qualities. The first person to attribute fairy ring formation to fungal activity was William Withering (1792). He described the Basidiomycete Agaricus oreades then said: "I am satisfied that the bare and brown, or highly clothed and verdant circles in pasture fields, called Fairy Rings, are caused by the growth of this Agaric". Today these rings constitute a problem which is both economic and aesthetic. The major areas where the fairy rings are serious are turf culture and ornamental horticulture where bowling greens, golf courses, playing fields and other areas of lawn and turf are involved. The problem is also present, but to a lesser extent, in Agriculture where cereal and even grass production may be diminished when fairy rings are numerous. Thus the aim of this project was to try to find the effect of fairy ring fungi on herbage and to see if treatment with a fungicide would result in eradication of the problem.