The Evolution of Turf Diseases By John Kaminski, PhD T urfgrass pathologists will always have a job because the diseases they study (and the pathogens causing them) are evolutionary. Turf professionals continue to come up with better ways to manage the existing diseases, but the pathogens continuously find ways to get around their best management practices (BMPs). Along with the potential for new diseases to appear or existing ones to become more important, this means there is a constant evolution of turf disease management. Turf diseases have been around for a long time. Dollar spot is a good example of an old problem continuing to cause issues for 6 November 2013 CG_Nov2013.indd 6 10/28/13 11:12 AM