Peter H Dernoeden

Peter H. Dernoeden is a Professor of Natural Resource Scie4nces at the University of Maryland. He received a B.S. in Horticulture from Colorado State University in 1970. Upon graduation, he was given the choice of being drafted or enlisting, so he joined up and served as a field artillery surveyor in the U.S. Army for three years. He spent most of his military service in Germany and the experience provided time to reflect on a less than stellar college performance. Working on a sod farm in...See more

Peter H. Dernoeden is a Professor of Natural Resource Scie4nces at the University of Maryland. He received a B.S. in Horticulture from Colorado State University in 1970. Upon graduation, he was given the choice of being drafted or enlisting, so he joined up and served as a field artillery surveyor in the U.S. Army for three years. He spent most of his military service in Germany and the experience provided time to reflect on a less than stellar college performance. Working on a sod farm in Denver during his first summer home provided additional motivation to return to college. He had the good fortune to be accepted in Dr. Jack D. Butler's graduate program in Turfgrass Science at Colorado State University in 1974. While working on projects to identify drought tolerant Kentucky bluegrass cultivars, and fungicide trials, he became interested in the diseases affecting the various turfgrass species and cultivars. When he completed a M.S. degree in 1976, he moved on to the University of Rhode Island to study turfgrass pathology under the direction of Dr. Nobel Jackson. His research at URI was devoted largely to the study of yellow turf disease, but he also gained a great deal of experience in disease diagnostic. After receiving his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology, he accepted a turfgrass agronomist position at the University of Maryland in early 1980. His appointment includes research and extension components and he teaches a course in pest management strategies for turfgrasses. His research program has focused on studying the impact of management practices on disease and weed problem in turf. Dr. Dernoeden also has an extensive fungicide and herbicide field evaluation program. With the assistanceof graduate students, he has investigated the biology, nature, and management of numerous turfgrass disease pathogens. In 1999, he described bentgrass dead spot, a previously unknown disease of creeping bentgrass. Over the years he has worked closely with golf course superintendents, particularly in the areas of disease and weed management. It was from his experience in providing a disease diagnostic service for superintendents in the Mid-Atlantic Region that it became abundantly clear to him that many summertime problems with golf turf, and in particular creeping bentgrass, were often stress rather than disease related. Indeed, the decline of creeping bentgrass in the summer is often due to a sometime complicated interrelationship among many factors including mechanical injury, environmental stress, soil-related problems, the use of certain pesticides, as well as plant pathogens. Hence, the primary goal of this monograph was to provide descriptive perspectives on summer bentgrass decline, selected biotic and abiotic maladies, and the influence of weed and disease management programs on the quality and vigor of creeping bentgrass. See less