Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, 2008
Just to recap – as of Wed. April 22, 2009 the Pesticides Act, which has been amended by the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act, 2008 and Ontario Regulation 63/09 took effect. There have been changes that affect each of the sectors: golf courses; commercial operator; cemetery; park; conservation authority, municipality, homeowner, etc., There are numerous ways to get more information on the legislation. You can go to the Ministry of the Environment’s banning pesticides web site. This web site has the Act and the Regulation, the new 11 pesticide classes, the warning signs and the new green notice sign and fact sheets for each of the sectors that are impacted by this legislation. The web site also outlines the products that can be used for cosmetic purposes. For cosmetic uses only Class 4 pesticides that contains a Class 11 pesticide (biopesticide or lower risk pesticide) can be used to manage weeds, insects and plant diseases on lawns, gardens, parks and school yards. Please consult this web site for the most accurate information on pesticide use. You can also telephone the Ministry of the Environment at 1-800-565-4923. This will get you to their Public Information Centre and you can dial 0 to speak to an Information Officer. They will direct you to a Regional Pesticide Information Officer. If you know the telephone number of your Regional MOE Office, you can telephone them directly and ask to speak to the Pesticide Information Officer. A list of all the regional offices and the 1-800 numbers are listed on the MOE web site. As I mentioned above, there are fact sheets under the “What you need to know” for all the sectors that are affected by the ban. In addition, information specific to the Golf Course IPM Accreditation can be obtained by contacting the IPM-PHC Council of Canada at tyamada@ipmphccanada.org.
Weather
The five day forecast shows rain for most days. Temperatures are going to be 20ºC during the day and 10ºC at night. The heavy rains last week have replenished the soil moisture. Up until those rains, the soils were extremely dry for this time of year. Because of the lack of moisture earlier, we never really got the flush of spring growth that we usually get. Earlier in the season, the temperature was too cool for rapid turf growth and then it was too dry. We may get that surge of growth now that it is warmer and there is plenty of moisture. It has been a very strange spring indeed!
Diseases
The GTI Turf Diagnostics has been relatively quiet because of the previous dry conditions. While it is not a disease problem, there were many turf areas that developed localized dry spots during the dry spell. The rain over the last few days will probably bring on more disease. The problems that have been diagnosed are Fusarium patch, take-all patch and black layer. According to Dr. Brenda Nailor’s dollar spot modeling, dollar spot should be starting anytime. It is predicted to begin when irises and peonies are in full bloom and when lilacs are in full to late bloom. The long range forecast is for slightly cooler than normal temperatures, so this may delay the onset of dollar spot by a few days to a week. What we can expect are more of the cool season diseases like Fusarium patch and yellow patch. If you do encounter a disease that you cannot diagnose there is information below about submitting a sample for disease diagnosis.
Insects
Black turfgrass ataenius adults were flying last week during those warm afternoons. Peak adult flights occur when bridal wreath spirea and horse chestnut are in full bloom and they are in full bloom right now in the Guelph area. If you are seeing large adult flights and you have history of ataenius damage, consider applying imidacloprid preventatively. At this point the annual bluegrass weevil adult migration is probably finished. My hunch is that it is too late to apply Acelepryn for annual bluegrass weevil control.
It has been cooler than normal, so European chafer grubs would normally be pupating now. They are probably a couple of weeks behind, so expect to find them pupating sometime in the next couple of weeks. I have seen a few June beetle adults over the last week.
Leatherjackets continue to grow and feed. We have not seen significant damage from leatherjackets this spring. We are starting to see the pecking holes in greens and surrounds made by starling pecking in the greens to feed on the leatherjackets. About two weeks ago, we were seeing adult flights of Tipula oleracea, the common crane fly. Those flights have finished now. Cutworm adults will be returning from their overwintering sites in the south now and you may see them laying eggs on golf greens.
Another insect that has become active over the last couple of weeks is the turfgrass ant. They are starting to build their mounds now. They do not eat the turf but feed on other insects present in the turf and soil beneath the turf. The reason that they are a problem is that they form sandy mounds in golf course greens, tees and fairways. These mounds can suffocate the turf, they increase maintenance costs by dulling mower blades and on greens they can disrupt the playing surface. They tend to be more of a problem on new golf courses that have never been treated with the persistent organochlorine insecticides that were used on older golf courses in the past. They are usually within 1-2 m of the edge of a green. They can be treated with insecticide at any time now.
Weed Control
I have had quite a few inquiries about replacement product for three way mix broadleaf herbicides and glyphosate under the new act and regulations. Currently, there is one selective broadleaf active ingredient, Sclerotinia minor. There is one pre-emergent herbicide active ingredient, corn gluten meal. For non-selective weed control there are two actives, acetic acid and fatty acid. Acetic acid can be used as a spot treatment for weeds in lawns. The fatty acid products can only be used to control weeds in patios, sidewalks and driveways. These active ingredients are listed in the searchable pesticide database on the MOE website. There are also non-selective weeding tools that rely on super-heated water or propane flames that can kill weeds that are available from various suppliers. There are also hand-weeding tools available.
We are getting close to the end of the ideal application window for corn gluten meal for pre-emergence crabgrass control. Crabgrass has not germinated yet in the Guelph area, but it can’t be too far off.
Annual bluegrass seedhead production has probably peaked at the moment. There are some pretty unattractive putting surfaces out there at the moment. Remember that once these annual grassy weeds flower there is a lot of tiller death, so there could be some thinning of annual bluegrass in the next few weeks.
Fertilization
Now is the time for a shot of fertilizer. There has been good root growth so far this spring. Now that the roots are growing well, it is a good idea to fertilize turf soon so that you can promote a dense turf stand. Fertilizer is now one of the only tools to in lawns and sports fields to help turf out-compete weeds. – See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2009/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-may-29-2009.html#sthash.k7tiVWQa.dpuf
