Welcome back to the “Turf Agriphone” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This message is being recorded for the week of April 14-21, 2006. This service will continue until October and the messages will be updated weekly on Fri. afternoons. This is Erica Gunn from the Guelph Turfgrass Institute.
We’re just starting to receive some April showers this week and the forecast for the next few days is calling for some more rain for most of Ontario. Most of the province is also experiencing some temperatures in the mid – high teens this week and over Easter weekend but the 14 day trend looks to see the temperatures cooling off somewhat after that.
There has not been a flare up of the spring diseases yet, such as Fusarium patch, anthracnose basal rot or Pythium root rot. These diseases could become an issue if we have a cold, wet spring. As a reminder, you can send any unknown turf problems to GTI Turf Diagnostics. Information on this service is available at www.uoguelph.ca/GTI/turf_diag. So far this week there has been no sample activity at the lab.
In the past week turf has really greened up on home lawns in the area. It’s amazing how quickly it happens and it is easy to distinguish which turf areas received a late fall fertilization and which didn’t. If you still have some snow mould scars, especially in areas where snow had drifted or where it was piled up, this damage is superficial and a light raking will help dry out the matted grass blades and encourage recovery.
Except for attempts to speed up recovery of areas with snow mould, it is best to wait until mid-late May to apply the first fertilizer application.
There has been a lot of activity on home lawns with respect to raccoons, skunks, starlings and other birds foraging for grubs. It’s possible that the mild weather last fall, the mild winter and the mild spring (so far) has meant that grubs have been feeding more already than in a normal year. What should you do if you find grubs this spring? Spring is not the ideal time for grub control. The grubs are very large, which makes them much less susceptible to the insecticides. Two things that are needed for insecticides to work are the grubs need to be feeding or moving around a lot in the soil to insure that they get good exposure to the insecticides. Make note of the damaged areas and apply Merit in June or July or parasitic nematodes in August or September. At this point in the spring, it is best to rake up areas where grub damage has occurred and re-seed the areas a bit later in the spring. Sodding the damaged areas is also an option
On this subject, Pam has been in contact with a few of the companies that are looking to do some insecticide trials on European chafer. If you are aware of golf courses, sod farms or other large areas with grub infestations and you are interested in cooperating please give Pam a call at (519) 824-4120 x 52597.
Just to recap on leatherjacket activity so far this season: We have been able to find leatherjackets off and on since mid-February in the Guelph area. Their development seems to be ahead this spring, probably due to the fact that they have already been feeding for a while. Leatherjackets will feed voraciously throughout the next month and double to triple their size. The damage usually becomes evident in the beginning of May. It is possible that this damage will appear earlier this year if temperatures continue to be mild. The damage takes three forms. They feed on the crowns and roots and sometimes turf can be lifted back as with grub damage. Secondly, they also feed on the crown and shoots and the turf is chewed back to the ground. Thirdly, starlings will feed on the leatherjackets leaving holes in the turf similar to aeration holes. These are particularly unsightly on golf greens. There currently is no registered control for leatherjackets on home lawns. Consult OMAFRA Publication 384 Recommendations for Turf Management for control options. For more information on leatherjackets follow the link below.
On the leatherjacket front, we are interested to find out if we have the common crane fly (Tipula oleracea) here in Ontario. It has been reported in British Columbia, New York State and Quebec. So far we have not confirmed if it is present in Ontario. It can be distinguished from the European crane fly by its life cycle. Adult common crane flies fly in April and May. If you are seeing some adult crane flies this spring, please let Pam know and she can arrange to get a sample from you.
Nothing can be done yet on the weed front. It is too early for either pre-emergence crabgrass control or post-emergence broadleaf weed control.
Again, thanks for phoning the turf agriphone message for this week. The next agriphone message will be recorded on Friday April 21.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2006/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-april-13-2006.html#sthash.d2ETkyM9.dpuf
