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 21-28, 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.
Much of Ontario has been experiencing higher than normal seasonal temperatures this past week. That is about to change as we head into the weekend. Rain and more seasonal temperature values are in the forecast for the weekend and the cooler temperatures will prevail into next week.
So far, due to the weather we have been having, there has still not been a flare up of the spring diseases, such as Fusarium patch, anthracnose basal rot or Pythium root rot. These diseases could still become an issue if we have cold, wet conditions before spring is over. 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. This week there has been some sample activity at the lab mostly dealing with issues from the winter. There was also a sample with Take-all patch and another with Necrotic Ring spot.
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.
Here in Guelph area the leatherjackets are still feeding. Their development seems to be ahead this spring, probably due to the fact that they have already been feeding for a while. Leatherjackets will continue to feed intensely 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.
For those with extensive damage from either last summer or winter, re-seeding can be done anytime now. Try to establish good seed to soil contact by raking or aerating. Broadcast the seed in two directions to insure good coverage and water frequently if we don’t get regular showers.
We highly recommend refraining from fertilizing unless you are over-seeding, re-seeding or trying to speed up recovery from snow mould. Turf that was fertilized in the late fall will have enough nitrogen nutrition in it to survive until the end of May. If it is fertilized now, it will probably put out a flush of very lush growth. What you want is the plant to be growing roots now and to slowly grow shoots. If it is fertilized, it will put all of those resources into forming shoots instead of roots.
Again, thanks for phoning the turf agriphone message for this week. The next agriphone message will be recorded on Friday April 28.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2006/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-april-21-2006.html#sthash.Ip22WcyM.dpuf
