Welcome to the “Turf Hotline” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for the week of July 28 – Aug. 4, 2000.
We have just been through the driest spell so far this summer with almost ten days without rain in the Guelph area. Thunder storms moved through this morning and they are predicted for the entire weekend. We also are finally getting some heat. The temperatures have been in the mid to high 20’s all week and are forecast to be in the high 20’s for the weekend. At the time of recording this message, we were finally seeing night time temperatures staying warm and the night time temperature forecast for this coming weekend is for lows in the low 20’s with plenty of humidity.
Disease activity could possibly be on the rise for the coming weekend with the high temperatures and high humidity. Diseases which could be active with the high temperatures and high humidity are Pythium blight, brown patch and anthracnose foliar blight. We might get a break from dollar spot over the next few days because it becomes inactive when the temperatures are high. Anthracnose basal rot has been very active over the last couple of weeks. It would appear that the wet conditions, followed by dry conditions, have intensified the symptoms of this disease. Again, it usually is more of a problem after aeration, verticutting or topdressing which appears to wound the turf allowing the pathogen to infect the crowns. Rust is very active on perennial ryegrass at the moment and some cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass. Still more symptoms of necrotic ring spot and take-all patch are showing up because of the dry weather.
Only a few European chafer adults flying now. Japanese beetles flights were very heavy last week. There are lots of hairy chinch bug nymphs around now. This is the time to control them with insecticide if numbers are warranted. Small amounts of damage are beginning to be noticeable now. There has also been a lot of bluegrass billbug damage reported. The bluegrass billbug damage will probably continue for a couple of weeks yet because the larvae are still feeding. To identify bluegrass billbug injury, pull on the damaged leaf blades. If they pull out easily and there is frass present in the thatch, the damage has been caused by bluegrass billbugs. You may even see the white legless larvae in the thatch. I have seen lost of adult sod webworm moths around. Damage from sod webworm does not usually occur until late summer, early fall.
Turf could probably benefit with an extra shot of nitrogen now. With all the rains and the turf growth the nitrogen may have leached or been used up by the plants.
The Sports Turf Association is holding their annual summer field day on Wed. Aug. 16 at the University of Guelph Stadium. Their keynote speak is Ed Miller, Supervisor of Poerations and Field Maintenance for the New York Yankees spring training facilities in Florida. For more information contact Lee Heuther at (519) 763-9431.
The annual GTI Turf field day is coming up on Tues. Aug. 22, 2000. There will be research plot tours in the morning, a barbeque lunch followed by your choice of one of the three one hour workshops in the afternoon. The three choices of afternoon workshops are:
Problem Solving for Turf Managers
Turfgrass Disease Workshop
Effective Irrigation
For more information you can call my office at (519) 824-4120 x 2597 or visit the GTI web site.
Again, thanks for phoning the hotline for this week. The next hotline message will be recorded on Fri. Aug. 4, 2000. – See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2000/turf-agrifax-week-18-2000-july-28-2000.html#sthash.3ev6iL68.dpuf
