Welcome to the “Turf Hotline” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for the week of May 12-19, 2000. There is still time to subscribe to the “Turf Hotline”. You will receive a copy of each message weekly by e-mail or fax for $25 for the season. If you are interested, please give my office a call at (519) 824-4120 x 2597.
The hot weather last weekend really advanced things in the turf world. The rain was needed. Things were getting dry in many areas. With the rain will come more disease. There is still a lot of Fusarium or Microdochium patch activity because of the rain and the cool night temperatures. The symptoms this time of year are very small rust to brown coloured spots. When there are lots of them it looks like someone splattered rust paint on the bentgrass and annual bluegrass. Leaf spot will be spreading with the rain that we are having. If we get warm weather over the next week it could cause some melting out to occur. If this should happen, raise the mowing height, avoid evening watering and fertilize lightly to encourage turf to recover.
This rain has been great for newly seeded areas and the warm temperatures have also meant very quick seed germination. Grubs will be pupating very shortly. I think the early warm weather will result in early pupation this year. Some people have reported seeing June beetle adults over the last week. I have also had a several calls from golf courses and several calls from lawn care operators about caterpillars on turf over the last week. No one has sent me a sample to confirm what they are. I am expecting that the golf course pests are cutworms. They are early this year, but that may be a result of all that warm weather last week. The lawn pests are probably sod webworms that are feeding very briefly and will be pupating. There is no need to spray the sod webworm because they will not be doing damage this time of year. The cutworms however are doing damage and should be controlled.
Black turfgrass ataenius flights have remained heavy over the last week. Peak egglaying occurs when horse chestnut and bridal wreath spirea are in full bloom. These plants are now in full bloom in the Guelph area. It is probably too late for preventative treatments of ataenius with products like diazinon and chlorpyrifos. For curative treatments, look for small grubs when the roses are in full bloom.
Crabgrass has germinated over the last week in open areas as a result of the heat and the rain. With Dimension you can apply until the crabgrass is in the 1-4 leaf stage. Do not apply Dimension to newly seeded areas.
Annual bluegrass seedheads are in full bloom at the moment here in Guelph. Light vertical mowing or brushing on closely mowed turf may be beneficial during peak seedhead formation to control variable growth and to control grain. It may be advisable to delay any core cultivation until late June to minimize new establishment of annual bluegrass.
Delay any broadleaf herbicide application for a week or two to make sure that all the annual broadleaf weeds have germinated.
Now is a good time to apply a spring fertilizer treatment to turf that received a late fall fertilization. A 4-1-2 ratio is a good overall ratio for turf at this time of the year. Turf that has been recently fertilized is growing rapidly with the heat and the rain. Keeping up with mowing will be a big challenge to everyone now. The result is some scalping on greens and fairways as well as home lawns.
The 2000 edition of Turfgrass Management Recommendations put out by the Ministry is now available for only $10. It has all the new pesticide recommendations in it as well as information on turfgrass fertilization, turf species, seed companies, etc.. To order your 2000 edition of Publication 384 you can telephone the OMAFRA head office at 1-888-466-2372 or call the GTI at (519) 767-5009.
Again, thanks for phoning the hotline for this week. The next hotline message will be recorded on Fri. May 19, 2000. – See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2000/turf-agrifax-week-7-2000-may-12-2000.html#sthash.ARCq20sT.dpuf
