Welcome to the “Turf Hotline” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for the week of May 26- June 2, 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.
This has been a very different spring from last spring. We are certainly not in a water deficit situation at the moment. I think it is safe to say that all areas of the province have had good amounts of rain. Many areas have had too much rain. This is the time of year on a golf course where you learn about drainage problems.
Fusarium patch is still active and this will probably continue as long as we have cool night temperatures. Symptoms at this time of year are small rust coloured spots.
June beetles are continuing to fly. European chafers in the Guelph area are showing signs of pupating. Their bodies start to look like a folded accordian as they prepare to pupate. The first adult European chafer flights usually begin in mid-June. Expect Japanese beetle flights about a week after that. Turfgrass scale adults have laid their eggs now. These are enclosed in a cottony mass. Black turfgrass ataenius flights continue. For curative treatments, look for small grubs when the roses are in full bloom. There have been some bluegrass billbugs and annual bluegrass weevils spotted in the turf over the last week. Damage from annual bluegrass weevil can be expected in a couple of weeks. This damage is often mistaken for a disease of annual bluegrass. We have had more calls of leatherjackets causing damage in the Ancaster area. They are almost finished feeding now.
Crabgrass treatments should be winding down now. Now is the time for broadleaf herbicide applications. It has been difficult with all the rain for lawn care companies to get out and apply these applications. For the hard to control weeds like creeping charlie, speedwells, wild violets and henbit it is best to apply the herbicide while these weeds are flowering. With prostrate knotweed, it is best to apply the herbicides while the plants are still young. We still have at least a couple of weeks left for broadleaf weed control. As long as the weeds are actively growing the herbicides will be effective.
With all the rain recently fertilized turf is really taking off. Keeping up with mowing is difficult and scalping is a regular occurrence. Scalped turf is sometimes mistaken for disease.
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.
We are offering our third annual turf disease diagnosis workshop on July 11 or July 12, 2000. We will start the day with a session in the field identifying turf diseases. We will move into the lab for the rest of the day to identify the diseases under the microscope. The limit is 20 people per day and the cost is $249. If you are interested in this workshop, phone my office for registration information at (519) 824-4120 x 2597.
Again, thanks for phoning the hotline for this week. The next hotline message will be recorded on Fri. June 2, 2000. – See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2000/turf-agrifax-week-9-2000-may-26-2000.html#sthash.Ou8kERo1.dpuf
