Turf Management Updates Details:
Welcome back to the “Turf Management Updates” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This message is being recorded for the two week period of April 11-25, 2008. This service will continue until October and the messages will be updated every two weeks until May 9, 2008 and then weekly for the rest of the season. These messages are available in three forms now. You can listen to a recorded message by telephoning the local number 519-826-3414 or 1-888-290-4441. The reports are also available online at http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/updates/turfgrass/index.html.They are available as a text document and also as a podcast. The easiest way to get these weekly reports is to go to the subscribe/unsubscribe button at the Turf Management Report web site and subscribe. That way you will get an email and a link each time a new Turf Management Report is posted. If you are interested in subscribing to the podcast, simply click on the podcast button and follow the instructions.
Spring Update(Diseases and Winter Injury):
What a difference a year makes. I haven’t traveled far and wide yet this spring but what I have seen is tons and tons of pink snow mould damage and a little bit of gray snow mould damage as well. Home lawns are covered in snow mould. Last year at this time, there was almost no snow mould to speak of. Usually a vigorous raking to help dry out the turf is all that is required to get the turf back in shape on home lawns. Golf course superintendents that didn’t get their preventative fungicides down will not be happy with what they see now that the snow has melted. Even those that got their fungicides down during the early January thaw might not be that happy with the results. I know here at the GTI, our turf superintendent Peter Purvis applied fungicides to the greens in early January and there is a fair bit of snow mould that must have already started because there are some snow mould scars. With the gray snow mould, one thing that both Dr. Tom Hsiang and I noticed was that the sclerotia that were formed by the gray snow mould fungi were very small and very abundant this year. This is just an observation and probably doesn’t mean anything in the real world. With the cold rain this weekend the Fusarium or Microdochium patch form of pink snow mould will no doubt become active again.
There looks to be some winter injury to annual bluegrass out there. As greens are just starting to green up it is too early to determine the extent of the damage. We have a green with a mixed stand of annual bluegrass and creeping bentgrass that looks particularly bad and we have taken some plugs indoors and have place them in a sunny window in the lab to see if any of the dead areas are going to green up. This is a technique that can be used for winter injury or snow mould injury. It will give you an idea of the extent of the damage and if the turf will come back on its own. If the turf fails to green up, then you can jump quickly into overseeding mode.
GTI Turf Diagnostics:
The GTI Turf Diagnostics is up and running again for the season. Erica Gunn is back from her maternity leave and Dr. Katerina Jordan will be off on maternity leave any day now. There have only been a couple of samples received so far and they have had pink snow mould damage. Just a reminder to send any unknown turf problems to the GTI Turf Diagnostics. Information on this service is available at the link below at the new GTI web site or you can email them at
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Insects:
All creatures great and small are back in the turf. Grubs are up and feeding and so are the skunks, raccoons and starlings. We have a good crop of grubs here at the GTI this spring. It is great for me, because I only have to go out the door to have a good look at what they are up to. 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.
Annual bluegrass weevil will be migrating back into fairways from their overwintering sites. Monitoring primary roughs and fairways edges, especially those that are tree lined will help you determine when the migration occurs. A disclosure solution of soapy water works for this. Mix 15 mL of dishwashing liquid with 4 litres of water and apply on roughly 0.1m2. The timing for that is between forsythia full bloom and dogwood full bloom. This is probably the best time to apply an insecticide treatment. Treated a swath of turf on the edge of the fairways at this time will hopefully control the adults as they are returning into fairways and before they lay their eggs.
Leatherjackets are still small. Each year I am amazed at how much they grow between now and mid-May. Because conditions are moist at the moment, they are up at the top of the thatch in amongst the leave blades feeding away. Leatherjackets have been added to the imidacloprid label, which now includes use on sod farms. The imidacloprid label however specifies treating leatherjackets at in August and September during peak adult flights. If leatherjackets become a problem over the next month the only options are chlorpyrifos and carbaryl for sod farms and golf courses and carbaryl only for home lawns.
Also on the leatherjacket front, we are interested to find out how widely distributed the common crane fly (Tipula oleracea) is here in Ontario. It was confirmed in Ontario last spring in Komoka, Guelph and a few other areas. It can be distinguished from the European crane fly by its life cycle. Adult common crane flies fly in May and then again in September. If you are seeing some adult crane flies this spring, please let me know and I can arrange to get a sample from you. If you do find some, capture them, a Tupperware container works fine, and put them in the freezer until you can arrange to send them to me or until I can arrange to pick them up. The best way to reach me is by email. My email address is pamela.charbonneau@ontario.ca
Voles:
Speaking of creatures, voles were having a party under the snow all winter long. The evidence of that is the serpentine areas of grass that have been chewed down to the crowns. Vole damage is kind of like grub damage, once you see, it is too late to do anything. Now that the snow is gone, the voles have found other hiding spots and other food sources besides grass. The vole predators such as hawks, owls and foxes will also be having a field day. So the plan of attack now should be to get the grass growing in those damaged runway areas. Raking will help dry out the areas, a light fertilization will also help the turf recover. Most runways are only a couple of centimeters wide so if the dominant turf species that has been damaged is Kentucky bluegrass, it will fill in on its own fairly quickly. If the dominant species is a bunch type grass like perennial ryegrass or the fine fescues, the best route is to throw down some seed on the damaged areas. See the related links below on voles.
Overseeding:
Speaking of overseeding, there were so many turf areas that were damaged last year from either drought or insects. The ideal time to seed these damaged areas would have been last fall. Many of them did not get overseeded last fall and will need attention this spring. On home lawns, seeding can begin in mid- April to early June. The seed will not germinate until soils warm up, but it isn’t a bad idea to have the seed in place before then. Good seed to soil contact is essential. If areas still have some turf cover, aerating or power raking or regular raking will disturb the soil to ensure good contact. A layer of compost can be incorporated into the surface of the turf as well. Seed can be applied with a drop spreader or a slit seeder. If using a drop spreader, a light rolling or raking will also help insure good seed to soil contact. The seedbed needs to be kept moist (this may involve watering three to four times daily).
On golf courses, it is critical to determine quickly if overseeding is necessary. For successful overseeding, closing the area to play is best. To get good seed to soil contact, aggressively aerate with small shallow tines, verticut or use a slit seeder. Broadcast an improved cultivar of bentgrass that is suited to the site. As with overseeded home lawns, keep seed bed moist until seedlings are well established. If possible, cover the greens at night to help maintain the elevated soil temperatures that result from the sunny days. Once seeds have germinated, raise the height of cut to reduce stress on new seedlings and keep a close eye out for diseases such as damping off.
Again, thanks for phoning the turf management report for this week. The next report message will be recorded on Fri. April 25, 2008.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2008/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-april-11-2008.html#sthash.hxNfdutx.dpuf
