Welcome to the “Turf Agriphone” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This message is being recorded for the week of April 28 – May 5, 2006. This service will continue until October and the messages will be updated weekly on Fri. afternoons. A quick thanks to Erica Gunn who composed and recorded the turf agriphone message for the last two weeks.
This week brought back seasonal temperatures and this has slowed spring down a tiny bit. These temperatures will stay the same for the next five days with high’s around 15ºC and lows in the low single digits. At the moment the forecast for the next 5 days after that a drop in temperature of several degrees for another week. Of course this is the long range forecast and these often change. The dry weather has meant very little new disease activity over the last week which is good.
Just a recap of the winter and spring so far – there was little to no winter injury or snow mould to speak of this winter. It has been a very early spring with golf course, sports managers, sod growers and lawn care operators swinging into high gear early. If anything, it is a bit on the dry side for this time of year.
The only disease that that was diagnosed this week at the GTI Turf Diagnostics was take-all patch. Information on this service is available at www.uoguelph.ca/GTI/turf_diag.
One of the main problems this spring is still grub activity. 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. Sodding the damaged areas is also an option.
On this subject, I have 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 me a call at (519) 824-4120 x 52597.
Here in Guelph area the leatherjackets are still feeding. Surprisingly the leatherjackets are a little smaller than I expected considering the warm winter and spring so far. 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, but this year it might be more like the middle of May. 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.
On the weed front, forsythia is blooming in the Guelph area. The best time to treat preventatively for crabgrass is sometime over the next two weeks. Crabgrass doesn’t germinate until late bloom of forsythia, so there is still ample time. Remember now two corn gluten meal products registered for crabgrass control from Nutrite and Environmental Factor. The industry standard for pre and early post-emergence crabgrass control is Dimension. We encourage that pre-emergence crabgrass products only be used in areas with a history of crabgrass infestation.
As far as broad leaf weeds are concerned, it is too early to spray. The spring annual weeds have not germinated yet. To get the best bang for your buck you should wait a few weeks before you treat.
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 May 5.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2006/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-april-28-2006.html#sthash.AIq5mUBn.dpuf
