Welcome back to the “Turf Agriphone” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This message is being recorded for the week of April 7-14, 2006. This service will continue until October and the messages will be updated weekly on Fri .afternoons. For the next two weeks I will be out of the country and Erica Gunn from GTI Turf Diagnostics will be filling in for me.
The winter of 2005/2006 in southwestern Ontario was warmer than normal and in fact it was the warmest winter on record for Canada. Southwestern Ontario was 20% wetter than normal for December, January and February. The precipitation must have been mainly in the form of rain because our snow cover her has been gone for well over a month. The reports so far from the southwest are very favourable as far as overwintering goes. There have been very few reports of winter injury and there is also very little snow mould damage. The samples that came into the GTI Turf Diagnostics that had winter injury were from greens that were covered. It is possible that these greens broke dormancy when we had the very high temperatures in February and were then damaged when temperatures dropped suddenly. This could be slightly different for the areas a bit north of us where there was much greater snow fall and they have just lost there snow cover very recently. There are a few reports of winter injury and they will have had a bit more snow mould pressure than we have had locally. There was almost no vole damage this winter, again because we did not have long period of snow cover.
Toward the end of March conditions were very dry for that time of year. Golf courses loved this because they were able to open much earlier than normal, but in most cases golfers were playing on dormant greens. The recent warm rains will help warm the soils up and this will help complete green-up and will spur on some growth. So far, it is only southern slopes in open areas and south facing home lawns that are greening up. The cooler weather at the moment is probably not a bad thing so that superintendents and other turf managers can get organized for the upcoming season.
There has not been a flare up of the spring diseases yet, such as Fusarium patch, anthracnose basal rot or Pythium root rot. These diseases could become an issue if we have a cold, wet spring. Just a reminder to send any unknown turf problems to the GTI Turf Diagnostics. Information on this service is available at www.uoguelph.ca/GTI/turf_diag
On home lawns, there are some snow mould scars, especially in areas where snow had drifted or where it was piled up. This damage is superficial and a light raking will help dry out the matted grass blades and encourage recovery.
My phone has been ringing off the hook with calls about grubs. The hot spots so far are the tobacco sands area, the Barrie/Orillia area and Peterborough. Many of these calls are because raccoons and skunks are foraging for the grubs, as well as starlings and other birds. I have a feeling that the mild weather last fall, the mild winter and the mild spring (so far) has meant that grubs have been feeding more already than in a normal year. 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 a bit later in the spring. Sodding the damaged areas is also an option.
On this subject, I have a few of the pesticide 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 on an insecticide trial please give me a call at (519) 824-4120 x 52597.
I have been able to find leatherjackets off and on since mid-February in the Guelph area. Their development seems to be ahead this spring, probably due to the fact that they have already been feeding for a while. Leatherjackets will feed voraciously throughout the next month and double to triple their size. The damage usually becomes evident in the beginning of May. It is possible that this damage will appear earlier this year if temperatures continue to be mild. The damage takes three forms. 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. On golf courses, Sevin T&O and Dursban can be used. On sod farms Dursban only can be used. This can be used any time now. 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 me know and I can arrange to get a sample from you.
Again, thanks for phoning the turf agriphone message for this week. The next agriphone message will be recorded on Thurs. April 13.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2006/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-april-5-2006.html#sthash.W1Xc2pct.dpuf
