Welcome to the “Turf Agriphone” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This message is being recorded for the period of Aug. 14-18, 2006
It has been a bit hard to catch up on the world of turf because I have spent the last week at a cottage where there was not a blade of turfgrass. This week calls for moderate temperatures with high’s around the mid twenties and lows in the mid teens. This is perfect growing weather for turf provided that moisture is not limiting. Don’t be tricked by the cooler temperatures because the combination of the winds and the low relative humidity means that the evapotranspiration rates could be high and turf might need more frequent irrigation. Expect to see some localized dry spots developing if irrigation systems have poor coverage.
Diseases
Last week diseases were less of an issue, but there were lingering symptoms from all of the heat and humidity from the previous two week period. There will most likely be more take-all patch and summer patch symptoms developing with the clear skies and the high evapotranspiration rates. Daily light syringing will help mask the symptoms. For summer patch, maintaining adequate nitrogen levels is also important. In general, on golf course turf, roots have taken a beating during the last week of July and the first week of August and it is going to take a while for new root growth to occur. Because of this there could still be some turf loss over the next week or so due to root loss. Dollar spot will also be very active again this week. Rust has started to show up now. Usually a shot of nitrogen will help the turfgrass plants grow out of the symptoms. The showers on Tues. have resulted in some red thread on perennial ryegrass. This too will benefit from a shot of nitrogen.
Insects
Hairy chinch bug damage appears to have peaked. There is still time to treat if large numbers of chinch bugs are observed. European crane flies haven’t started to pupate yet. We are probably a month away from peak adult crane fly flights in the Guelph area. We are again seeing lots of pecking damage on greens because of starlings looking for leatherjackets in golf greens. The first instar European chafer grubs are developing now also.
Crabgrass
Now that the tropical conditions have passed there will be much less new crabgrass germinating. That doesn’t help the situation for the crabgrass that is already there. Any turf areas that were thin have been almost taken over by crabgrass. Many lawns instead of the nice dark green colour are lime green. In many of them, there is more crabgrass than Kentucky bluegrass at the moment. At this point, make note of the infested areas and treat preventatively next spring for crabgrass.
Cultural Practices
As I mentioned earlier, it would probably be a good idea to apply some nitrogen in the next week or two. With the cooler temperatures, turf is going to go through a flush of growth as long as water isn’t limiting. This is the first step in the fall fertilization program. No is also an excellent time to overseed damaged turf areas.
GTI Turf Research Field Day
Only a little over a week until the GTI Turf Research Field Day on Thurs. Aug. 24th, 2006. This is a big year for us with two new turf faculty (Dr. Eric Lyons and Dr. Katerina Jordan) conducting research at the GTI site. There are also many product evaluation trials to see as well as moss control research, beet juice extract research to mention a few. It is definitely a must see if you are a turf manager. There is information about the field day on the GTI web site. See the related link below.
Again, thanks for phoning the turf agriphone message for this week. The next agriphone message will be recorded on Fri. Aug. 18th, 2006.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2006/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-august-14-2006.html#sthash.UW2kvQ7P.dpuf
