Weather
It has been much wetter and mostly cooler over the last week with some steady rain and a few wicked thunderstorms. The main feature of the past week has been the night time temperatures. We have had a mix of humidity and clear skies and high winds. What catches people by surprise is how quickly the turf dries out when we get those high evapotranspiration days. It looks like the forecast for next week is much the same as this past week, with a mix of sun, cloud, high and low humidity and seasonal temperatures. There is no rain in the forecast for the next 5 days.
Things were definitely quieter last week where diseases where concerned. There are still reports of summer patch and anthracnose from the field on golf course turf. Dollar spot has been active on golf course fairways over the last week and there are also lots of reports of annual bluegrass dying for no reason at all except that it has had one too many stresses and has run out of gas. Now is a good time to sit back and review your IPM records to see what diseases have been active on your course and determine your plan for next year. Did you have a preventative summer patch program in place? Did it work? If you didn’t, should you implement one next year? Those are the sorts of questions you should be able to answer at this time of year. Did you get brown patch this year? Could your irrigation regime have contributed to the amount of brown patch you experienced? How much did shade and lack or air circulation contribute to the diseases this season?
On home lawn turf, necrotic ring spot symptoms can still be seen. These are increasing because of the high ET’s that we are currently experiencing. We have also seen some summer patch on fine fescues for the same reason. Dollar spot have been very active on irrigated home lawn turf over the past several weeks. Rust started at the beginning of August in the Guelph area and kind of stalled. It has exploded now on Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass and seems to be worse in shaded areas. The recent rains have also resulted in a flare up of red thread on Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass and fine fescues. With both of those diseases, some nitrogen will help the turf resist these two diseases.
If you do encounter a turf problem that you can’t identify, you can always send a sample to GTI Turf Diagnostics. Information on this service is available on the GTI web site. You can also email them at diagnostics@guelphturfgrass.ca or telephone at (519) 824-4120 x 58873.
Grubs continue to develop. We are in the ideal window to apply nematodes for grub control. Make sure that the area to be treated is well watered before the nematodes are applied. Do not store the diluted nematode mixtures for more than 3-4 hours. Apply on an overcast, cool day or apply in the early morning or early evening and water the nematodes in as soon as possible. There is a newly commercialized nematode species that has good host specificity for scarab grubs called Steinernema glaseri that might be worth investigating this season. We are outside of the window where the preventative grub control products will be efficacious.
In our hairy chinch bug trials, we are now seeing mostly adult chinch bugs. The damage usually is at its peak when the 4th instar nymphs have finished feeding – which is about now. The cooler night temperatures will be driving the adults to their overwintering sites in the next couple of weeks.
I saw my first cranefly adult this week. I think it was probably a Tipula oleracea or common cranefly. They emerge a week or two earlier than the Tipula paludosa or European crane fly. I expect to see the start of the European crane fly adult flights in about a week.
The cooler weather and moisture means the grass is starting to grow again and the weeds are resuming growth also. Many lawn care operators have started their Fiesta spot treatments by now. I would say that we don’t know the ideal timing for this fall application yet. Last year we applied quite late (Sept 21st and this year we are starting this week (Aug. 26th).
Lots of crabgrass this year. The dormant turf in August followed by the torrential rains and high temperatures resulted in an explosion of crabgrass. Make a note of it now and plan to treat with corn gluten meal in the spring.
Now is your chance to remedy any problem areas that occurred this summer. Whether that is core aeration for greens that have sealed off because of organic matter accumulation in the top few centimeters of the root zone, overseeding, topdressing. Now is a really good time to assess your growing environment, your infrastructure such as drainage, irrigation, shade issues, traffic issues and address those issues in the hopes of having better turf next year.
For those of you that are overseeding , the overseeding window in this part of the province (southwestern Ontario) is mid-August to mid-September. Ensure good seed to soil contact by raking bare areas. On larger properties and sports fields, core aeration or slit seeding will help insure seed to soil contact. Seeding rate for overseeding sports fields with perennial ryegrass should be 4 kg/100m2. It is essential to keep the seedbed moist. This may require watering up to 3 times a day until seeds have germinated and seedlings are well established. After seedlings have been up for a couple of weeks, an application of fertilizer of 0.5 kg of nitrogen per 100m2 will help the seedlings get established.
The Sports Turf Association is holding their 24th annual fall field day on Thurs. September 22, 2011 in Oakville at Glen Abbey Community Center, 1415 Third Line, Oakville, Ontario. For registration information visit the STA web site at the links below.
I appreciate the feedback. You can reach me by phone at (519-824-4120 x 52597) or by email at pamela.charbonneau@ontario.ca.
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