This is the 10th edition of the 2008 OMAFRA Turf Management Update recorded on July 7.
Just a general note about the turf updates. There will sometimes be pesticide recommendations for controlling different turf pests. If you are in a municipality that currently has a pesticide by-law, it is important that you know all the restrictions on pesticide use in your particular municipality. On that note, the legislation to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides in Ontario (Bill 64) was passed. There will be more information forthcoming over the next few months on the details. The ban will take effect in spring, 2009.
Last week temperatures were seasonal and the rain has finally stopped falling. There were some spectacular thunderstorms that hit early last week taking some trees down and causing some local flooding. We have a couple of hot days forecast (Mon. and Tues.) and then mid week it cools down and the humidity will pass, only to build again by next weekend.
The good thing about the weather forecast is that we are going to get only a short blast of hot, humid weather. This means the risk of the hot weather diseases such as brown patch, anthracnose foliar blight and Pythium blight will be short lived. There is also a chance that we will start to see summer patch, especially if we do get some thundershowers in the next day or two. Dollar spot still has not had a big flush yet. On Kentucky bluegrass we are starting to see the first signs of rust. How fast the symptoms develop will depend on what the weather does over the next two weeks. Rust likes alternating hot dry with wet weather. If you have any unknown turf problems, please contact the GTI Turf Diagnostics. Information on this service is available at the link below. You can email them at
diagnostics@guelphturfgrass.ca or telephone at (519) 824-4120 x 58873.
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It has been another week of heavy European chafer flights. We are heading out of he peak adult flight window. The Japanese beetles are out in full force now. We are now in the ideal window for Merit applications targeted for European chafer and Japanese beetle. If you plan to use nematodes for grub control the timing is late August to early September. I am desperately seeking a site to do a grub control trial. If you have a customer with an estate property that is infested with grubs or a sod farm with grubs, I would love to hear from you. I hope to start the trial in early August. You can reach me by phone at (519) 824-4120 x 52597 or by email at Pamela.charbonneau@ontario.ca.
The plant that signals the peak egg laying of hairy chinch bug, bird’sfoot trefoil is blooming now. We should start to see some chinch bug nymphs developing in the next couple of weeks. Chinch bug damage however, is probably two weeks away.
For crabgrass plants, at this point it is best to switch to fenoxaprop-ethyl (Acclaim Super) for crabgrass control. On the broadleaf weed front, the dry year last year and now the wet spring means that many turf areas have very large infestations of broadleaf weeds. Unfortunately, broadleaf weed treatment should probably be suspended now that it is getting hotter and drier. Some of the weeds that are obvious at the moment are white clover, bird’sfoot trefoil, yellow wood sorrel and black medick. The best window for broadleaf weed control is in the fall. Another result of all the wet weather this spring is lots of moss on golf greens. Unfortunately, there is still nothing registered for use for moss control in Ontario. Research here at GTI has shown that frequent watering (or in the case of this spring – frequent rains) is one of the largest contributing factors to moss encroachment. So be careful not to irrigate too frequently now that conditions are becoming drier.
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On bluegrass last week we saw a lot of scalping injury. Now we are starting to see some signs of the turf drying out.
Thanks for calling the Turf Management Updates. This message will be updated on Fri. July 11, 2008.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2008/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-july-7-2008.html#sthash.FgA19dYv.dpuf
