Welcome to the “Turf Management Updates” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This message is for the week of June 14 – 21, 2007.
Diseases
We have had some pretty warm weather most of the week so far and there is more of the same in store. The good thing is that nighttime temperatures are going to be cool until Tuesday and Wednesday when they climb up to the levels that could spark the hot weather diseases like Pythium blight and brown patch. There is no rain in the forecast for the next 14 days, so I expect that most non-irrigated turf will be going dormant by then. This is also when you get to know what your irrigation coverage is like when you have to rely on irrigation alone to keep the turf green and growing. The weather that we are forecast to get over the next week will probably lead to heavy dew formation and that will favour dollar spot development. It has been a great year for necrotic ring spot and it is very evident on home lawns at the moment, with new spots popping up almost daily.
Insects
I do have a request for anyone who has seen large numbers of adult black turfgrass ataenius flights this spring. There is a company that is looking for golf course fairway sites to do some insecticide trials to control black turfgrass ataenius. If you have seen large numbers of adults on your golf course and if you are interested in participating in an insecticide study, please let me know as soon as possible at pamela.charbonneau@ontario.ca. I tried this last year for a European chafer grub trial and did get a volunteer cooperator and the result was a very successful insecticide trial which is going to lead to the registration of a new product for grub control. Any cooperation would be appreciated.
Leatherjacket damage has probably peaked now and in fact, areas with damage are already starting to recover on irrigated sites. It could be a struggle on non-irrigated sites to get the turf filling in. The damage that results from insect pecking out the leatherjackets from golf course turf will probably continue until the leatherjackets pupate in mid to late August.
Yesterday, I saw the first European chafer adult of the summer. We usually expect European chafer flights from mid-June to mid July with the peak flights around Canada Day. We are in the ideal application window for preventative insecticide controls on turf areas that had grub damage in late fall or earlier this spring.
Weeds
The post-emergence weed control window came at the same time as some very dry and hot weather. For these products to work, it is best if the weeds are actively growing. Many of them have slowed down because of the dry conditions. Hopefully, there will be some rain in the next couple of weeks that will help set up the conditions for broadleaf herbicides to work. If not, you may have to wait until the fall.
Most grasses have finished putting out seedheads by now. A lot of turf stands are looking very poor at the moment because the mowed seedheads give the grass yellow bleached appearance which is a bit unsightly.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2007/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-june-15-2007.html#sthash.Yjfvd0z7.dpuf
