PLEASE NOTE: The Following Pesticide Recommendations are meant for Excepted Uses (e.g. golf courses and sod farms) under the Cosmetic Pesticide Ban. Only the active ingredients listed under Class 11 pesticides in Ontario Regulation 63/09, can be used on home lawns and sports fields and other non-excepted uses, effective April 22, 2009.
At the time of writing this there is a humidex in place and it feels like it is 30°C. This will hold for most of the weekend with a cold front coming through on Sunday. This will bring rain again and much cooler temperatures. Things dried out very quickly over the last week, especially on Mon.- Wed. with the clear skies and the windy conditions. The ET on days like that can be very high and turf can dry out very quickly under those conditions.
The little blast of warm weather this week has got the grass growing gangbusters. Keeping up with mowing is a challenge. Scalping is an ongoing problem at this time of year.
Microdochium patch has slowed down a bit but it will become active again next week. When you are scouting you will be able to see the small to medium sized copper spots. The edges of any pink snow mould scars are also active with that coppery/brown outer ring. There may be some more yellow patch symptoms. All of this wet weather also has been very conducive to anthracnose basal rot. This is more of a problem on poorly drained greens and tees. Light topdressing will help, as well as increasing fertility. University of Massachusetts Turf Extension web site has some good information on anthracnose basal rot posted by Bess Dicklow.
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.
Now is a good time to overseed grub damaged areas. Make a note of the damaged areas and plan to apply grub control in the mid summer on golf courses with Class 9 pesticides or nematodes. For home lawn, sports fields or other non-excepted uses apply nematodes in August for the best results.
Both annual bluegrass weevil adults and black turfgrass ataenius were observed earlier this week with the nice weather. The adult BTA’s will show up in the mowing baskets and you can also use a soap flush to detect them as well.
If you are planning to apply an adulticide for annual bluegrass weevil, the timing for that is when forsythia are the half green/half gold stage. Check out the great resource put together by Dr. Pat Vittum from University of Massachusetts on various annual bluegrass weevil monitoring methods in the related links below. If you are finding large numbers of adults you have two choices. Right now the forsythia are in full bloom in Guelph so there is still time to make and adulticide application. If you are targeting the next generation with a preventative product like clothianidin or chlorantraniliprole, you still have a couple of weeks before you need to think about that.
Another insect pest that is just starting to become active is the turfgrass ant. Most pesticide labels for ants say to apply as soon as the mounds first appear. The choices of pesticides are pyrethroids, carbamates and spinosad. None of these products really give prolonged control. It is also important to adhere to the number of treatments stated on the label to avoid insecticide resistance developing. It is also usually only necessary to treat the perimeter of a golf green, which is where the majority of the ant mounds occur. Also, if there are any companies out there with products that they think might work on ants, I would be happy to conduct a research trial on ants. We have a couple of perfect sites here at GTI with lots of ant mounds.
Weed control products and timing
What a difference a week makes. Yellow is the new green. Dandelions are blooming in most urban areas now and are just starting to bloom on golf courses, roadsides, etc.. Clovers is actively growing also. Some of the other weed perennial weeds are just starting to re-grow – broad and narrow leaved plantain to name a couple. Because these two species are late to re-emerge, it is best to delay your selective broad leaf herbicide treatments until they are fully emerged.
The active ingredients in Organo-sol – lactic acid and citric acid are on the Class 11 list. I am not sure if Organo-sol is being actively marketed in Ontario at the moment, but it has received registration and has been classified now.
There is still a bit of time to apply pre-emergence crabgrass control. We are now in the middle of the application window for corn gluten meal for pre-emergence crabgrass control. For best results either apply corn gluten meal when rain is expected or water the product in within 2 days of application.
Once the soil dries out it is a good time to schedule the spring aeration. We recommend that you hold off for another couple of weeks before you fertilize turf. There is already a growth flush due to the rain and warming weather and there is more rain in the forecast for next week. You don’t want to force even more of a spring growth flush by fertilizing at the moment.
Again, keep the emails coming. I appreciate the feedback. You can reach me by phone or email at (519-824-4120 x 52597) or by email at pamela.charbonneau@ontario.ca.
– See more at: https://lawnsavers.com/turf-hotline-2011/turfgrass-management-agriphone-for-may-12-2011.html#sthash.0LbgS3oV.dpuf
