Archive for July, 2014
More – you guessed it ……….. weevils
Posted in Insects on July 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
A new round of yellowing annual bluegrass is evident now. This appears to be damage caused by either the second generation of the annual bluegrass weevil larvae (ABW) feeding or the last of the late migration of the first wave of ABW. We are finding mostly pupae now. It is very confusing. Either way, the way this season is playing out it seems that ABW populations have not been synchonous and we could still see some ABW damage in the future. The good news is that the turf is not really under any stress so the damage that we have witnessed and heard about is pretty minimal.
The other weevil
Posted in Insects on July 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Chinch revving up
Posted in Uncategorized on July 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »
We (my summer student Emily Hartwig and I) have begun bio-insecticide trials on hairy chinch bugs with Dr. Michael Brownbridge and his crew from Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. Chinch bugs are abundant, but still quite small at our test sites in Orangeville. The photo is one of the 2nd instar nymphs that we collected and Emily photographed. Those of you in more southerly areas will be seeing the larger nymphs now. We found out that chinch bugs love to congregate in black composted bark that is often used to overseed damaged turf areas. When we poked around in those areas they were literally crawling with little red early instar chinch bug nymphs. Expect to see damage in a week in the southerly areas and probably in two weeks in the more central and northern areas. The new formulation of MET52 is labelled for hairy chinch bugs but we do not have any first-hand experience with this product.
Brown patch by the numbers
Posted in Diseases on July 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The steamy night on Sun. July 20th started the development of brown patch again this summer on closely mowed golf course turf. The forecast is for one more night like this and then the night time temperatures are going to cool to the mid-low teens. This should keep the brown patch at bay, but look for the symptoms to intensify for one or two more days before they subside.
Turfgrass insects bad news/good news
Posted in Uncategorized on July 9, 2014| 1 Comment »
Bad news – black cutworms are feeding on golf greens. Good news – they are large caterpillars now and probably almost finished feeding.
Bad news – annual bluegrass weevil adults are being found on golf greens. The good news is the weevils have finished feeding and there should be no further damage from the weevils this summer.
Bad news – hairy chinch bug nymphs are developing quickly. The good news is that having adequate rains may limit their feeding damage over the next couple of weeks.
Bad news – black turfgrass ataenius grubs are feeding and growing quickly and there will be damage visible shortly. The good news ………. oops there is now good news with this one.
What is shiny, metallic and flying now?
Posted in Insects on July 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Don’t leave home without it
Posted in Diseases, Insects, Pesticide Registration, Weeds on July 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The new OMAFRA Protection Guide for Turfgrass Publication 384 is now available online in English and French. It contains all of the pesticides (fungicides, insecticides and herbicides) registered for use on turf as of Dec. 2013. Information in this guide is for sod farmers, golf courses and contains information on Class 11 pesticide actives registered for use under the cosmetic pesticide ban in Ontario. Here is the link – http://www.ontario.ca/bwg3. This guide replaces the 2009 version of OMAFRA Publication 384 and the 2012 Suppliment. If you are interested in this publication you may also be interested in OMAFRA Guide to Nursery and Landscape Plant Production and IPM. Here is the link – http://www.ontario.ca/bwa5
Turf insect “Grand Slam”
Posted in Insects on July 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
– annual bluegrass weevil pupae
– annual bluegrass weevil callow adult (the newly emergeed ABW adult that is a light reddish brown colour)
– black turfgrass ataenius adults
– black turfgrass ataenius 1st instar grubs – some cup changer plugs with 10 or greater grubs
– European chafer adults (adult chafers in peak flight right now)
At this point the majority of the annual bluegrass weevil damage is over. Peak black turfgrass ataenius damage is probably at 3-4 weeks away and based on our monitoring so far the damage could be extensive. Peak European chafer damage is well ……at least 2-3 months away. Not sure how much damage there will be. It depends a lot on how much rain we have over that time period.
Brown patch – as promised
Posted in Diseases on July 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Sometime over the weekend leading up to Canada Day brown patch disease developed in the Guelph area as predicted. I noticed it on Canada Day morning. Symptoms are most evident in a fertilizer trial which is consistent with nitrogen being a contributor to brown patch disease development. Thank goodness the weather pattern is changing and disease development will stop. It may take up to a week for the disease symptoms to disappear, but the disease itself should not be active over the next few days until the temperature and humidity ramp up again. Nighttime temperatures are not supposed to reach 20C for a week and then only for one day, so hopefully the brown patch symptoms will be long gone by then.