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We are now in week 5 of the IPM Update season and, needless to say, "things" are starting to pick up.
I am getting reports of a few more types of pest problems becoming active, as the weather becomes more summer-like in central and northern Illinois.
Thanks to those of you responding with information and questions, you are helping provide a more useful and interesting update.
(I had about 15 responses to week 4 update, which could be a new record!
Weather Update
Forecasts for Sunday and Monday show hot and humid air entering northern Illinois for the first time (in earnest) in the year 2000.
A little different than last year mis amigos, eh??? (There were no recorded days of high temps over 90 degrees at O'Hare Station in June.)
We actually caught a nice break Thursday and Friday (and hopefully today) as a weak front dropped down from the north, which brought dryer air, cool temps and no rain to most of the already wet region.
The cool weather break was greatly appreciated by Ken Lapp and Frank Jemsek at Cog Hill.
The Western / Advil/ Tiger Open is in full swing, the course looks fabulous, is playing even more fabulous, and I encourage everyone to stop out and see the show.
Diseases
Other than Dollar Spot and some scattered Take-all Patch, disease problems in Northern IL have been minimal so far in 2000 - again thanks to the weather.
Central and Southern parts of the state haven't been quite so lucky, as reports of higher temp diseases or coming in the last week to 10 days.
Take-all symptoms are still around, but should be subsiding as soil temps increase and bentgrass grows out of the stress caused by this root infection.
Some Fairy Ring problems are starting to "pop-up" (toad stools and puff balls), and as soil and air temps increase, these could become more noticeable/troublesome.
Fairy ring can be quite severe in extremely hot and dryer weather; some of these fungi, especially Lycoperdon puff balls, seem to thrive in very hot conditions.
Also in hotter weather, since the turf is under more stress the normally darker green rings/patches can turn wilty and brown in a flash.
Some of the fairy ring fungi are also responsible for localized dry spot problems.
Control of fairy ring is quite difficult without aerification, but some success has been obtained with fungicide/wetting agent tank mixes.
As the temperatures trend toward the upper 80s to low 90s and relative humidity stays high, Pythium and large brown patch become much more of a concern.
Pythium blight is already quite active in central and western Illinois, and will become a concern when/if the hotter air arrives in Chicagoland.
Northern and NW Illinois have certainly had the elevated humidity required for Pythium and brown patch, but the temperatures have not been hot enough for prolonged infection periods and extensive disease pressure (only 5.5 more weeks to Aug 15!!!!).
Insects
Turf insect problems have been minimal so far this year; still very few reports of cutworm or BTA (black turfgrass ataenius) activity.
I finally saw my first BTA adult on a green 2 days ago, but it was deader than a door-nail.
Birds are starting to peck away at greens in the northern region, which could mean another round of cutworm is starting up, or sod webworms are starting to feed.
I believe sod webworms are much more common on greens than folks realize, but cutworm treatments work well for these related lepidopterous larvae.
I have heard of some sightings of gypsy moth damage around the Chicago area, and will look further into this next week to see if this bugger is starting to spread.
Japanese beetle adults are now flying around most of the state, so check your little leaf lindens to see what kind of crop of beetles you will have this year.
ANTS ANTS ANTS
Weeds
Well, it seems that crabgrass season has started, as I have received several reports of crabgrass coming up on untreated / missed areas.
Crabgrass loves hot/humid/wet weather, so we should be setting up for a good crabgrass summer.
We will see how some of the newer products work post-emerge in the next few weeks.
Please report back with successes/failures using Acclaim, Drive or other products for crabgrass.
Clover and chickweed continue to be problems around the area.
Be careful treating these areas with tri-mix phenoxy herbicides, since phyto on grasses becomes more likely in hotter weather -- especially on bentgrass!!! If you want to control clover and other broadleaves in summer on bent, you may want to try straight banvel (dicamba) or low rates of confront.
MOSS MOSS MOSS MOSS
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