|
Here is your Turf IPM update for the third week of August, 2000, covering pest problems for Illinois golf courses and sod producers.
The third week of August (specifically August 15th ) will go down in history as the first (and probably only) week of Y2K where a daily high temperature got above 90 F at the Chicago/O'Hare station.
Central IL was hot and humid through the 16th, but cooler and drier weather has spread across the entire region since the brief hot spell.
So put any thoughts about Pythium or brown patch problems out of your head?
Diseases
The cool, dry weather should also slow down any developing gray leaf spot epidemics in central Illinois.
There have been a few reports of GLS around the area, but so far, very sporadic.
However, we are investigating a site where GLS is developing on rye fairways that have 3 applications of Heritage.
Resistance development to strobilurin type fungicides (Heritage, Compass, plus more to come) is a concern, but I don't know of any resistance problems on turf with this class of fungicides (to date).
Maybe we will hear more about this over the winter.
I have seen a few instances of Poa annua undergoing the "summer decline" syndrome, which usually occurs in July or August most years, regardless of how mild the weather is.
Most of the problems this year should be limited to areas where Poa is shallow rooted and under a lot of traffic/compaction stress.
In the heat last summer, Poa decline problems were much more widespread and severe.
Also, I have seen a little anthracnose and summer patch on Poa, which contributes to the summer decline phenomenon.
Summer patch on Kentucky bluegrass is showing up more consistently now, especially on 1 to 2+ year-old sod on green and tee banks, surrounds, etc etc.
Weeds
Nothing new here; please pass along any observations on your crabgrass problems and whether pre or post emergent herbicides have worked.
Thanks!
Insects
No new insect problems have been reported to me for the last few updates; possibly the quiet before the (grub) storm in a few more weeks.
I have seen a little cutworm damage on greens in the last few weeks, but nothing to get real excited about.
Apparently there are a lot of problems with aphids on shrubs/ornamentals, but I haven't seen this personally.
|
