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Late Summer Summary / Seeding of 3 - hole Research
Course
Weather Review:
A very nice early fall weather pattern has settled in over the
upper midwest the last few days with high temps in the 70s to
low 80s and overnight lows in the low 50s to upper 40s. This weather
is very favorable for turf growth and recovery, and will help
reduce pests (esp. diseases) and other summer stresses related
to higher air and soil temperatures.
It did remain warm in late August and into the first 10 days
of September giving us hopefully the last gasp of one of our hotter
summers on record, and the hottest since 1995. Temperatures were
as much as 15 degrees above normal with several more 90 degree
days occurring around the weekend of September 7-9th. This added
5 more days of temperatures above 90 F and 13 more days above
85 F in northern IL since August 20 (see table). Precipitation
remains below average form most of the region; at the Golf House
in Lemont we have received less than 2" of rain in the last
three weeks. In the next few days there is forecasted precipitation,
(actually got close to half an inch last night in Lemont), but
hopefully for our sake not too much (see below).
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Number of Days with Daily High Temperatures:
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85+
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90+
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95-100+
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2002*
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58
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33
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5
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2001
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43
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18
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2
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2000
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31
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4
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0
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1999
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48
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20
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3
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1995
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64
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30
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11
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Diseases:
Dollar spot remains
the big story on the disease front, although there was some reported
Pythium and Brown Patch activity during the last hot, humid stretch
in September. With overnight temperatures dropping into the low
50s (and the dry weather pattern), Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium
activity should be put to bed for the season. However, cooler
days could be favorable for the appearance of Rhizoctonia
zeae or Rhizoctonia cerealis again, especially since we saw
so much activity this spring. We have also seen quite a bit of
anthracnose on bentgrass,
which is often active in late summer and exacerbated by early
fall aerification and topdressing.
Insects:
Annual white and Japanese beetle grub activity (and concurrent
animal feeding damage!) is at a high level in many areas now,
especially in areas not pre-treated with Merit in late spring
/ early summer. A few adult Japanese beetles are still being observed,
but tree/shrub feeding damage from foraging adults should be over
now. Perhaps the bigger story now is yet another round of
feeding by cutworms and sod webworms. Damage from the larvae
and from bird feeding has been reported in the last few days from
a wide range of sites in central and northern Illinois. A high
percentage of larvae exploit fall aerification holes as burrows,
which may cause more damage to be noticed by these 5th and 6th
instar cutworm larvae. . Our southernmost location (St. Louis)
declared this a banner year for the cutworm, stating that he has
sprayed more times for cutworms than he could ever remember. One
more shot of your favorite pyrethroid might be useful for this
current cutworm outbreak.
Weeds:
Cooler early autumn days are great for treating broadleaf wees
in turf - if it is not too windy (!). Now is a good time to clean
up clover and chickweed in fairways, and knock down whatever broadleafs
are on other turf areas. An upcoming ITF turf tip by Luke Cella
will focus on fall weed control, so keep an eye out for this article.
Fall is also a good time to go after moss on greens, especially
if you want to try the copper products such as Junction. We are
doing some moss control testing on a practice green at Kemper
Lake with Dan Tully; we will keep you posted on the interesting
results . . .
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3 - hole short course / research facility seeding:
Seeding of the 3 - hole research facility at the Midwest Golf
House has commenced and is keeping us very busy. Tee plots were
seeded at 0.5 lb / 1,000 on September 7th and 8th with L93, Penncross,
Providence, G6, Princeville, and Grand Prix. Seed was applied
with a drop spreader, lightly raked, dimpled in, and some plots
were rolled. The third tee, which is a push-up clay soil, also
got an application of StrawNet mulch. We started seeing the first
few flecks of green gold fluttering up the 12th, with the aggressive
plots of Penncross, Providence, and G6 germinating first and looking
quite good (see pictures below).
The three golf course greens were seeded last Thursday and Friday
(9/12, 9/13) with a blend of L93 and G2 at a rate of 0.5 lb /
1,000 of each cultivar. The first green we seeded (#3) started
sprouting yesterday and is starting to show some green color.
Green height cultivar trials are being planned for the big practice
green, and we are slated to begin seeding on Friday or Saturday
weather permitting.
Fairways are being professionally prepared by Carl Hopphan.
Check the site soon for more details on how the seeding process
is going.
Thanks for your support,
Randy Kane
CDGA
Director of Turfgrass Programs
Midwest Golf House
11855 Archer Ave
Lemont, IL 60439
630-257-8126
Lee Miller
CDGA
Manager of Turfgrass Research
Midwest Golf House
11855 Archer Ave
Lemont, IL 60439
630-257-2005 x.111
Photo 1: 1st tee - 9/16. Five cultivar plots present on this
tee, from front to back: G6, Grand Prix, Providence, L93, and Penncross.
Photo 2: Kids 1st tee - 9/16. Seeded with Princeville. 1st
green in background.
Photo 3: 2nd tee - 9/16. Pure sand tee. We have a furry critter,
(other than Carl Hopphan), that likes to take a stroll on this tee
every night.
Photo 4: 3rd tee - 9/16. Straw mulch
applied to surface of these clay push-up tees.
Photo 5: Fairway preparation: The professional handiwork
of Carl Hopphan.
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