Spring is almost
(at least officially) here!
Disease Outlook:
Meterorological spring officially arrived March 1st
(calendar spring is March 21st), and with it hopefully a slow
and steady progression into warmer weather and the 2004 Golf
and Pest Seasons! It appears there was minimal damage from snow
molds in northern Illinois this winter (so far), even though
we had significant snow cover for six plus weeks. The low occurrence
of snow mold is probably due to the hard freezes/frozen soil
we had before the snow cover developed. Snow molds are usually
less active when snow accumulates on well-frozen soil.
Since the late February thaw, what
little gray snow mold we had observed here at Golf House has
disappeared. We do, however, have some significant pink snow
mold damage on a small tee that was seeded last fall (see
photo below). You should keep an eye out for
more pink snow mold (= Microdochium patch) over the next
several weeks, especially when we have cool temperatures and
rainfall (or wet snow) with consecutive cloudy or foggy days
(which is exactly what is in the forecast).
Another fungus to be on the lookout
for in these early days of spring is Rhizoctonia cerealis,
the cause of 'cool weather brown patch' (see
photo below). This disease is much less damaging
than pink snow mold, and causes a distinctive thinning, "yellow
patch" that looks very similar to a summer brown patch caused
by R. solani. This cool temperature form of brown patch
can occur on both creeping bentgrass and mixed bent/Poa
greens when conditions are favorable. Once air and soil
temperatures rise into the 50 - 60F range (and turf growth increases),
R. cerealis Yellow Patch usually disappears.
Poa Outlook:
We have had a few early queries
about timing of Proxy + Primo treatments for suppression of
Poa annua seeding. Although we have had a few warm days
in late Febraury and early March, soil temperatures are still
pretty low (36 F in Aurora at 9 am). We don't anticipate reaching
soil temps in the 50 F range (or hitting our 50-100 degree day
prediction model) any time soon, especially north of I-80! We
still plan to begin our 2004 test applications after April 1.
Once soil temperatures rise into the 50 F range consistently
and the Poa foliage is greening up, it is time to start applications.
At this point, we don't think you should be spraying dormant
turf!!!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
A Few Additional Notes
- Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement of
a Microsoft Powerpoint & Computer Workshop on April 22 at
the Midwest Golf House. The event will be cosponsored by the
CDGA and USGA, and should be extremely informative ... so save
the date!
- Please send back your subscription form for
the 2004 season or drop a quick line to us. Invoices will be
sent out shortly as we get cranking again this season!!!
Thanks for your support of this, as well as all
of our research programs,
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.106
Photo 1: Some pink snow mold has been observed
on a newly seeded tee at the Midwest Golf House in recent days.
(Click
picture to go to Snow Mold Pest Update)
Photo 2: Patches caused by Rhizoctonia
cerealis can be observed in these early spring temperatures
(<50 F).
.jpg)
(Click
Picture to go to Cool Weather Brown Patch Update)
