Carts on the
Paths Again?!!
Weather:
Remember when I was sounding the bells for a drought a few
weeks ago? Sorry about that. In northern Illinois, the first
half of May was warm and the last half was wet. So wet, that
many areas in the northern Midwest tallied official record rainfall
totals for May including Dekalb, IL with 10.44"and Madison,
WI with 10.84". Although O' Hare nor Midway recorded official
rainfall records, they both were in the top 5 wettest Mays ever.
What were the results? Lots of flooding, not much sunshine,
lots of dead weather stations/irrigation computers from lightning
blasts (including ours),
not much mowing, lots of carts on paths, not
many golfers, and probably lots of lost revenue. If you didn't
know where your drainage problems were on your course in northern
Illinois, then you do now.
Below is a table of rainfall data from several Interactive Turf
sites, and how their rainfall totals stacked up with normal
or 50 year average rainfalls collected from the nearest NWS
site.
2003-2004 Degree Days (DDs) and Rainfall
Totals
|
City
|
2004 DDs to 6/1
|
2003 DDs
to 6/1
|
Last week's rainfall (5-26 - 6/1)
|
Total May rainfall
|
Normal May Rainfall
|
% Difference from Normal
|
|
Carbondale
|
1011
|
842
|
2.57"
|
7.28"
|
4.78"
|
152%
|
|
Springfield
|
826
|
621
|
0.3"
|
3.05"
|
4.06"
|
75%
|
|
Champaign
|
746
|
616
|
0.51"
|
3.46"
|
4.80"
|
72%
|
|
Moline
|
678
|
565
|
2.86"
|
9.87"
|
4.25"
|
232%
|
|
Orland Park
|
599
|
423
|
1.96"
|
7.54"
|
3.86"
|
195%
|
|
Aurora
|
593
|
390
|
3.54"
|
7.33"
|
3.38"
|
217%
|
|
Frankfort
|
597
|
362
|
2.32"
|
6.93"
|
3.86"
|
180%
|
|
Naperville
|
528
|
359
|
2.27"
|
5.17"
|
3.38"
|
153%
|
|
N. Barrington
|
435
|
256
|
2.26"
|
8.52"
|
3.41"
|
250%
|
High temperatures, (which I also was bemoaning
a few weeks ago), have leveled off, especially in the last few
days. Average temperatures were about a degree or so above normal
in northern Illinois for the month of May, whereas after the
first few weeks they were running 8 degrees above normal. I
guess you need the sun to be out to get heat... Degree days
(DD) are still running way ahead of those in 2003 (see above)
by at least 100 - 200 DDs.
Now those in a certain central Illinois corridor
(Champaign to Springfield) may be reading this and thinking
that's not how my month of May went at all. As you can tell
from the above table, somehow they got missed by most of the
rain (only 75% of normal), and were therefore much warmer than
normal, 4 degrees on average. One Springfield superintendent
said "The rainfall was just perfect, really helped with
irrigation scheduling. We are starting to see some LDS developing
though." LDS? And what is this irrigation thing he is speaking
of...
Summer forecast with no confidence: Not sure why
I am wasting space here, but here it is anyway. Precipitation
trends - no idea. None of the models predicted last month's
downpours either, so this should be of no surprise. Temperature
trends - The current summer forecast has it a little cooler
than they thought 30 days ago, because seemingly the El Nino
won't be the driving force in our temperatures, but the precipitation
schedule will be instead (which I said earlier there is very
little foresight on). With all the rain we have had lately,
if it gets warm, we might be in a little trouble. Any amount
of heat will bring some uncomfortable humidity and lots of disease
activity, which leads right into the next section.
Diseases:
Over the last month or so, we have surprisingly seen a lot of
Microdochium (=Fusarium) patch. This is normally
a cool weather pathogen (i.e. pink snow mold), but it seems
to favor all of the excessive moisture we have been getting
lately. Aside from the perfect conditions, another reason we
could be seeing more Microdochium this year is
that it could be becoming less sensitive to fungicides, especially
ones that had been previously sprayed for dollar spot. Therefore,
rotate to another fungicide chemistry other than the one you
sprayed previously, and hopefully that will start the healing
process.
One problem that I noted earlier is that in the
very early stages, Microdochium patch can look like a
number of other leaf spot diseases. With these kind of conditions,
please don't hesitate to give us a call or send in a sample
if you would like a diagnosis. We have heard a few suspected
reports of leaf spot and minor anthracnose in Chicago, and red
leaf spot (Drechslera erythrospila) is the subject of
discussion in the
latest OSU turfnote. Another red-hued moisture-loving
disease, red thread, (Laetisaria fuciformis), has been
reported from all regions of the state in bluegrass roughs.
One method sans fungicide of controlling red thread is to add
a little nitrogen, as this disease, like dollar spot, is much
less severe on turf that has sufficient nitrogen.
Cool season Rhizoctonia rings were also
reported from several Chicagoland courses in late May. These
rings, caused by Rhizoctonia zeae and Rhizoctonia
cerealis, usually will go away when higher temperatures
(and hopefully drier air) return. If symptoms are especially
severe, (which I wouldn't doubt with all this rain), then a
fungicide application of ProStar or Heritage could be warranted.
Last but not least (whew!) the dollar spot arrived
with a bang in the first half of May (see table below) and kept
right on going through the month. I think it is safe to say
we have experienced our first 'spike' in dollar spot for spring.
If these conditions continue we could be in for a long and severe
dollar spot season. Now, many superintendents are noting some
breakthroughs at the end of their first fungicide window so
reapplication may be necessary. Dr. Kane and I have our dollar
spot trials at a site where fungicide resistance has been a
problem previously, (and is still a problem), and also at the
new Midwest Golf House turf facility. One of our targets was
to test timing of application (i.e. the very early preventative
application).as well as the usual newer product testing. Unfortunately,
the season also caught us unaware as the 'very early' application
actually went down only a week before disease onset. Maybe next
year...
As I noted earlier, if it gets warm anytime soon
we could be in for a rough ride with all this moisture around.
Cooler temperatures over the last few days have curtailed some
disease symptoms, but will pop right back up when the heat returns.
Date of 1st Dollar Spot Reports
|
Location
|
2003 Date
|
2004 Date
|
|
Saint Louis
|
April 15
|
May 7
|
|
Springfield
|
May 13
|
May 13
|
|
Urbana
|
May 13
|
May 13
|
|
Peoria
|
May 15
|
May 10
|
|
Bloomington
|
May 14
|
May 12
|
|
Frankfort
|
May 13
|
May 10
|
|
Naperville
|
May 26
|
May 10
|
|
Lincolnwood
|
June 2
|
May 13
|
|
North Barrington
|
June 2
|
May 10
|
Poa seedheads and Weeds:
It appears that the early heat may have caused
most of the Poa seedheads to pop in the area, meaning we may
be close to done for the year. The early tally is that most
are reporting 70-80% success with Proxy/Primo applications thus
far, which is right about on average from what we have seen
in the last few years of testing. As we have also seen in the
past, some lower amounts of suppression are being reported on
fairway / tee height turf, and a few Poa biotypes don't seem
to be affected by the treament at all. Before you believe you
have a failure though, try to put a check plot in next year.
You might be surprised at how much it really did work.
Moss and algae problems may also increase with
the recent wet weather. We have heard a report from Carbondale
of a significant algae problem. Some success for algae (and
also moss) problems has been reported with algaecides/fungicides
such as Junction (copper hydroxide and mancozeb), Daconil, Dithane,
Fore, and Iron Sulfate. A notable tank mix of some of these
fungicides (thiram, Daconil, and Mancozeb) incidently also works
well for a local superintendent for moss control.
The crabgrass (Fidanza) model has had some growing
pains this year and is still in further need of refinement.
First emergence in Chicagoland has been reported on southern-facing
slopes in the past week, which is close, but in actuality the
model went off much earlier. The adage of 3 days with soil temperatures
above 55 F still seems to be the best method for timing crabgrass
pre-emergent applications.
Insects:
The running theme for this newsletter has been
early, and the little buggers are no different. Degree days
are way ahead of schedule, and therefore so may be the emergence
of Japanese beetles (if they didn't drown). One Chicago course
noted damage already from predators digging for plump overwintered
grubs. We laid some sod a few days ago and also noticed a significant
amount of large juicy grubs, just waiting to pupate. Chafers
and May/June beetles could be emerging now while the Japanese
beetles may arrive shortly thereafter.
Although we had a few early reports of cutworm
feeding activity in southern Chicagoland in early May, we have
not heard any significant feeding activity in late May throughout
the rest of northern Illinois. Interestingly, we have had no
cutworm moth captures in the last few weeks in Lemont either...
Another pressing problem with all this rain will
almost certainly be mosquitoes. As many of you know, mosquito
larvae develop in open, stagnant pools of water, which there
has been no shortage of recently. One form of cultural control
is to try to alleviate as many of these water pools as possible,
paying special attention to clogged rain gutters, birdbaths,
or any open container. Mosquitoes can develop in as little as
4 days in a pool of water so vigilance with this method of mosquito
reduction is necessary. New 20th century controls such as the
mosquito magnet and light traps are also available, but like
anything make sure to check for solid scientific evidence before
you plunk a load of money into one. Other than that, good ole'
fashioned DEET insect repellant may be the order of duty this
year. For more information on the mosquito, life cycle, and
controls, go to www.mosquito.org
(seems that everything's got a website now).
Gypsy moth eggs are also starting to hatch in
northern Illinois, which means the "Slow the Spread"
program should get into full swing again. Sprays with Bacillus
thurengensis kurstaki will probably be scheduled a little
later with all the rain, and should start in early June for
larval control in DuPage, Kane, Will, and Lake counties, and
then a pheromone spray will follow in summer to disrupt mating.
For more information click
here to read Dr. Phil Nixon's Scouting Watch
in the latest edition of the Home Yard and Garden Newsletter.
He also includes a note about the Emerald Ash Borer and how
it is getting dangerously close to Illinois.
Also, as reported in an earlier newsletter, the
Great Brood X of periodical cicadas should not, I repeat not
effect most of Illinois, as their range stops right near the
Indiana-Illinois border. We will have to wait until 2007 in
northern Illinois when our Brood XIII emerges. For more information
on the cicada
click here to go to the recent story in the HYG Newsletter.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
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
