Warmest January Ever??
Weather
Definitely an odd sort of winter (if you'd
still like to call it that). December rang out 2005 as a
chilly one, with monthly averages running 5 degrees below
normal for most of Illinois. December 9 and December 18
were the highlights of the chilliness in Chicago, (just
ask the Atlanta Falcons, I think the snot is still frozen
to their faces). Historically, a chilly December does not
necessarily indicate a cold winter, but with early snow
in southern Canada the likelihood that January and possibly
the rest of winter would at least be around average was
in the cards. Right?
Wrong to historical proportions. Depending
on which airport you listened to, 2006 was the warmest January
on record (see table below), and today (2/1) is the
41st straight day of above normal temperatures. Chicago
and Rockford were 13 degrees F above normal in the month
of January, with EVERY DAY recording above normal temperatures.
Temperatures only dropped into the teens twice in Chicago
this January, (which hasn't been observed since 1880). In
central and southern IL the message was the same as Champaign,
Springfield, and Carbondale ran from 12-15 degrees F above
normal. Some of these locations have already accumulated
base 50 degree days!!!
|
Midway
|
O' Hare
|
Rockford
|
|
Rank
|
Year
|
Ave. Temp
|
Rank
|
Year
|
Ave. Temp
|
Rank
|
Year
|
Ave. Temp
|
|
1
|
2006
|
36.5 F
|
1
|
1880
|
39.8 F
|
1
|
1933
|
33.9 F
|
|
2
|
1933
|
35.2 F
|
2
|
1933
|
36.7 F
|
2
|
2006
|
33.5 F
|
|
3
|
1990
|
34.9 F
|
3
|
2006
|
35.8 F
|
3
|
1944
|
30.1 F
|
|
4
|
1989
|
34.4 F
|
4
|
1990
|
33.9 F
|
4
|
1934
|
30.1 F
|
|
5
|
2002
|
33.8 F
|
5
|
1932
|
33.6 F
|
5
|
2002
|
30.0 F
|
-
Source: National Weather Service PIS: 2/1/06
So what does this mean for all the green turf
that has broken dormancy? The honest answer is that we won't
know until "true" spring green up. We have fielded
a few reports of PCNB injury on greens (see photo below)
especially when included in a granular fertilizer carrier.
This early in the year these black spots shouldn't be of
much consequence when the grass starts growing and the golf
season rolls around.
Injury caused by PCNB + fertilizer carrier
on Poa/bentgrass greens
The biggest concern will most likely be “crown
hydration-freezing injury.” As the winter affected turf
becomes saturated with water or covered with melting ice
and snow, and temperatures fluctuate into warmer ranges,
there is a chance that Poa annua plants warm-up enough to
break dormancy and soak up some of this water into the roots
and crown area (“crown hydration”). If a cold snap occurs,
sudden freezing of the water in hydrated tissues will cause
ice crystals to form,damaging the cell walls and membranes
of individual cells to the point that entire tissues and
plant organs will fail. Unfortunately, this type of injury
often goes unnoticed until spring green-up, when large areas
of turf fail to green up and begin growth in early spring.
Again, Poa annua is the major victim for this type of injury,
but other plants may also be affected.
Speaking of hydration, that leads me to my
next point. Although we did get some nice rains last weekend
in northern Illinois we are still in an extreme drought
situation, (see graphic below)
as a continuation from last year's abomination. This is
an important fact to consider when spring rolls around,
since all plant roots may not be in the healthiest of states
if extreme weather greets us in April or May...
The forecast does show a downturn in temperatures
into next week, and a few winter storms could be headed
northern IL's way. We might even get to below normal temperatures
by this weekend and for much of next week, so the turf should
plummet back into dormancy quite quickly (hopefully not
dying in the process).
The USGA has also weighed in on some of the
weird goings on of this winter. Go to:
"Got
Snow?" written by Bob Vavrek, USGA agronomist of the
North Central Region.
"2006 Northeast
News Update" written by Jim Skorulski, USGA agronomist
of the Northeast Region.
Diseases
A few quick and very brief
disease notes. Some pink snow mold has been reported in
the outskirts of spray patterns on the edges of tee and
green complexes. Fungicide application may be an option
when the turf greens up for good, but there should be no
need to go out now unless damage starts to get out of hand
(and don't use PCNB as a reapplication or this late in the
year). While out on a course in Iowa, Randy also noted some
cool season brown patch (prob. Rhizoctonia cerealis) working
on some fairways out there. Again, apply fungicide now if
you must, but it would probably be better to wait until
the turf comes out of dormancy for good this year.
Interactive Turf New Developments
Rolling out shortly will be your IT Calendars
and annual summaries which all have become accustomed to.
The calendars will be in the same format as last year, with
your 2005's pest reports and notes overlaid onto the 2006
calendar. This got me to thinking: now that the program
is 4 years old, some IT users have 4 YEARS worth of pest
information. So how to display all of this information so
it can be accessed at critical times during the season?
Enter the IT Local Pest Alert Archive (aka
"The IT Pest Bug"), an application that will run
on your local computer. The purpose of the program is very
similar to the calendars in that it links to information
that you reported on a previous calendar day. However, it
links to your entire database, and goes back the full four
years or however long you've been in the program. It also
links to all of the previous email reports I've sent out
over the last 3 years. It also links to the IT pest library
(under construction) that will show pest information and
recommendations. And lastly, (and probably the most cool
feature) is that it pops up automatically at a certain time
of day or upon computer startup to show and remind you what
your old notes were. And to think all of this is driven
by one little email message to the program from an IT user....
See the screenshot below to get an idea of what this
new initiative looks like.
Lastly, as many of you know, the CDGA turf
team will be adding a new member on March 1st of 2006 in
the wake of Dr. Randy Kane's move to Peoria and part-time
status. Dr. Derek Settle will be coming on board after obtaining
a PhD at Kansas State University under Dr. Ned Tisserat
and after a short post doctorate study at the University
of Georgia. Derek brings a wealth of experience in turfgrass
pathology, notably in the areas of nematology and photography.
Derek will be a vital contributor to Interactive Turf on
a regular basis, so expect his name to occur regularly on
many of our reports.
