Welcome to the "Turf Hotline" sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for the week of June 2 - 9, 2000.

We have had warm, wet weather over the last week. The rain is still very welcome after two dry springs in a row. There is still a little bit of Fusarium patch activity on creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass. There has been a lot of red thread on perennial ryegrass and fine fescues over the past week. Red thread is more of nuisance than anything and can be remedied with a bit of nitrogen. With all the rain, leaf spot is still active on Kentucky bluegrass. Still no melting out to date because we haven't had warm enough temperatures.

June beetles adults are still being reported. This is the first year in a long time (probably three years ago) that I can remember having so many reports of June beetles. Adult June beetles will be laying eggs for probably another couple of weeks. (Tips on identifying adult Scarab beetles link). I have had a few isolated reports of adult European chafers flying from areas south of here such as Windsor and London. Expect adult chafer flights to begin in earnest over the next week and continue for about a month. The best time to observe adult chafer flights is on a warm evening at dusk. The adults emerge from the turf and swarm in surrounding trees. With the amount of grub damage last fall and this spring we can expect large adult flights this year. We are now in the window for application of Merit for European chafer grub control.

There is a lot of turfgrass scale out there now and the egg masses are very evident. These are enclosed in a cottony mass. Expect crawlers in a couple of weeks. Black turfgrass ataenius flights should be almost over. Small grubs from the early Aphodius flights in May are starting to show up now. Aphodius grub activity should be peaking in about two weeks. Look for damage in collars and fairways over the next couple of weeks. Ataenius damage will be showing up in about 3-4 weeks time. There have also been a lot of annual bluegrass weevils seen on golf courses over the last two weeks. Expect damage over the next 3 weeks. Annual bluegrass damage is often mistaken for a disease because the leaf blades turn yellow in small areas and it can look like a leaf disease.

Now is still a good time for broadleaf herbicide applications. As long as the weeds are actively growing the herbicides will be effective. All the rain has made it a bit difficult for lawn care and sod farms to get those herbicide applications on.

To find out rates and timing for new products like Merit, Aliette and Sevin XLR Plus, you need the 2000 Turfgrass Management Recommendations. They can be obtained by calling OMAFRA at 1-888-466-2372. The price is $10.00.

We are offering our third annual turf disease diagnosis workshop on July 11 or July 12, 2000. We will start the day with a session in the field identifying turf diseases. We will move into the lab for the rest of the day to identify the diseases under the microscope. The limit is 20 people per day and the cost is $249. If you are interested in this workshop, phone my office for registration information at (519) 824-4120 x 2597.

Again, thanks for phoning the hotline for this week. The next hotline message will be recorded on Fri. June 9, 2000.