Welcome to the "Turf Management Updates" sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  This message is for the week of Aug. 9-16, 2007.

Weather

There was some much needed rain in most parts of the province earlier this week, but it wasn’t nearly enough.  It will help to keep dormant turf alive for a few more weeks, but it is probably not enough to bring it out of dormancy.  The weather forecast is taking on the same pattern as we have had all summer with temperatures climbing over the next few days and humidity is climbing as well.  There is no real rain in the forecast.  The night time temperatures are going to be staying in the mid-teens which will help keep down the possibility of the summer diseases such as brown patch and Pythium blight. 

Water Issues

I would like to recap the water situation in the southwestern part of the province.  Many watersheds have from 20-40% of the normal rainfall.  Many have issued level 1 low water response alerts which calls for a 10% voluntary reduction of water taking for large water users such as golf courses.  Some areas have moved to a level 2 low water response alert which calls for a 20% voluntary reduction in water taking.   Many municipal sports fields are dormant and the traffic on them when they are dormant can cause damage to the turf stand.  It has been difficult for sod farmers because they need to irrigate the fields that they plan to harvest.  Some of the creeks that they rely on for water are drying up.  Another problem during a season like this when turf has to rely on irrigation water as its only source of water, this is when poor quality irrigation water can take its toll on your turf.  It may be a good idea to have your irrigation water tested at this point to determine if there are any problems.

Diseases

Because it has been so dry, the main disease problems showing up at the GTI Turf Diagnostics are still the root pathogens, summer patch and take-all patch.    Basal rot anthracnose has also been a bit of a problem.  We will probably see a flair up of dollar spot, especially if we do get some rain.  Rust has just begun and can be seen on stands of perennial ryegrass that are being irrigated.  Once turf comes out of dormancy, we will probably see more rust on perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass.  The rapid drop in humidity, followed by high winds and clear skies earlier in the week resulted in a lot of localized dry spots.  The GTI Turf Diagnostics is ready and waiting to help you diagnose your turf problems. 

Insects

Most hairy chinch bugs are adults now.  We still have a couple of weeks in most areas to be treating for them.  It has been tricky on dormant lawns to detect any damage, so scouting for this pest becomes more important than ever.  Bluegrass billbug damage is over for the year.  In our monitoring, we are only finding adults now.

It turns out that I have had two calls last week about large beetle grubs feeding.  Both of these cases have been confirmed as second year June beetle grubs.  One report is from Rodney, down by Chatham and the other is from east of Toronto.  These grubs are very big and will not be controlled by an application of Merit.  In just about a week or two leatherjackets will be pupating, getting ready to emerge as adults in the beginning to the middle of September.

In the next week or two, when temperatures have cooled off, it is a great time to aerate greens, just make sure that the stress period is over in your region.