Scouting Report: June 4th
A common theme this week has been the abundance of sunshine in the region. Days are getting noticeably longer as the summer solstice is fast approaching.
By Thursday, even the small mid-level clouds went away in areas north of Chicago. In Central Illinois, sunny skies prevailed over El Paso Golf Club. The turf was more than happy to reflect green back to us.
As sunny as it has been, there are still spots on golf courses that just can’t get enough. Managing shade and increasing air movement are just a few of the justifications for tree removal. However, not every facility can remove all the trees on their wish list. This can be due to limited resources or membership concerns.
To this note, some golf course superintendents get creative in developing alternative solutions.
Artificial surfaces are used on golf courses for a few reasons. Some use artificial mats in heavily shaded in-play areas. This is most commonly implemented on par 3 tee surfaces that experience substantial wear. In this situation, the artificial mat provides a uniform playing surface in an area that natural grass wouldn’t thrive in.
Artificial mats are also becoming more popular in high-use practice areas.
Many facilities are installing artificial mats on practice range tees. This is done to not only to reduce wear, but to also extend the playing season to the golfer. These surfaces are not maintenance free, however. Blowing debris off and weed removal are fairly common on these surfaces. I have even seen fungi use the artificial fibers as a substrate for colony growth!
Areas with a large amount of artificial grass (sports fields) even install irrigation systems. This is done to cool off the surface on hot-sunny days. This isn’t necessary for artificial mats on golf courses.
What has needed irrigation and hand watering this week are low-mow grasses, recently laid sod, and newly planted flowers and ornamentals.
Temperatures have broken 80 degrees in most parts of Illinois late this week. At the Midwest Golf House, max temperatures approached 85 degrees on Friday afternoon. It was a very comfortable 85 degrees. The reason it was a ‘comfortable’ 85 degrees was because the relative humidity and dew points were very low.
Dew points in the 40’s were recorded in Northern Illinois on Friday afternoon. Dew points in the 40’s and air temperatures in the 80’s means very low humidity. This dry trend started earlier in the week and each day has gotten progressively less humid.
By Friday, irrigation heads were spinning during the morning and hand-watering was administered in the afternoon. Were are in the beginning of the 100 days of summer and have already begun wilt watching.
Some wilt was evident on our creeping bentgrass putting green variety trial. Appears some cultivars are more quick to wilt than others.
Recently placed sod was also struggling during this dry spell. Those slinging sod right now need to monitor these areas frequently. Other areas that felt the heat were recently planted flowers and ornamentals. Unfortunately, there were also a few pests running around that compounded this issues.
Weeds
Crabgrass is up and running within grassy areas in the SW areas of Chicago. This weed becomes much more pronounced as summer heat sets in. As of now, most crabgrass is in the 2–4 leaf stage in Northern Illinois.
Moss took advantage of the wet conditions last week. Fortunately, this week’s lack of substantial rainfall and dry air has kept it in check. Applications of carfentrazone made last week seem to be working.
Cottonwoods are still dropping seed right now and it almost looks like a fresh coat of snow in some locations. Another tree dropping debris right now are locust trees.
Lastly, just a PSA. Poison ivy is beginning to spread pretty rapidly in the area. Be mindful of these plants if you are trekking through the woods looking for your golf ball.
Insects
More observations of cutworm damage came in this week. Some have also reported grub damage. I am on the lookout for grubs and sod webworm right now.
I am also beginning to see mite activity on ornamental plants and trees. Additionally, spider mites are making webs on the turf canopy. These webs can look an awful like dollar spot.
Diseases
Dollar spot was active late last week and early this week. This disease will most likely continue throughout summer and into the fall. Once this train starts, it becomes difficult to stop…
During my travels, most golf course superintendents have an excellent action plan against this disease. Some like to go out early with fungicide sprays and some like to approach it from a curative stand point. No matter the chemical strategy, most facilities are now dragging fairways to reduce dew formation.
This week I diagnosed Pythium root rot on a creeping bentgrass putting green in the Chicago area. These symptoms were likely brought on by previous rainfall events last week. This disease is favored by high soil moisture, poor drainage, and high organic matter. This disease does not need hot temperatures.
In this case, damage was more severe in the low lying areas on the edge of the green. However, damage was also evident in the middle of the green. On this course, severity was more pronounced on creeping bentgrass compared to annual bluegrass.
This disease is difficult to diagnose and manage. Diagnosis in the lab is usually required to detect the presence of Pythium oospores embedded in root tissue. Above ground symptoms are not always distinguishable. At times a purpling discoloration occurs. Other times the plants appear sunken at first.
Management is difficult because it is caused by a root infecting pathogen. Because of this, traditional foliar applications that dry on the leaf surface may not be effective. Post application irrigation is critical in putting the chemical at the site of infection.
I also observed a disease called brown blight this week. Brown blight is one of those “Helminthosporium” diseases. This disease primarily occurs on perennial ryegrass in the spring, summer, and early fall months.
Brown blight is a leaf spotting disease that can mimic gray leaf spot. This disease can also produce patch like symptoms in fairway turf areas.
This disease was observed on fairways that consisted of bentgrass, bluegrass, and ryegrass. Only ryegrass was affected in this scenario. Fortunately, not many courses have large ryegrass populations that remain. This is due, in part, because of how susceptible ryegrass is to diseases such as gray leaf spot, Pythium blight, and brown patch.
This week I also observed disease activity on our trees and ornamental plants.
Cedar apple rust was very pronounced this week as evident by the oranage colored telial horns.
Spring rains have also brought on anthracnose of maple trees.
Subscribe to scouting reports: http://cdgaturf.org/
Twitter: CDGATurfgrassProgram
Email: jbenelli@CDGA.org
Phone: 630–685–2307
