June 1, 2012 Scouting Report Cool Rain as June Begins: Take-all patch of bentgrass, Fairy ring on fairways, Wet Restarts Dollar Spot and Microdochium, and Tim says that W Word Waitea Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - e DSettle@cdga.org web www.cdgaturf.org In a week we were the driest in quite some time like several years. Of course, my eyes were on the turf and less than normal rain continued to be the look. The brownest looking lawns had appeared very early it was May! Memorial Day weekend did the trick when a combination of heat and wind dropped a hammer on the landscape and maybe even your head if you manage portions of the outdoor landscape for a living. It was a big thump, but sprinklers and hoses lessened it into a thud (our 1st of the season). You see, last Sunday saw temperature highs approach 100 in Chicago, very unusual during any summer month up this way. But, the best Heat+Wind. Temperary midday wilt of L-93 creeping bentgrass fairway, Lemont. Settle 5-29-12 part of our recent 7 day story is that it had a silver lining (two parts). Part I: Long-awaited rain did arrive and it s timing was beyond good as rain has been kinda rare in May March and April for that matter. Still, Kentucky bluegrass and creeping bentgrass continue to enjoy their deep roots of a 2012 spring without overly saturated soils and flooding. What about Poa did you say? Well, she s been looking a little yellowish. Part II: Then yesterday, things suddenly looked up for whimps like Poa annua given our high temp hit 50-some degrees. Seriously? So, here s to June, the month that lets us say SUMMER. Although we remain confused, on the exact season, our rain gauges are full (momentarily) and our faces are smiling (end-of-week-cool-break-thing). Page 1
Weather Dry, hot conditions ended for northern Illinois, southern Illinois remains DRY. Temperature (F) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 May Ended With Ta Da! Some Of Us Said, "That's Really Cool!" 95 Sunday's high impressed! 90 84 72 65 52 48 Thursday's high impressed! High Low Soil (avg. 2 inches) 9-May 7-May 5-May 3-May 1-May 11-May 13-May 15-May Sunshine Golf Course (Lemont - a southwest Chicago suburb) Northern Illinois Super Scout Received the needed rain, a bit wet now but will take it. 17-May 19-May 21-May 23-May 25-May 27-May 29-May 31-May 100 90 Southern IL Drought Biggest Concern: May counted 11 days +90 95 91 92 91 92 92 91 91 94 94 92 Temperature (F) 80 70 60 50 79 74 54 40 High Low Soil (avg. 2 inches) 1-May Southern Illinois Super Scout This week was forecasted to have plenty of rain We did end up with a couple tenths in the rain gauge but we had numerous cells disappear as they crossed the river. We have yet to have a rain event with over 1 in a calendar day in 2012. We saw the first widespread numbers of Japanese beetles earlier in the week. Because of the droughty conditions in the region I am sure golf courses will be a favorite for the beetles this season while they look for some moist ground. The end of the week brought cloud cover and cool temperatures. The temperatures, for the most part, have been great this season but precipitation keeps dodging us. Page 2 3-May 5-May 7-May 9-May 11-May 13-May 15-May Hickory Ridge Golf Course (Carbondale - Southern Illinois) 17-May 19-May 21-May 23-May 25-May 27-May 29-May 31-May
Daily precipitation (inches) 1.3 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.3 0.0 1 May Turns Out, May Was Dry... Drier For Some 3.2 inches Northern IL (Lemont) vs. 1.75 inches Southern IL (Carbondale) Sunshine Course, Lemont Hickory Ridge GC, Carbondale 0.76 0.500 3 May 5 May 0.66 0.60 0. 08 0.04 7 May 9 May 11 May 0.18 0.03 13 May 0.15 15 May 17 May 19 May 0.52 0.25 21 May 23 May 25 May 1.14 0.06 27 May 0.04 29 May 0.82 0.23 31 May Thursday's rainy chill a 43-degree plunge from Sunday's 97; it's Chicago's biggest 5-day May temperature pullback in 58 years! The temperature plunge we've witnessed the past 5- days is incredibly rare. The 43-degree dive in daytime temperatures, from Sunday's record breaking 97-degree high to Thursday's 54-degree pre-dawn highh (which occurred midnight Wednesday night/thursday morning), is the biggest 5-day May plunge observed here since 1958. Page 3
This Week I said in order of observation. 1) Midday Wilt! 2) Waitea! 1. Midday Wilt. Low relative humidity values were scary this week in Chicago (e.g., 25% at 1 pm on Sunshine Course). Evapotranspiration (ET) rates in central Illinois were reportedly as high as 0.4 to 0.45 inches per day. In two days you would need an inch of irrigation to keep up! Midday wilt stress affecting both Kentucky bluegrass rough and bentgrass collar. Settle 5-29-12 2. Waitea. Waitea circinata var. circinata continues even though very dry. Actual disease is probably not progressing, just symptom expression. The fungus infects the sheath of Poa annua. A low front of a fairway that held water in early May is now dry and symptoms of Waitea continue to look better and better. It s a little bit deceiving, but I like it. Waitea! Settle 5-30-12 Page 4
This Week I said in order of observation. 3) Microdochium! 4) Herbicide injury! 3. Microdochium. A diligent fungus amazes us. As quickly as the weather cools and moisture returns be it irrigation, dew, or better yet rain M. nivale is back in action on a putting green. Microdochium patch first observed in action during a cool wet period in April continues to impress. Spores as a means to spread! Like a tennis match: Advantage M. nivale. Settle 5-30-12 4. Herbicide injury. Applications made during a week of highs 80 to 90 can risk turf injury!!! We learn. In this case, herbicide injury is tip burn which appears reddish-brown on a bentgrass fairway temperatures within the week of application were just too hot/stressful. Settle 5-30-12 Page 5
This Week I said in order of observation. 5) Take-all! 6) Fairy Ring! 5. Take-all Patch. Take-all symptoms appear in June during first drought stress. By July it disappears, soil temperatures over 70 are too warm for Gaeumannomyces graminis var. avenae. Take-all is very rare perennial disease of bentgrass fairways (above is 10+ years old). Mainly G. graminis is a root disease of newly established bentgrass in just it s first few years. Settle 5-30- 12 6. Fairy ring. The ring symptoms can be obvious on golf surfaces. I saw a BIG type 2 this week. Fairy ring symptoms are most obvious whenever nitrogen fertility is low. Basidiomycete fungi release nutrients as they degrade organic matter for food, green rings where active. Settle 5-30-12 Page 6
Tim Sibicky, MS - TSibicky@cdga.org CDGA Turfgrass Research Manager Waitea circinata var. circinata 2012 Research Waitea patch (Waitea circinata var. circinata) showed up early this year in the Chicago region. For example, it appeared the earliest ever on April 30 at Biltmore Country Club in N. Barrington. In Chicago, Waitea patch also referred to as brown ring patch, affects only the Poa annua component of golf surfaces and creeping bentgrass remains unaffected. Symptoms are ring to irregular crescent-shaped patches that range in size from a few inches to several feet in diameter. Waitea symptoms typically appear bright yellow in color. However, we are currently seeing a phenomenon that is not well documented or understood and our symptoms have switched from initial bright yellow rings to dark green rings which could be confused with type 2 fairy ring. 2012 Research in Progress. Our research on Waitea is well underway at Biltmore Country Club on a regulation Poa annua plus bentgrass putting green. First preventative applications on a 21 day interval were applied April 19, followed by May 10 and May 31. The fungicide treatments (per 1000ft 2 ) include Cleary s 3336 4.0 fl oz, Velista 0.5 oz, Torque 0.6 fl oz, Affirm 0.9 oz + Torque 0.6 fl oz, Triton Flo 0.75 fl oz, Triton Flo 0.75 fl oz + 0.5 lbs N by urea, as well as three experimental fungicide treatments. An early curative treatment of Affirm (Polyoxin-D) has also been applied four times or every 7 days since first symptoms of disease occurred on April 30. Late curative treatments were also applied, starting May 10 th and include a one-time application of Triton Flo 0.75 fl oz + 0.5 lbs N by urea, as well as three rates of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, a low rate 0.15 lbs N, a mid-rate 0.30 lbs N, and a high rate 0.5 lbs N. The N-alone treatments have been applied twice (May 10 and May 31). Page 7
NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetative Index) Area Under Progress Curve (AUPC) 1.57 1.55 1.53 1.51 1.49 1.47 1.45 a ab abc a d 3 dates: 10 May, 21 May, 29 May b e b e b e b e b e b e b e cde de ef f *Means with same letter do not differ significantly (P < 0.05, FLSD) Figure 1. NDVI is calculated using Spectrum Technologies Turf Color Meter 500. The instrument provides plant health values by use of an infrared sensor to quantify light reflectance. We see a number of good differences amongst all the treatments found in Figure 1. Some of the treatments show increases in overall color while other treatments indicate a yellowing, thinning or phytotoxicity potential. These negative impacts are seen in the lower values of the three experimental treatments as well as Torque (a.i. tebuconazole, DMI family) and Torque and Affirm combination. The two treatments that combine TritonFlo + N by urea (0.5 lb N) vary in results. An early treatment (April 19) with higher value has better health. It was applied during cooler temperatures and currently remains without disease probably because it has had more time to take up the nitrogen. The late treatment (May 10) trended lower, likely because less time for nitrogen uptake, increased levels of disease and possibly due to stress from an application during higher temperatures. Three levels of urea nitrogen rank at the top for green color, 0.5 lbs N having the best color and 0.3 lbs N and 0.15 lbs N closely behind. Our question was, could we apply nitrogen as a curative approach for disease control and achieve acceptable results without a fungicide? The answer was yes and no. The three rates of N by urea were applied on May 10, and in 4 days we saw reductions in disease. However, by May 21 we are seeing higher levels of symptoms associated with N by urea and this time not bright yellow rings, but dark green rings. Treatments that do not provide good control are now with dark green ring and patch symptoms. Page 8
Visual Green Color of Waitea Patches Green color 0 4 (4 is darkest green) 4 3 2 1 0 a ab abc abc bcd cd 1 date: 21 May cd de e e e e e e e *Means with same letter do not differ significantly (P < 0.05, FLSD) Figure 2. Variations of green intensity of the darkened green rings was quantified using NDVI and a visual rating on a 1-4 scale (4 is darkest). Only visual rating data is shown. All fungicide treatments applied on a 21 day basis except Affirm (curative every 7 days). Triton Flo + N (early preventive) was applied only once on April 19 or (late curative) on May 10. Compared to untreated, N by urea treatments were not able to suppress Waitea regardless of rate used (per 1000 ft 2 ) 0.15 lb N (low) 0.3 lb N (mid) 0.5 lb N (high). Page 9
May 10, 2012 May 21, 2012 The photos above are from the same 0.5 lb N by urea plot, the top photo (May 10) and the bottom photo (May 21). Yellow rings have rebounded and now we see dark green rings. Sibicky Page 10
Final Images: Nature on Sunshine Course in Lemont, Illinois Sand Hill Crane. We seem to attract big birds on Sunshine Course in Lemont. Painter 5-23-12 Don t tell Dr. Diesburg, but the Zenith zoysia seeding study just got interesting! Painter 5-30-12 Smile! June arrives with rain and so an abnormally warm season sees a break. Derek, Tim, Chris, Peter, Anthony and Niki The CDGA Turfgrass Program Page 11