Author: Zac Reicher

With the returning rains in the state, now is the most important time to fertilize cool-season turfgrasses like creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall or fine fescue. September fertilization is crucial on all turf areas regardless if it...

It now almost too late to seed this fall to expect the seedlings to form a good stand before winter, especially with the dry conditions that remain in the forecast. The optimum time to seed cool-season turfgrasses is between Aug....

A few rust calls are starting to trickle in, which is typical at this time of the year. Rust symptoms are reddish-orange lesions or spots on the leaf blades and a rust-colored powder that you can rub off with your...

The dry summer allowed sandbur to get a competitive edge over the other lawn grasses on the sandy soils in northern Indiana. Most people don’t realize they have sandbur in their lawn until they come into painful contact with it,...

Mark your calendars for Nov 15-16 for MRTF’s Turf and Ornamental Seminar. Like last year, the course is advanced for lawn care, golf course, sports turf, and sales staff. Topics include recovery from summer damage, bill bugs and white grubs,...

Openings are still available for the MRTF Golf Day on Oct 13 at the Hale Irwin-designed Coyote Crossing Golf Club in West Lafayette. This is the seventh annual event held to promote turfgrass research, raise awareness of the Purdue Turfgrass...

With the heat and humidity of this summer, our cool-season grasses continue to thin making it one of the better years in recent memory for crabgrass and nutsedge. In Lafayette, we’ve had 50 days of temperatures higher than 85F, 18...

We’ve just entered the optimum seeding window for cool-season grasses throughout the state of Indiana. Though seed will germinate at a wide variety of temperatures, the optimum temperatures for germination are in the table below. The temperatures listed are air...

Tired of the way your lawn looks? If it hasn’t looked up to par this summer with the relatively good weather, it never will and reseeding your lawn is an option. Mid-August is the best time to seed a new...

The summary of our turfgrass research in the year 2004 is now available at http://www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/report/2004/index.htm. The overall goal of our research program is to minimize inputs while maintaining turf quality, minimizing costs, and further protecting our environment. Our research summary contains...

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped make the 2005 Midwest Regional Turf Field Day a success on Tuesday, July 26. A hot steamy day with thankfully a brisk breeze greeted the almost 750 attendees. Attendees had the opportunity to...

Persistent air temperatures of 90F and soil temperatures greater than 80F combine with high humidity and adequate rainfall (in some areas) is doing in the Poa annua (annual bluegrass)and Poa trivialis (rough bluegrass)on golf courses. After a week or two...

Persistent air temperatures of 90F and soil temperatures greater than 80F combine with high humidity and adequate rainfall (in some areas) is also doing in the Poa annua (annual bluegrass)and Poa trivialis (rough bluegrass)on lawns and athletic fields. Patches of...

Dollar spot, pythium, brown patch, rust, and perhaps other diseases are ravaging perennial ryegrass lawns currently (See the attached (undoctored!) photos). Turf performance in July and August is the main reason I don’t recommend perennial ryegrass for lawns in Indiana....

Don’t forget to register for the Midwest Regional Turf Field Day that will be held on July 26 at the W.H. Daniel Turfgrass Research and Diagnostic Center in West Lafayette. This is a great opportunity for turf professionals to view...

This is the toughest and most expensive time of the year to establish a lawn and waiting just four or five weeks to seed in the first half of August would be ideal. However, in some cases it must be...

Dry and hot conditions may unfortunately favor early exit of Poa annua from golf turf. However, there is a silver lining to this. Rutgers reported that overseeding creeping bentgrass directly into a Poa stand in summer is effective for gradual...

Velocity (byspribac) was registered for Poa annua control in creeping bentgrass last November, so this is the first summer of potential widespread use. As with all new pesticides, we’ll learn more of the finer details as we use it. We...

If you are not a member of the Midwest Regional Turf Foundation, you can join now and receive one free registration to the MRTF Field Day on July 26. Other benefits of joining include reduced registration rates at all of...

There are many questions about turf survival in drought with the on-going drought in most parts of the state. Though we understand many of the mechanisms of turf survival in drought, it’s hard to duplicate all of the potential situations...