For those in the Indianapolis area, customers of the Department of Waterworks – City of Indianapolis are “asking residential and business customers to not water lawns through Friday, July 29 in the wake of continued lack of rain, high heat, and high water consumption”. The request is voluntary – initially requested on Wednesday, July 20…Read more about Water Restrictions and Managing Turf During Drought[Read More]
Many Indiana turf professionals who used the herbicide Imprelis® in the fall of 2010 or spring of 2011 and now are reporting off-target damage to trees and ornamentals in the landscape. Additionally, many homeowners have read an article or seen a news story about a Imprelis®. Below are links for homeowners and for turf professionals…Read more about Imprelis UPDATE and INFORMATION[Read More]
A new posting has been added to Turfcast. See Turfcast (http://btny.agriculture.purdue.edu/turfcast/ ) to read more about this post and for a daily summary of risk for several turfgrass diseases. Rick Latin, Turfgrass Pathologist
Extreme heat is stressing turf areas quickly! High temperatures cause turf decline There are many causes of turf decline in the summer, but three primary physiological causes are 1) low photosynthesis rates at high temperatures, 2) lack of sufficient moisture, and 3) photorespiration. Photorespiration occurs instead of photosynthesis at temperatures above 87 °F causing cool-season…Read more about The Heat is On![Read More]
Since last fall, we have been working on revising our turf website and creating a new blog that could be used to deliver our Turf Tips eNewsletter. Among our goals for the development of the website were to 1) answer the most commonly asked questions by clientele and contain commonly needed information, 2) allow easy…Read more about New Website and Blog for Purdue Turfgrass Program[Read More]
Thanks to all the 530 attendees and 32 exhibitors who attended the Midwest Regional Turfgrass Field Day Tuesday (July 19, 2011) at the W.H. Daniel Turfgrass Research Center in W. Lafayette, IN. We had golf and lawn research tours in the morning, two afternoon tours, and one afternoon workshop and addressed many current topics including…Read more about Hot Topics at a Hot Field Day![Read More]
Annual bluegrass (Poa annua) is a common weed on golf courses, but is now also becoming a problem on higher mowed turf areas such as lawns and athletic fields. This grass is lighter colored than Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass and can be identified by its boat-shaped leaf tip and membranous ligule (see Turf Tip…Read more about Annual bluegrass starting to succumb to summer stress in lawns[Read More]
June 28/11. We are reporting very high numbers of black cutworm moths in traps right now. These numbers are, in fact, higher than we have seen in many years. What this means to you is that there is a possibility that these moths will lay eggs on your turf and the resulting caterpillars may damage…Read more about Warning: High Numbers of Black Cutworms in Traps[Read More]
A few weeks ago we posted information on herbicide damage to spruce and pine (link here). We are continuing to see some new cases of damage, but many with affected trees are simply waiting to see whether or not their trees will recover. For those of you who might have trees with suspected injury to…Read more about Herbicide damage on Spruce and Pine – Update[Read More]
A new posting has been added to Turfcast. See Turfcast (http://btny.agriculture.purdue.edu/turfcast/ ) to read more about this post and for a daily summary of risk for several turfgrass diseases. Rick Latin, Turfgrass Pathologist
Educational Opportunity: Turf Field Day Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Daniel Turf Center, West Lafayette, IN Attendee Registration Form Exhibitor Registration Form Attendee On-line Registration Diagnostic Training: Lawn Care Thursday, July 28, 2011 Daniel Turf Center, West Lafayette, IN Attendee Registration Form Attendee On-line Registration
The Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab (PPDL) has recently received several samples of Norway spruce and white pine with symptoms that appear to be associated with injury caused by synthetic auxin (growth regulator type) herbicides. Typical off-target symptoms caused by these herbicides can include epinasty (twisting and curling) of the shoot and tips (Fig. 1)…Read more about Herbicide damage on Spruce and Pine[Read More]
A new posting has been added to Turfcast. See Turfcast (http://btny.agriculture.purdue.edu/turfcast/ ) to read more about this post and for a daily summary of risk for several turfgrass diseases. Rick Latin, Turfgrass Pathologist
In addition to earthworms, there are several insects that can create small mounds of soil above the surface of turfgrass. Usually such mounding is of minimal consequence and, in fact, is beneficial to turfgrass environments as it accomplishes the same thing as cultivation, aeration and top-dressing – only on a very small scale. On occasion,…Read more about Mound Making on Greens and Tees[Read More]
Zoysia grass is a warm-season grass that is being more frequently used in warm, humid and transitional regions. As zoysia is becoming more frequent in our state we are learning more about the pests that attack it. The photograph below was taken of a stand of zoysia in the southern part of Indiana. It was…Read more about The Case of the Dead Zoysia in Southern Indiana[Read More]
A new posting has been added to Turfcast. See Turfcast (http://btny.agriculture.purdue.edu/turfcast/ ) to read more about brown patch and for a daily summary of risk for several turfgrass diseases. Rick Latin, Turfgrass Pathologist
Last summer and fall we experienced some widespread drought throughout the state which we documented with turf tips in July, September, and November as well as tips on reestablishment this March (click here for an archive of these tips). Most were uncertain as to what the extent of the damage would be until the turf…Read more about Drought Damage on Zoysiagrass Lawns[Read More]
Sod webworms may cause damage to closely mowed turfgrass early in the spring. Damage, similar to that depicted in the photos below, may be seen on golf tees and greens. The overwintered caterpillars become active when the temperatures warm up in the spring and begin to tunnel and feed. They are mostly active at night,…Read more about Sod webworms[Read More]
Turf Field Day Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Daniel Turf Center, West Lafayette, IN Attendee Registration Form Exhibitor Registration Form
April was a wet month in Indiana with rainfall totaling 2-10 inches more than normal in April for areas of Indiana (see precipitation map below). Heavy rainfall can cause flooding stress on turf. Flooding reduces oxygen to the plants from the soil and could ultimately lead to plant death without oxygen. If water saturation is…Read more about Flooding on turf[Read More]
