Turf Scouting Report, September 3rd

Sept. 3, 2010 Scouting Report
It's September, It's Labor Day Weekend: Dry conditions peak, Roughs go dormant, Mosquito spray, Summer patch, Mystery patch, Type 1 Fairy Ring, Pythium blight, Tim's Poa control data, and Nick says "wordpress" 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - DSettle@cdga.org 
Lucky number 18? It turns out weathermen run statistics at the end of each month. We now know Chicago's recent June to August period was the 18th hottest and 18th wettest. Other regions were similar and some even hotter. For example, the Chicago Tribune recently reported on Central Park's temperature in New York City. "For June through August, the historic average for Central Park is 73.9 degrees, and it was 77.8 this year. The previous record high was 77.3 in 1966." Another historic meteorological average blown out of the water. In my mind 2010 comes down to two items. 1) Extreme: Record breaking temperatures and large precipitation totals. 2) Consistent: Weather parameters (e.g., temperature and relative humidity) can be very different week to week. It keeps us on our toes and is why I write weekly reports. However, a big record in Chicago was all about being consistent (i.e., longest stretch of 80+ days ever recorded). Entire swaths of the country also suffered the same persistent heat and humidity as well as flooding. That kind of consistency just devastates plant health. Plants adapted to cool climates need an occasional break in summer heat. It allows recovery and replenish food reserves (root carbohydrate store). Summer 2010 gave few breaks in the heat and our turf still shows it (no roots), increasingly so does the landscape (premature leaf drop). Not-so-lucky number 18!


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