Turf Scouting Report, April 22nd

April is Cloudy and Cold! Bentgrass Purples, Snow Falls, Sub 50 Degree Soils, and Tim talks Tall Fescue Green-up 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - 
Cold and Wet. A week ago, I praised the progress of spring. I was sure winter was completely behind us and, like many others, I was checking off the appearance of our earliest blooms in the landscape - Forsythia, check. Also, for the first time, all cool-season turfgrass had attained a nice uniform shade of green and a few trees had begun to leaf out. This week things changed. During the day we had to accept a dismal cold and wet weather pattern above our heads. At night hard frosts would return and Mother Nature even delivered one final snowstorm for good measure. The weathermen put it to us this way: "It's rained 14 of April's first 21 days--a fact not lost on many rain and cloud-weary Chicagoans." "April 2011 is tied with 1953 as the cloudiest APRIL on the books here. The month, with 9 days left and at least two additional wet storms in line to visit the Midwest, has already logged 3.25 inches of rain..." Tom Skilling blog 4-22-10 

Superintendents were in disbelief (emails, texts, and photos to me) as some measured 2-3 inches of snow on Monday, April 18. Still, there is no holding back all the seasons - Easter is Sunday! 

Click here to view the April 22, 2011 Scouting Report. 

Have a good weekend and Happy Easter! 

Derek Settle, PhD 
Director of Turfgrass Program 
630-685-2307

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS 
Manager of Turfgrass Research 
630-685-2310