It's Fall: Residual Dollar Spot of Bentgrass and Summer Patch of Bluegrass, Animals/Grubs Rough Up the Rough, and Tim says Cultivar A B C D E F G

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

Midweek, a light frost on Chicago's blades of turf. I would take a look at my weather archives only to discover we hadn't been that cold since the 3rd week of May. So now the growing season works in reverse as we lose daylength by about 3 minutes a day - it all happens too quickly. To be clear we had wished for our first fall day of September 22nd months ago. For most (those in the growing season trenches of 2012) that wish was about mid-July when extreme weather events had brought us to our knees both mentally and physically. Olympics weren't just on TV because we were living it! It was record pace stuff - an early greenup in March segwayed into extreme summer drought/heat and later meterologists would report clocking the hottest summer month ever in the United States. If you ask some they will say we were just fine.

Actually we had begun to panic, but of course we can never publicly say so. Nevertheless by about late summer (regardless of year) both human beings and plants seem to say, "What summer?" Our human mind is forgetful and plants in the landscape are just amazingly resilient. Still we should know otherwise - the watchful superintendent continues to monitor and report surface water levels are still quite low. But alas we are now well progressed into our end of season project phase. In a week a certain camera was focused less on being a scout in the name of integrated pest management (IPM). Click would follow the hum of engines that propell heavy equipment to rennovate areas. Click would follow the silent germination and emergence of turf. Yep, it's fall.

Click here to view the September 21, 2012 Scouting Report.

Enjoy your cool, with a dash of a little wet, weekend.

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
(630) 685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
(630) 685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog
We usually do not make a frost delay post until October, but it looks like we could have our first frost delay Sunday morning.  Some courses in the Chicago area have already had to deal with frost this week.  We did have patches of frost in the roughs, but nothing that delayed our work.

Here are some previous posts with frost information:

Frost

Frost For Friday?
The strain of a hot dry summer proved to be more than some areas could withstand.  We sodded spots of a few bunkers, and resodded all of the green side bunker on 5, and the pond bank on 14.  The two predominating characteristics of these areas are south facing slopes, or a large amount of sand is hit onto the bunker face.  In some cases both contributed to the decline of condition.

Please respect the ropes in these areas until the sod has a chance to attach roots.

South facing slopes were particularly hard hit by the continuous sunshine and heat this summer.  The pond bank at 14 green was resodded because of that.

This picture shows how much sand is thrown on to the bunker face from shots hit out of the sand.  If you have walked across a beach on a hot sunny day, you know how hot the sand can get.  The same thing happens to the sand on the bunker face.  When the sand heats up, it kills the grass that is around it.

We plan to do more sod projects as the fall progresses.  The areas we will concentrate on later are the tees.  Many of the tees have bentgrass creeping into the rough around the tee box.  We will cut that bentgrass out and resod with bluegrass.
The driving range tee and its divots continues to be a major topic of conversation.  The club enjoys one of the finest practice facilities around, and it shows - it gets used a lot!  Rarely is there a time during the day when there is not at least one person on the practice tee warming up or working on their game.  This leads to lots of divots.  We are continuing to try to spread the word about divot patterns that will disrupt a smaller area (Practice Tee Divot Patterns) and allow the divots to heal faster.

Here are a set of pictures taken recently of the practice tee the morning after a day of regular play.  It shows how much the tee gets used.



Divots taken in this pattern (above and below) will take much longer to heal than divots taken in the preferred pattern of a line.



The practice areas get used very frequently.  The more use they receive, the longer it will take for the surface to return to normal.  By disrupting less area with a divot pattern in a line, it will take less time for the tee to return to normal.
Cool Nights Mean Normal: Dollar Spot, Rust, White Grubs, Sod Rolling Up (animals search for said grubs) and Tim says Festuca arundinacea

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

This week, temperatures were both warm and cool. Plants said Huh? Actually it meant our season was acting right again for a change as the calendar is now pretty much between summer and fall. Our jaws would drop wide open when lows dropped to 47° twice in Lemont - we've now experienced our first really cool period since June. It's a real joy when nights hold the mercury to 50° or less. The surprise/enthusiasm if you manage turf? Well if jackets are on, the trend of FEWER issues will only accelerate. Rewind. Just a week ago the landscape looked and felt like a lot of trouble. Midsummer had briefly returned to 5th gear when our nights remained warm and humid. My Everything word last week meant all major fungal diseases of turf were banging their pots and pans - should've said Yikes as eyes get real big seeing nuclear dollar spot.

But it's September and so fast-forward to normal. Normal would be dealing with moderate levels of foliar rust and dollar spot affecting Kentucky bluegrass roughs. Normal would be root damage from things like annual white grubs. Normal would be waking up to see the amazing sod rolling ability of hungry animals - grubs!?! Normal would be catching up with paperwork. Ahh, normal.

Click here to view the September 14, 2012 Scouting Report.

Enjoy normal and what is to be a beautiful weekend of weather!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog
Everything: Anthracnose, Bipolaris of Bent, Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, Pythium Blight, Summer Patch, and Tim's Data Says Brown Patch and Dollar Spot

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

September begins to Lights, Camera, Action. In other words this summer didn't quite stop when I said so! We would see everything in a week and along the way we just kept on learning more and more. And do you know what I decided? It appears that the MOST impressive fungus on planet earth is arguably Sclerotinia homoeocarpa or dollar spot. In just a few days we saw it's developement double in untreated research plots on our creeping bentgrass greens at Sunshine Course in Lemont (30-40% blighted area became 60-80%). Furthermore, any creeping bentgrass varieties which lacked genetic resistance to dollar spot were observed to light up like a Christmas tree. Only it's not December though Santa Claus early sounded really good to most of us back in July.

Still, golf courses remain on a relatively smooth road to recovery as roots continue their deligent downward return to home (a moist and nutrient-rich rootzone is waiting). "Good health" are recent reports of greens and fairways and it means core aerification can begin on schedule for many (nothing promotes root growth/penetration more than poking holes). We continue to round what feels like the last quarter lap of the longest marathon ever run and continue to be tested. Our brains, experience and artistry has gotten a workout in 2012. I cannot remember seeing more fungal disease varieity in a week...I just relearned turf plant pathology 101, everything in 4 days!

Click here to view the September 7, 2012 Scouting Report.

Have a nice cooler feeling weekend. I for one will be listening to the roots grow!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog
Return of Warm August: Roots Are Better, Poa Collars Wilt, 1st Grub Damage Wows, Dollar Spot Brews, Yellow Tuft Surprises, and Tim's Research Update

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

August decided it was August after all and we would warm considerably and find ourselves right back in the saddle of summer. Yet, our attitude is decidedly different compared to early July. Why? Well we know this 2012 growing season is now past midsummer peak heat caused by long day length and a bright sun that is directly overhead midday. Currently our nights are much cooler by about 10 degrees, seeing 60s for lows mainly. Still, this week got hot and if you were out in the sun without sunscreen your skin was lobster-like? On these new found warm days of summer we began lifting our fingers (again). In the week before Labor Day I for one said, "forty-two, forty-three, forty-four". Yep, we are getting close to forty-seven, the all-time record number of days with high temperatures at or above 90 degrees in a Chicago growing season. New signs tell us it's really the tail-end of a difficult growing season. We began noticing fall color of trees, our first went from green to golden yellow (honeylocusts and lindens). I was also glad to notice Illinois wildflowers continue their peak, tall things like asters, sunflowers, and THAT goldenrod.

Golf course superintendents are increasingly turning their attention, goals, and labor to projects to improve playing surfaces and the overall landscape of their courses. We continue to distance ourselves from July and it now has me saying something quite profound... Welcome September!

Click here to view the August 31, 2012 Scouting Report.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend with family and friends!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog
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