Much of Pennsylvania has hot (and some wet) weather forecasted. While temperatures look to be in the low 80s in areas like Erie and Scranton, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia temperatures will be in the upper 80s and low 90s for the next week or two. Regardless of the daily highs, it’s the nightly highs that look to stay consistently above 60F that should have you on high alert. Disease season is upon us. Happy Fourth of July!
Diseases
We have received a few samples of bacterial wilt in the past two weeks as well as some suspected white leaf. Neither of these diseases are all that common in any given year, but it seems to be showing up on several golf courses in the Northeast. The hardest part of both of these is that there’s not really much that can be done do control the disease from a chemical perspective. You can’t spray your way out of this one. Instead, cultural practices need to be adjusted that don’t always make the golfers happy. For bacterial wilt, raising mowing heights, reducing mowing frequency, only mowing when the turf is dry and avoiding any abrasive practices are important. If you’re seeing any small spots on your Poa or etiolation of individual plants on your greens, it’s a good idea to send a sample for diagnosis. For white leaf, we are throwing in the towel as management options are not known. There is the potential of this phytoplasma being spread by insects so perhaps an insecticide application may help.
On top of the bacterial wilt and white leave issues, we are now seeing dollar spot throughout the region and anticipating an upsurge of brown patch and Pythium blight. We are still a little early for gray leaf spot in our region, but we are approaching the period where preventive fungicide applications should be started in case we get some early outbreaks.
Weeds & Insects
We’re not hearing much buzz about any weeds and insects out there. Probably more of the same in dealing with summer annual weeds and annual bluegrass weevils, but in somewhat of a lull before white grubs. Keep us posted if you’re seeing or hearing anything that you feel needs to be reported on.