Know your foe: Annual bluegrass weevil
If there’s an area that keeps getting scuffed by the mower, the crew member who was blamed for it might be due an apology.
“Maybe your employees aren’t as bad at mowing certain areas as maybe you thought,” says Nathan Nordstedt Ph.D., technical service manager, Quali-Pro. “If you have little pockets that are drying down quicker, maybe some severe spots with some scalping, it could be ABW (annual bluegrass weevil) damage.”
Nordstedt says superintendents are reporting ABW damage from areas where it hadn’t previously been seen.
“Ohio, Michigan, Illinois … unfortunately, I recently received a call from Nebraska,” Nordstedt says. “At this time, it’s still sporadic. We’re not saying it’s a widespread issue in all of those states, but we are getting the calls. It might be coming in from sod. There are many ways this pest can move. That’s why we recommend: have a plan in place.”
The gold standard
The first step is to properly identify the pest, says James Hempfling, Ph.D., Green Solution Team for Envu.
“ABW damage often gets mistaken for anthracnose or drought or heat stress, so getting a knife in the ground and actually looking for larva is a key tip,” Hempfling says. “I think folks probably have ABW and see that damage for a year or two, and maybe it’s by the third year they get a knife in the ground and realize, ‘Hey, I think this is what’s causing this decline.’”
Hempfling says this year has been “a relatively standard year” for ABW, and folks who had their programs dialed in have had success in holding the pest at bay.
Nordstedt agrees, and suggests superintendents visit Suprado.com to learn more about ABW and the insecticide Suprado, which he calls “the gold standard” for ABW control. Suprado is an insect growth regulator (IGR) with the active ingredient novaluron.
“We always talk about how important it is to be proactive with most of our approaches, and Suprado is no different. We have research to back that Suprado is able to control multiple generations of the ABW, so you’re not just going out with something like a pyrethroid where you’re just going to get that quick knockdown control,” he says.
“What we’re looking for with a product like Suprado is, thinking of those really early spring applications, before you’re hitting the 175 GDD (growing degree day) time point, and making those applications so that way you’re getting it down, you’re taking advantage of that residual activity that you’re getting with a product like Suprado and you’re getting control of both the adults as they’re migrating, but then also getting control of those early larval instars, and those are the ones that are doing the most damage.”
Hempfling also endorses Suprado, as well as Tetrino insecticide, for superintendents.
“Our ABW program involves an adulticide application. We try to focus on using phenological and growing degree day model-based approaches to time any of these initial applications for ABW,” Hempfling says. “That adulticide application timing … something like Suprado results in really great control down the road and setting yourself up for success. The Suprado application at the traditional adulticide timing, 150 growing degree days for example, then you follow that with a Tetrino application at the traditional larvicide application timing — somewhere around 200 to 400 growing degree days. Your phenological indicators and scouting also can help, but that that one-two punch Suprado/Tetrino — I struggle to think of a simpler, more effective program.”
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