Research

Annual bluegrass weevils (Photo: Charles Mazel)

Mowing down weevils

March 7, 2019 By Ben McGraw, Ph.D.

Many turfgrass managers in northeastern North America would rather forget the 2018 growing season. Record-breaking rainfall throughout the region affected most aspects of turfgrass management, including insect pest control. The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW), Listronotus maculicollis, is one insect pest ...

Read More

Annual bluegrass weevil damage (Photo: Katherine Diehl)

A lesser of two weevils?

February 26, 2019 By James Murphy, Ph.D., Mathew Elmore, Ph.D., Katherine H. Diehl and Albrecht M. Koppenhöfer, Ph.D.

The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) can inflict severe damage on annual bluegrass (Poa annua) fairways, greens and collars. Because the ABW showcases a strong preference for annual bluegrass over creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera), we hypothesized that manipulating traditional insecticide programs ...

Read More

Cool-season fairway species (Photo: Cale Bigelow)

Midwest cool-season fairway water requirements

January 31, 2019 By Cale A. Bigelow, Ph.D. and Jada Powlen, Ph.D.

Fairways are some of the largest areas of irrigated golf course turf. Although regions like the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast (where creeping bentgrass is widely used) are considered “humid,” acute drought can persist for weeks. Combine drought with water scarcity ...

Read More

Leaf spot disease symptoms (Photo: Maria Tomaso-Peterson)

Leaf spot and dollar spot on ultradwarf bermudagrass greens

January 22, 2019 By Phillip L. Vines and Maria Tomaso-Peterson, Ph.D.

Ultradwarf bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon x C. transvaalensis) is the predominant putting green turf in the southern U.S. This grass, however, produces profuse amounts of thatch, which leads to increased disease pressure from leaf spot (Figure 1), caused by Bipolaris cynodontis, ...

Read More

Visible differences in turf injury at seven days after application. (Photo: Ross Braun, Ph.D.)

Ryegrass injury and recovery from human insect repellent

January 14, 2019 By Jared Hoyle, Ph.D., Ross Braun, Ph.D. and Peyton E. South

Superintendents commonly observe turfgrass injury from human insect repellent (bug spray) overspray on human skin and clothing. The injury most commonly occurs as an outline shape of unaffected footprints with damaged surrounding turf. This injury results in unacceptable turf quality. ...

Read More

Bermudagrass cover (Photos: Gregg Munshaw)

Nitrogen and sprigging rate effects on Latitude 36 bermudagrass establishment

December 17, 2018 By Gregg Munshaw, Ph.D., Jeffrey S. Beasley, Ph.D., Christian Baldwin, Ph.D., Justin Q. Moss, Ph.D., Kenneth L. Cropper, Ph.D., H. Wayne Philley, Chrissie A. Segars, Ph.D. and Barry R. Steward, Ph.D.

Bermudagrass (Cynodon sp.) is widely grown throughout the southern United States for recreational and aesthetic purposes. Bermudagrass provides a heat- and drought-tolerant turfgrass that exhibits vigorous growth and good wear tolerance. Bermudagrass also is popular on golf courses because of ...

Read More