The last several days we have experienced day-time temps in the high 80s and night-time temps in the 60s. We are coming off of a very mild wimpy winter with limited snow cover across pretty much all of the upper half of the United States. This bare ground is heating up the atmosphere earlier and more aggressively than in years past for the beginning of the spring season. The Forsythia are in full bloom which is a good indicator for beginning pre-emergent herbicide programs.

Early this week, I was in Western Michigan at The Egypt Valley Country Club spending time with Director of Golf Course Operations, Jeff Holmes, CGCS. At 3:30 p.m., we put a soil thermometer in a USGA Sand Green at a 2” depth. The temperature was 75 degrees and in the fairways, the temperature was 65 degrees. Near the Lake in Cleveland, Ohio the temps on USGA Sand Greens was at 65 degrees and at 59 degrees in the fairways.

Golf course managers prepare turfgrass for early-season play

Bottom line, this spring a lot of the golf course maintenance tasks have been condensed into a tight window. I.E. PGR applications, pre-emergent herbicide applications, post-emergent grass/broadleaf herbicide applications, early preventive dollar spot applications, preventive summer stress disease applications, fertility & agronomic applications, getting the irrigation systems ready to go, mowing greens/fairways/roughs/naturalized areas, spring aerification where needed. In most cases, the golf course seasonal maintenance crew is not scheduled to return until April.

The cash register is ringing; many courses have had 1,800-2,000 rounds of golf in March that is unheard of. Northern Michigan golf courses are planning on opening in mid-April instead of mid-May.

The spring season is starting up approximately 30 days ahead of historical patterns. The start of the 2012 season is very positive — the people that make adjustments based on the 2012 spring season, will be ahead of the game. People that remain creatures of habit and continue their approach based on historical calendar dates may struggle later in the season.

Turfgrass market dynamics – winter weather roller coaster
The winter weather thus far has truly been a roller coaster. This past week we had 6 inches snow with ice and below zero temps followed by warmer temps and 2 inches of rainfall which melted everything. Yesterday, daytime temps reached 60 degrees and down to below 20 degrees at night. Snowfall accumulation in the territory is below average with above average temps so far. These conditions can change very rapidly; there is a lot of winter weather conditions that probably will happen before we think too much about Spring.

Rainfall in December & January has been extreme; soil conditions are very saturated. Believe it or not, there are still sizeable acreages of corn that have not been harvested. The ground has not frozen enough to allow for heavy harvest equipment without causing serious damage to the soil structure.

All the golf courses are hoping for a better beginning to the 2012 spring season as compared to 2011. Some of the public golf courses have had some golf play in December & January due to the mild weather conditions and in between the rainfall patterns.

Mild winter sparks snow mold fungicide application questions
The mild winter conditions have caused some concerns for degradation of snow mold fungicides during a mild winter environment with and without snow cover. The concern is determining if additional applications of snow mold fungicides in February & March are necessary. I am including some info from Jim Kern, Ph.D., concerning this topic —  read the Jan. 18, Turf Diseases, “Degradation of Fungicides in a Winter Environment” blog here:  http://www.turfdiseases.org/midatlantic/degradation-of-fungicides-in-a-winter-environment/.

The weather in Northeast Ohio has been extremely wet reducing end of the season golf play and making it very difficult for golf courses to complete their plans for fall aerification. I picked up a copy of the 2012 Farmers’ Almanac. In many regions of the country it is forecasting above normal snowfall and a spring & early summer very similar to 2011.

FarmLinks:  I have been very busy organizing and hosting groups at FarmLinks in October & November. October 17-19, we had a group of golf course superintendents from Michigan. October 21-24 Talladega Fall Race Week-end, I hosted another group of golf course supers from Michigan. On November 14-16, McGee Poole & myself hosted a group of golf course supers from Northern Ohio, Southern Ohio & Indiana.

Ohio Turfgrass Conference & Show:  I have been preparing for the upcoming OTF 2011 Conference. McGee Poole, Kyle Miller, Renee Keese & myself will be attending this Regional Turf Conference in early December. I hope to see you there.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION:  2011 OTF Conference and Show Introduction from Steve Jurick, Executive Director of the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation.

Turf & Ornamental Market Dynamics – Post-emergent herbicides and fall fungicide applications
In non-irrigated commercial/residential lawns, the only thing that is green this summer is yellow nutsedge & crabgrass. The summer of 2011 is shaping up to be a large post-emergent herbicide crabgrass season. BASF is getting some of the market with Drive^® XLR8 and Onetime^® herbicides.

Golf course supers have been spraying their roughs with post-emergent herbicides and spot spraying their fairways. LCO operations are applying post-emergent herbicides for crabgrass and broadleaf weed management.

Fall dollar spot fungicide applications are being applied at most golf course locations where dollar spot is an issue. I have been re-emphasizing applications of Emerald^® fungicide and Curalan^® EG fungicide in addition to Honor^® Intrinsic^™ brand fungicide with end-users.

We have had several very large rainfall events that have passed through western Michigan in a range of 4-7 inches in one single rainfall event. This has activated a lot of summer patch disease on greens & fairways.

BASF Trials at the Ohio State University Turfgrass Research Field Day

 McGee Poole, Joe Singles & myself all attended the OSU/OTF 2011 Ohio Turfgrass Research Field Day.

All the BASF fungicide treatments looked very good. In the brown patch trial, the Insignia^® SC Intrinsic brand fungicide treatments did not have any dollar spot. Emerald and Honor Intrinsic also looked very good.

Kyle Miller had funded a BASF Seasonal Treatment Trial which also looked very good. There was Drive XLR8 combinations and Tenacity herbicide combinations to look at in the post crabgrass trials.

Territory Weather Conditions – Wet conditions halt turf mowing and preventative fungicide application schedules
The very wet and cool weather pattern continues for the majority of the territory. Friday-Sunday (May 20-22) has been pretty much without a rain event and we have had warmer temps. Unfortunately, the report for Monday-Thursday of the week ahead is calling for 30-50% chance of rain across the territory. This means there will be some areas that will not miss the rainfall.

If temperatures continue to be warm, we should experience some above average levels of dollar spot. It will be especially notable because many golf course supers have not been able to apply any early preventive fungicide applications.

Golf course superintendents have had difficulty mowing fairways on a consistent basis. Mowing roughs has been even more of a challenge. Golf courses that normally fertilize and apply weed control in roughs are eliminating this as an option. In some cases, they are applying some weed control to these areas when it is dry enough to do so. On Friday, we had 100% relative daytime humidity.

Disease Conditions – Leaf spot, pink snow mold, brown ring patch
Turf diseases thus far have been leaf spot/melting out stage, lots of pink snow mold & some brown ring patch (pictured). Golf course PGR applications are behind schedule, poa annua seed heads are evident pretty much at every golf course.

Next week – Vacation!

Rain impacts turf care, and dollar spot activity rises as temps increase
Golf Course Superintendents and staff are having difficulty keeping up with mowing fairways & roughs due to the very wet conditions and constant rainfall. You can see tracking of the mowers and excess clippings sitting on the surface of the freshly mowed areas. Just about all golf courses have some wet areas that are under water.

Later this week, a warm front is moving through bringing 80-90 degree temps with some humidity. This combined with the degree of leaf wetness and the number of hours during the daytime that leaf wetness exists, dollar spot should become active and the need for fungicide applications will be necessary.

Lawn care managers move onto postemergent herbicide weed applications
In the Lawn Care Market Segment, many LCO’s have just started their Pre-emergent + fert applications and are making plans to switch to a heavier focus toward post applications. I have been recommending Pendulum® AquaCap™ herbicide + low labeled rate of Drive® XLR8 herbicide for the applications that are getting too late for a dedicated Pre-emergent application.

For the Pre-emergent + fert applications that have been applied and received high amounts of rainfall, the opportunity should be good for post-emerge products like Drive XLR8 + Onetime® herbicide.

Watch the video below of Onetime weed control in action.

• April and May 2011 will be warmer than normal, on average, in the Inter mountain, Desert Southwest, and Pacific Southwest regions and cooler than normal elsewhere. Rainfall will be above normal from the Carolinas southward to Florida and westward to New Mexico and in the Heartland region and below normal elsewhere.
• June through August 2011 temps will be above normal in the Upper Midwest, Tennessee, northern Arkansas, northern California, and western Oregon and near or cooler than normal elsewhere. Rainfall will be above normal in the High Plains and from South Carolina southward and westward to the Desert Southwest. It will be drier than normal in most other areas.
• September and October 2011 will be cooler than normal in the eastern two-thirds of the country and warmer than normal in the western third. Rainfall will be above normal from Maine southward to Virginia and in southern Florida, the Deep South, the High Plains, and southern California and near or below normal elsewhere.

**The wise old farmer commented that he has been farming 40 years… one year at a time. Lesson learned: Very rarely do we get two successive years weather patterns to be similar which makes it very difficult to predict the level of opportunity for weather dependent markets such as selling Turf & Ornamental Plant Protection Products.

Back in my territory the pattern has been cold and very wet for much of the area. Gaylord, MI, Petosky, MI, and other cities in northern Michigan still have a few inches of snow cover. Most of northern Ohio & Michigan have no snow cover but the ground in many areas of the territory is pretty saturated.

Golf course superintendents begin their preventative disease and weed control programs
Golf course locations in much of the territory are attempting to begin the process of aerifying greens in between the rainfall events. Within the next few days, early spring preventive dollar spot applications will begin for much of the territory; preventive applications for pythium root dysfunction will begin to be applied; preemergent applications beginning to be applied in golf course naturalized areas; landscape bed weed control applications are going out in perennial beds; fertilizer and pre-emergent applications in roughs and fairways, etc.

In other words, a lot of applications and projects are being narrowed into a very tight window as a result of the 2011 spring weather patterns.

Turf managers time preemergent and postemergent herbicide apps to control crabgrass
Last year, crabgrass germinated early in my geography and caught many lawn care operators off guard. Crabgrass was beginning to germinate in the 1st week of April in 2010. Most lawn care operators continued applying preemergent herbicides as the crabgrass was germinating without changing to a postemergent product focus or combination of pre & post for crabgrass control. This was one of the major reasons for the huge season in the need for controlling crabgrass with a post-emergent focus.

It looks like crabgrass will begin germinating near the end of April which is more normal for our area. Preemergent applications should have a better chance in providing good control as long as the April rainfall patterns are not too severe.

Check out the thoughts from Oakland Hills Country Club via their course blog:
“The last 2 days have made us anxious for spring. Starting today, the temperatures will turn more seasonal (cooler) and the 10 day forecast is for highs in the 40′s and lows in the 30′s and 20′s. The turf continues in dormancy, with snow cover in many areas and pockets of frost still in the ground.

We will evaluate the golf courses for opening at the end of next week. The North Course is open to the temporary greens, you can walk at any time but there will be no carts allowed. The South Course will remain closed until at least the 1st of April, if not later. We will be removing the covers on the South greens today. The turf on the South greens looks great with minor mechanical damage from the snow blowers.”

Read more of their blog here: Oakland Hills Country Club (Bloomfield Hills, MI) Course Opening Blog

Spray technology and herbicide advice for turfgrass managers
I’m also staying involved in helping Golf Course Superintendents & LCO’s with Spray Technology related questions, calibration of both granular & liquid products, decisions on selecting the proper nozzle type for the situation. And making recommendations on weed management in golf course naturalized areas check out my presentation on this topic here.

Let’s hope March goes out like a lamb.

There seems to be increasing sales activity with distribution sales representatives and their efforts in the golf course market segment. This is mainly for that customer base that did not participate in the various early order programs. Golf course superintendents are actively making decisions for products that will be used coming out of winter and into the spring portion of the 2011 growing season. It is looking like the 1st day of spring is not going to feel a lot like spring weather conditions in much of the territory, things will need to change very quickly.

Download – Presentation: General Turf & Plant Protection Management Options- Weeds & Diseases
The Lawn Care & Landscape Ornamental Bed Maintenance schedules are getting increased attention, round 1 pre-emergent weed & feed applications will begin in approx. 3 weeks for much of the territory. Suppliers are starting to bring in inventory of those products and weed control products for Landscape Ornamental Bed Weed Control. There was approx. 150 people present attending the talk I presented at in the morning prior to the Trade Show in Cleveland. Our BASF booth was very busy during the Trade Show. You can download my presentation here.

Golf course superintendents get ready for disease management
Getting BASF golf course superintendents mentally & physically ready for initial applications pertaining to Pythium Root Dysfunction, Early Spring Preventive Dollar Spot Applications & Preventive applications for summer stress disease such as Summer Patch, Brown Ring Patch, Anthracnose, Take-all Patch, Yellow Patch & others. Also preparing for fungicide applications dealing with diseases coming out of winter. Getting our customers primed and thinking about using the BASF Product Line to deal with these management decisions.

Joe Singles & myself made some golf course sales calls in Michigan last week. Every course was removing snow from their greens, removing surface water and in some cases covering with turf blankets. Early this week, much of Michigan received an additional 8-10 inches of snow, Cleveland is due to receive 6-8 inches of additional snow tonight & into tomorrow, Columbus/Dayton is now getting more ice with expected snow accumulation tomorrow.

Winter damage and disease likely, as turf thaws
There is a good amount of free surface moisture under this snow which could initiate some active disease. Golf courses are removing this recent snow cover and later next week we are expected to get freezing temps once again. These multiple freeze & thaw events are a recipe for losing poa annua. Golf courses that have adequate surface & sub-surface drainage built into their greens are going to fare better coming out of winter. Anaerobic soil conditions combined with these winter conditions are very concerning.

Golf course supers feel like they have to do something even if they are not sure of the outcome. We talked to a super that had been a superintendent at the same course for the last 50 years and was not sure if he was doing the correct thing in removing snow from the greens.

Visit BASF Professional Turf & Ornamentals at the Michigan Green Industry Association Tradeshow & Convention
Joe Singles & myself will be exhibiting next week at the MGIA Tradeshow and Kyle Miller will be presenting a topic during the conference.

Intrinsic^™ Brand Fungicides Turf Plant Health End-user/DSR Seminar on March 16^th
We are moving forward with an Intrinsic^™ brand fungicides Plant Health Seminar that is scheduled on March 16th and will be held at the Traverse City Country Club located in Northern Michigan.

We have finalized the speakers for this event to include additions of Dr. Ron Calhoun, MSU Weed Science, and Bob Vavrek, USGA Senior Agronomist-North Central Region. See agenda attachment.

REGISTER – Golf course superintendents can register to attend the 3/16 event on the MiGCSA website (click on the registration link to the center right of the page, highlighted yellow). We would like all registrations to be final prior to Tuesday, March 15th. The GCSAA has approved .45 CEU’s education credit for this conference.