Summary of Turfgrass Extension by Pamela Charbonneau, OMAF Turfgrass Specialist conducted in 2004Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affair

Charbonneau, P.

The Atrium (Univ. of Guelph)

TURF EXTENSION REPORT 2004Pamela Charbonneau, OMAF Turfgrass SpecialistEXECUTIVE SUMMARYPesticide use on turf continued to be anissue in Ontario in 2004, with more pesticide by-laws adopted.  To date in Ontario there are sevenmunicipalities with some restrictions of pesticideuse on home lawns.  These are Cobalt, Perth,North Bay, Parry Sound, Thorold, Caledon andToronto.  In April 2004, the City of Torontochanged the time of enforcement of the by-lawfor lawn care operators.  As of April 2005, lawncare operators in the city will be issued warningsand as of September 1, 2005 fines will be issuedfor applying pesticides.  Enforcement forhomeowner applied pesticides will not begin untilSeptember, 2007.  The City of Toronto adoptedthe OMAF thresholds for insects infestations onhome lawns. Once these definitions are in place,the city will allow pesticide applications if thereis an infestation.  There will be no pesticideapplications allowed for weeds in home lawns.  Itappeared at first that golf courses would be exemptfrom the by-law in Toronto, but that is not thecase.  The Ontario Allied Golf Associations havebeen working closely with the City of Toronto tocome up with a system that works for golf courses.The IPM/PHC Council of Canada voluntaryturf IPM accreditation program is in its third yearfor lawn care and its second year for golf courses.To date roughly 200 people have written the IPMexams.  Half are from the lawn care sector halffrom the golf sector. Desk audits for the lawn caresector were conducted in 2004 and the first deskaudits for golf will be conducted over the 2003/2004 winter season.  The first on-site audits werealso conducted for the lawn care sector in 2004.The Ontario Pesticide Advisory Committeefunded the Home Lawn IPM DemonstrationProject for the second year in 2004.  The objectiveof this project is to demonstrate the impact ofIPM, no pesticides and alternatives comparedwith a conventional lawn care program.  Theproject was conducted in the City of London, Cityof Brantford and at the Guelph Turfgrass Instituteagain in 2004.  In 2003, a 40-60% pesticide reductionwas achieved in the IPM plots compared to theconventional plots.  This was accomplishedthrough spot treatments for weeds and treatingfor insects only when insects were found.  Thefinal results for the 2004 season showed a pesticidereduction range of 40-66%.  The fertilized plotshad higher quality ratings than the unfertilizedplots.  The no pesticide plots had weed coverranging from 15-65%, with the lower weedpercentages in the fertilized plots.  It appearedthat the use of fertilizer reduced the percent weedcover in by 50% in the no pesticide plots.  Thebeet juice extract also reduced the weed cover in2004, but not in 2003.  Plans are in place to presentthe 2003 and 2004 results to turf managers at theOntario Turfgrass Symposium and the LandscapeOntario IPM Symposium in 2005.As far as the weather was concerned inOntario, it was cooler and wetter than usual.There was a very drastic drop in temperature inearly January with temperatures dipping to –25-30°C without any significant snow cover.Golf course turf came through the winterfairly well in spite of the cold weather.  Some golfcourses received heavy rain after theirpreventative snow mould applications were made.When this happened the fungicide lost its efficacyand the result was a devastating snow mouldoutbreak.  Other disease of note for 2004 includedanthracnose basal rot and take-all patch.  Thereare no fungicides currently registered for use inOntario against these two diseases.There were the usual insect infestations ofannual bluegrass weevil, black turfgrass ataeniusand black cutworm on golf courses.  There werenew reports of European crane fly infestationson golf courses in 2004.  European crane fly wasalso the major pest on lawns in Ontario as well.There were many reports of lawn damage fromleatherjacket feeding in the spring and reports ofGuelph Turfgrass Institute                             2004 Annual Research Report 137abundant European crane fly adults flying in thefall.  This is a problem because currently there isno insecticide registered for use for home lawnsin Ontario.Moss on golf greens is another problem.  AnURMULE application for Kocide 2000 has beensubmitted to PMRA.  Last fall and this fall, I haveconducted some trials in Ontario to determinethe timing for this product for moss control inOntario.TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERArticles· Wrote and article on European crane fly inCanada for Greenmaster· Wrote an article on topdressing forGreenmaster· Wrote an article on the role of calcium inOntario soils for Green is Beautiful and HortReview· Wrote article for Hort Review about thevarious legislation in the US restricting theuse phosphorus fertilizers on lawns· Wrote an article on the new USGA greensspecifications for Green is Beautiful· Wrote 10 OMAF Bulletins for Hort Review· Wrote 16 articles for the GTI Advisor whichare all posted on the GTI web site· 22 OMAF Turf Agriphone articles wererecorded and posted on the OMAF web sitefor 2004· Summer 2004 have started contributing acolumn “From Roots to Shoots” for Green isBeautifulTalks/Presentations/Workshops· Gave two talks at the Ontario TurfgrassSymposium:Working Towards a New Strategyfor Dollar Spot Control and  Sports FieldFertilization: Best Management Practices andNutrient Management· Taught IPM for 3 hours at the Turf ManagersShort Course· Presented “Weather, Bugs and other HotIssues” at the LO IPM Symposium at Barrie,London, Toronto and Ottawa· Delivered a 1 day IPM training session at theCanadian Golf Superintendents Associationmeeting in Halifax· Spoke at the Nursery Sod Growers Associationannual meeting to update them on theproposed changes to the “Permit to TakeWater” and the water-shed based sourceprotection planning.· Gave a presentation at the Ottawa ValleyTurfgrass Association meeting on thevoluntary IPM accreditation for golf and lawncare.· Put together speaker program for OTS 2005at the University of GuelphPublications· Hairy chinch bugs in lawns factsheet has beenreviewed and will be printed for 2005· OMAF Publication 384, Recommendationsfor Turfgrass Management has been revisedfor 2005 and will be available for the spring.Research and Demonstration Projects· supervised the OPAC IPM LawnDemonstration Trial for 2004· continued project evaluating nitrogen rates onannual bluegrass, creeping bentgrass andvelvet bentgrass.· Evaluated Kocide products for moss controlfrom 2003 and have repeated study in fall of2004URMULE· Have almost completed the URMULEapplication for Demand (cyhalothrin lambda)for ants and chinch bugs for CanadaCommittees· Chaired the Ontario Pest ManagementResearch and Services Committee, Turf andNursery Landscape Technical WorkingGroup meeting and wrote the report· Ontario Horticulture Research and ServiceCommittee, Nursery, Turf and LandscapeSubcommittee· IPM-PHC Council of Canada· Ontario Turfgrass Symposium ExecutiveCommittee· Healthy Lawns Working Group andCommunication Team· Landscape Ontario Lawn Care CommodityGroup· Greenmaster Editorial Advisory Committee· Ontario Turfgrass Research Foundation138 Guelph Turfgrass Institute                             2004 Annual Research Report· National Ornamental Minor Use LabelExpansion CommitteeOther Activities· Met with the Municipal IPM working group.They are working on adopting the sameprogram for voluntary IPM accreditation thatwas adopted by lawn care and the golf coursesector.· Attended the Town of Caledon Pesticide By-law information session.· Met with Anita Mahadeo, PesticideInformation Officer, City of Guelph andMaster Gardener, Mary Beverly- Burton aboutcooperating on some pesticide training for bigbox store garden center staff in Guelph.· Wrote a new exam for the voluntary lawn careIPM accreditation· IPM exam for the IPM accreditation for Parkshas been written.· Gave a “Healthy Lawns” talk to retail staff atgarden centres and big box stores in theGuelph area in cooperation with the City ofGuelph “Healthy Landscapes” educationprogram.  10 retail employees attended.  Therewill be a follow up survey by the City of Guelphto see if these 10 employees changed theirrecommendations to home owners regardingpesticide use on lawns.· Toured with Cornell entomologist Dan Peckto show him European crane fly infestationsin Niagara Peninsula.· Met with City of Toronto Board of Health todiscuss insect thresholds that are used inOMAF publications.  Guelph Turfgrass Institute                           2004 Annual Research Report 139

Turf Extension Report 2004

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Turf Extension Report 2004

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