Agrium Advanced Technologies
http://www.turfpro.ca
 
|
Keso Turf Supplies
www.nutridg.com
|
Advertisers in this issue
Agrium
Alliance Tree Care
Brett Young
Hilderman Thomas Frank Cram
Biff's Septic & Portable Toilet Services
Central Lift
Consolidated Turf
Eljay Irrigation
Even Spray & Chemicals
Greenject
Grigg Brothers
Guertin Equipment
Gusta Sod Farms
Keso Turf Supplies
Pembina Landscaping
Rivercity Stumpers
Red River College
Specialty Turf Services
Syngenta
Tamarack Equipment
|
October 2009 Supernews
Two Lined Chestnut Borer
Bill Schroeder
Much to my chagrin, this month's article is of yet another little beastie wreaking havoc on our native trees. The target of this scourge is the most predominant tree in our province, the glorious Bur Oak. The pest is the Two Lined Chestnut Borer (TLCB) (fig 1). You may have heard of it as it has been around for quite sometime but until now little attention has been leveled at it. Its typical habit is an advantageous one, meaning it targets stressed and declining trees. Unfortunately I have been noticing that if its numbers are allowed to balloon in a specific area it will move in succession to neighboring oaks, stressed or not. I suspect its sudden explosion in numbers may be a result of excessive moisture over the past couple of years coupled with the successive years of defoliation from canker worms has created a large number of stressed oaks. I do not wish to be a harbinger of death but I feel like this pest could become epidemic if not dealt with appropriately. Before I get into how to control it, let us get to know this little bastard.
The larval stage (fig 2) of the TLCB holds the hammer in this situation. When it hatches from its egg in mid summer it immediately bores its way through the bark and begins feeding on the cambium and phloem, beginning near the top of the canopy and working their way downward. The resulting meandering larval galleries (fig 3) choke off the flow of water and nutrients to any part of the canopy located above the galleries. In our region the TLCB typically remains in this stage for nearly two years emerging as an adult (leaving tiny d-shaped hole- fig 4) sometime in early to mid summer, where it feeds on leaves, mates and the females deposit eggs in the furrows of the bark in mid to late summer and the larvae hatch a mere two weeks later
The damage created by the feeding larvae can often be seen within a couple of months. Branches begin to die, starting on the outer tips and gradually moving downward and inward (fig 5). How long the tree can last before it finally succumbs depends on its health and vigor and the TLCB population that has violated it but the average is 2-4 years.
At this very moment we have no chemical control for the TLCB, but trust me, it is on the way. I have taken the battle with this bug personally and have garnered the support of the City, Provincial and Federal Governments as well as our local chapter of the PMRA, to bring the adequate product into our province. There are a couple of different products on the market but the active ingredient, imidacloprid, remains the same. I will certainly keep all posted on the progress but I am confident by spring 2010 we shall have at least one chemical weapon against this beastie at our disposal.
What we have now and what will always be a part of controlling the TLCB population is sanitation. Once a positive ID has been made, the infected sections or the entire oak if necessary should be removed immediately. What can be chipped should be and the remaining wood should be either burned, debarked, land filled or can be stored under very specific conditions. The wood must be tarped and the base sealed with earth or something similar to prevent the emerging adults from escaping. This will act as a mass grave; but must be done for at least two years.
As I stated earlier, the TLCB is typically an advantageous creature and will target stressed and weakened trees, so keeping your oaks healthy is the best line of defense. Try to keep traffic off their feet and construction as far away as possible to reduce compaction. When this is not possible or realistic compaction reduction methods must be employed. People hear the word Oak and visions of Thor or Helms Deep come to mind. Mighty and invincible. The truth is our Bur Oak is extremely sensitive to compaction, grade and environmental changes. Also, like most trees, as oaks get older their nutrient requirements become higher and you may want to consider root feeding them periodically. Removing dead branches is also very helpful as decaying wood attracts all wood boring insects. Reduce or eliminate herbicide application around oaks at a distance of at least the height of the tree.
The TLCB is not out of control yet but could get to that point quickly if we don't all do our parts. Please help identify infected trees and have them dealt with appropriately. For help identifying them, don't hesitate to call.
|
Capitalize on your most important Asset
Capitalize On Your Most Important Asset
With the world changing the way it is, it is important to capitalize one of your most valuable assets. Let us look at what you can do to profit from your time as effectively as possible. The answers may not be what you expect.
One of the first things that you learn in the financial business, is that out of the three major factors that determine the growth of your wealth*, time is by far the most important.
This is due to the nature of compound interest which Albert Einstein called "the most powerful force in the universe." It you is a fact that almost anyone can get wealthy with even a modest rate of return - if they have enough time. Remember however that the opposite is also true.
Your savings can be in trouble and your retirement in jeopardy, no matter how good your rate of return is, without the adequate time required for growth.
That is the financial lesson. If you want to teach kids the most important thing about money, it is to start saving early.
There is more to time than that however. With the world changing at the pace it is today, utilizing your time to create change in yourself and the world around you has become a master key in today's economy.
Here is why ...
Today, technology and the Internet have reached a stage whereby there is so much progress being made that the old way of doing things just do not make sense anymore in a lot of cases. Someone, somewhere, in most product or service categories, has figured out a better mousetrap. Just think of companies like eBay or Google. Most of us had not even heard of them five years ago. Today, they've become the standard for their category and are putting significant pressure on traditional retail and services alike.
Along with technology and the advancement it brings also comes commoditization.
As this happens products and services get substantially cheaper. That is fine if you are a consumer but not necessarily so if you are a producer. Over the course of a few years, this becomes a major threat to people and organizations that cannot quickly adapt to change.
As people realize this is happening, they typically do one of two things. Either they double down, work harder, cut expenses to save more and basically to just try harder. The second option is to spend more time trying to change.
That second approach is difficult for many of us. If you instinctively follow the old Western European ethic of just 'work harder,' when faced with adversity you spend more hours working harder for the same income just to keep up. You have no time left to keep up with the magnitude of changes around you. Without the time you need to stay on the forefront, it is easy to spend all of your time working on things or processes that are comparatively inefficient to new approaches. Soon the work that you are doing becomes uncompetitive and thus unsustainable - no matter how hard you work at it.
Technology is now moving us along so fast that one of the slogans of our time might be "the only thing you can be sure of, is that things are going to change." Likely the best thing you can do is to spend your time becoming a master of change.
• The other two really important factors in the growth of your wealth are your rate of return and the amount of money you have to invest.
|
A Leopard can't change its spots
All things considered
A Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots
Are all the time and money spent interseeding new cultivars of grass into old turf just feeding the birds?
It never makes sense to waste time or money, even more so during a slow economy when maintenance budgets are being slashed to help keep golf facilities' heads above water. Yet, many courses still cling to the hope that, by simply seeding a new species or an improved cultivar of grass into an existing stand of old turf, it will somehow result in a miraculous conversion of turf type.
Despite sound research to the contrary, the myth is kept alive by testimonials regarding a routine interseeding program undertaken by a well-known superintendent at a well-known course that, for example, transformed an old bent/ Poa green into a spanking-new green cultivar. Buy a large quantity of expensive seed and work that seed into the existing turf over and over and over again until super grass pushes wimpy grass out of the greens. Another expensive program of dubious value is to pound a couple of tons of Kentucky bluegrass seed into 30 acres of healthy annual bluegrass fairways for a couple of seasons, with the great expectation of changing annua to pratensis.
Of course, aggressive seeding into thin or bare areas of turf after winter injury or summer stress can be successful. Similarly, seeding into sites that have been fumigated or killed with glyphosate are excellent candidates for conversion. Keys to success are good seed-to-soil contact, timely irrigation, adequate sunlight, no carts or foot traffic, and minimal mowing stress.
Sowing tiny bentgrass or bluegrass seeds into a dense stand of existing turf is another story altogether. We have all seen this scenario play out many times on a thin putting green. Bentgrass seed is diligently incorporated into cultivation holes, spiked into the turf, or top-
dressed into verticut grooves. Ten days later, seedlings are clearly evident and the masses of green fuzz provide considerable satisfaction for a job well done. Ten days later the seedlings are gone without a trace, and we seed again. This usually goes on and on until the existing bentgrass finally
creeps into the thin areas from the perimeter or until Poa annua germi-
nates and fills in the bare spots from seed already present in the soil.
Competition constrains conversion. Successful germination does not guar-
antee successful establishment. Excessively high seeding rates are often
employed to hasten establishment, but this tactic only forces fragile seedlings to compete with each other, as well as compete with the adjacent mature plants. No surprise that the mature plants with healthy root systems get the lion's share of water, light, and nutrients. It might take only one stressful afternoon without supplemental irrigation during dry, windy weather to lose an entire crop of seedlings.
No doubt there will be an occasion when the earth, sun, moon, and
planets are properly aligned, and a half-hearted attempt at simple inter-
seeding produces fairly good results. Maybe the weather fully cooperates
with timely showers, sunlight, and temperatures that favor the bentgrass and inhibit the Poa. Perhaps these are the rare exceptions that preserve the myth of turf conversion. Then again, who can determine whether a single bentgrass plant is actually A-4 or a plant from a fine-textured patch of segregated Penncross? How do you document the return from your seed investment when you cannot tell one bentgrass plant from another without considerable DNA analysis?
Successful conversion to improved cultivars of turf is achievable, but rarely is it as easy as some might lead you to believe. The competition from existing turf must be addressed. The more you address the competition, the better the chances for conversion. However, suppressing or eliminating competition will likely have an adverse effect on playing conditions, but no pain, no gain. Don't fool yourself into thinking an old stand of turf can be painlessly converted into new turf with little other than a program of frequent interseeding. You might think my opinion is for the birds; then again, it's probably the birds that benefit the most from the futile attempts to incorporate expensive seed into healthy turf.
Bob Vavrek discusses turf conversion and other options for improving golf course playing conditions in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota
|
The Fall Harvest
The Fall Harvest
- James T. Snow
National Director, USGA
WHAT'S WORSE than not having enough trees on a golf course? The answer: having too many trees on the course.
Golf course superintendents at older courses in many parts of the country know this. They see the problems caused by shade on greens, tees, and other important turf areas, and they recognize that poor air circulation is a major factor involved in disease activity, drainage problems, compaction, and other forms of turf decline. Tree roots, too, rob the turf of moisture and nutrients and complicate irrigation and drainage programs. Trees too close together make it necessary to use time-consuming small equipment for mowing purposes. And mowing around low-branching species often requires hand mowing work or the use of small riding equipment.
Too many trees can also affect the play of the course. They can encroach on playoff the tee, forcing golfers to one side of the tee or the other. Trees can unreasonably block play across the corner of a dogleg, where a sand bunker would be a better choice. Surface roots can be a nuisance for golfers and for maintenance equipment and golf carts. And too many trees can be a factor in slow play.
Golf course superintendents have come to recognize some of the concerns about trees. But the same cannot be said of most golfers, who generally view trees as sacred. One course, however, where the superintendent and club officials agree on the need to control the problems caused by too many trees is the Country Club of Rochester, in New York state. Hundreds of trees have been planted on this old Donald Ross course over the years, many of which were pines planted about 25 to 30 feet apart. As the trees grew, superintendent Bob Feindt recognized that many of them were becoming overcrowded and were affecting their own growth and that of the nearby turf.
Feindt's first hint of a serious problem was encountered on the 7th green, which was surrounded by trees. A combination of shade and poor air circulation made it very difficult to
Feindt's first hint of a serious problem was encountered on the 7th green, which was surrounded by trees. A combination of shade and poor air circulation made it very difficult to maintain good quality turf on this green during the summer. On the recommendation of the USGA Green Section, the club agreed to remove several trees. The next season the turf on this green improved, and the club decided to remove several more trees and to follow through with some pruning work.
Upon seeing the significant improvement of the turf on the 7th green, the club began to look at other areas of the course where too many trees might be having a negative impact on turf quality. The superintendent, golf professional, green committee chairman, and several other committee members got together, toured the course, and selected trees for removal or pruning. For example, if an evergreen tree was crowding a good hardwood specimen, the evergreen was marked for removal. The results were great, and the tour of the course for the purpose of tree evaluation became an annual event known as "The Fall Harvest."
Most of the actual tree pruning and removal work is scheduled for the winter months. The trees are removed, the stumps are ground up, the holes are filled with soil, and seed or sod is used to reestablish turf. By doing the work during the winter and cleaning up thoroughly, the diehard tree lovers don't miss the trees. One winter 42 trees were removed, ranging in diameter from 3 inches to 36 inches, and nobody said a negative word about it the following season.
The removal of trees that cause turf problems is really not so unusual on golf courses today; it's the attitude of the club and its officials that is unusual. Here is a club that respects and values its trees, yet it is willing to look at them with a critical eye and remove those that no longer play a positive role on their course. That is an attitude that every club should emulate.
By James T. Snow
National Director, USGA Green Section Reprinted from the USGA Green Section Record
1990 March/April Vol 28(2): 18-19
|
Reminder to Members
The practice of using your MGSA card for golfing privileges around
the province is just that, A PRIVILEGE. It has been brought to the
attention of the board on numerous accounts that some members may
be abusing this privilege, and not following proper protocol.
As a courtesy to the golf course and its superintendent, you are
required to contact the super where you wish to use your card prior to the
day you wish to golf. It is not acceptable to show up unannounced at a
pro shop, flash your card and expect to get free golf.
As a board we feel that the repeated use of your card at the same golf
course is not an acceptable practice, and is not what the card is for. So
please, call ahead. And as a super, don’t be hesitant to refuse someone if
they haven’t made arrangements with you before hand.
|
|