I have been getting questions from landscape/turf professionals about licensing for mosquito control. I asked Dr. George Hamilton about where to direct professionals with these questions.
Information on licensing of professionals for mosquito control can be found on the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Pest Management website: http://pestmanagement.rutgers.edu/PAT/
You can get a core manual and category 8B manual at your county extension office.
January 14, 2016 Jim Murphy
Killing Freezes… Finally
Many people are pleased that typical winter temperatures have taken so long to show up. Below are some interesting observations from early- to mid-winter in New Brunswick. Relatively warm soil temperatures (as high as mid-60s °F) stimulated growth late into December.
Dandelion bloom on 15 December 2015 in New Brunswick.
May 8, 2015 Richard Buckley
Take(-all) it to the Limit
A sample diagnosed with take-all patch of creeping bentgrass was the highlight of the turfgrass submissions to the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory this week. This sample marks the first in the seasonal transition on golf courses from diseases common to late-winter and early-spring (snow molds/yellow patch) to the late-spring and early-summer problems (take-all/brown ring patch). Yes, it was an exciting day for the turfgrass pathologist!
Take-all patch on a plug of ‘L-93’ creeping bentgrass. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL
May 5, 2015 Jim Murphy
Kyllinga Awakens as Soil Temps Increase
Daily high soil temperatures at the 2-inch depth are consistently getting into the 60s°F. Yesterday, temperatures in sunny locations reached into the upper 60s. This means that the warm-season species are, or will be soon waking from winter slumber.
Leaf tips emerging from rhizomes of kyllinga on 15 April 2015 in central New Jersey.
Emerging shoots of kyllinga beginning the process of re-forming a “turf” canopy on 2 May 2015 in East Brunswick.
April 10, 2015 Jim Murphy
Looks Like Grass… But It Isn’t
Other than today and yesterday, soil temperatures in New Brunswick have been reaching into the lower 50s°F during the last week or so. And you see the effects, some plants are finally awakening from winter slumber. Cool-season turfgrasses are slowly greening up. Tree buds are swelling, some are flowering. Forsythia is just starting to bloom. And prostrate knotweed, one of the earliest germinating summer annual weeds, is emerging.
Some confuse the slender plants emerging along sidewalk edges at this time of year with grass but it is actually prostrate knotweed.
[Read more…]
March 25, 2015 Albrecht Koppenhofer
Don’t Get Them ‘Angry’: Insecticide Resistance in AWB
The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) is an insect that can get very ‘angry’: insecticide resistant that is. Surveys have indicated that resistance in this insect is wide spread. Dealing with insecticide resistant ABW can quickly become a nightmare. The best thing to do, if you still can, is to not get the weevils ‘angry’ in the first place. Once they are resistant, there may be no feasible way of getting them susceptible again. There are no silver bullets out there and none in development.
Annual Bluegrass Weevil Adult
Annual Bluegrass Weevil Larvae
Resistance is Sneaky
I estimate that any golf course that has tried to intensively control ABW for at least 5 years will have some level of insecticide resistance. With intensively I mean multiple applications per year over large proportions of the golf course. Resistance tends to sneak up on people. First there are some small problems here and there that will be excused by ‘missing spots’, ‘timing off’, ‘poor weather conditions’, etc. Unfortunately, the typical reaction is to ratchet up the spraying activity. [Read more…]
