Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Samples of boxwood infected with the fungus Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum, the cause of boxwood blight, have been confirmed by the Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Laboratory and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture Laboratory in recent days. This is the first report of the disease is New Jersey.
Boxwood blight leaf lesion. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL
You’ve got to suffer if you want to sing the blues… and some of us in certain parts of the state have been suffering the infernal din of the periodical cicadas since late-May.
Adult periodical cicada. Photo: Kim Greene
Patch that is! Recent weather conditions have driven the fungus Rhizoctonia solani into overdrive. Brown patch has flared up all over the place just in time for our July 4th celebrations!
Brown patch on colonial bentgrass. Photo: Richard Buckley, Rutgers PDL
Oh no! Not more leaf spot posts! This is the last one for now, I promise. First thing first, we had a nice sample from a perennial ryegrass baseball field that was submitted for dollar spot diagnosis, which it had, but it was also covered with leaf lesions caused by the fungus Bipolaris sorokiniana. Sabrina thought it would be nice to share a photo with you.
Leaf spots caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana on perennial ryegrass leaves. Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL
Red leaf spot of creeping bentgrass is a poorly understood leaf spot disease in turfgrass. Almost all golf course superintendents think they have it at one point or another, but nobody ever really does.
Red leaf spot on creeping bentgrass putting green. Photo: Richard Buckley, Rutgers PDL
Golf turf sample submission has been rather slow so far this season. Arguably, cooler temperatures and ample precipitation this spring have provided us with excellent growing conditions for cool-season turfgrass. As long as everybody’s grass looks good, then submissions stay down (bring on some heat!). There has been one exception this season, which is the frequent submission of samples for nematode analysis.
Spiral and ring nematodes.
Photo: Sabrina Tirpak, Rutgers PDL
