By Pam Sherratt

Extended periods of cool, wet spring weather this year has triggered extensive leaf spot on lawns. This is a troublesome spring diseases on Kentucky bluegrass (especially common bluegrasses), fescues and other lawn grasses. Some leaf spot can be found on most home lawns in the spring, but it normally does not cause significant damage to the lawn. This year due to the weather conditions leaf spot has occurred and now in progressing into the melting-out phase. Leaf spot is caused by several different fungi. The fungus overwinters in the thatch layer or in small lesions on leaf blades. Continue reading Leaf Spot/Melting Out →

By Pamela Sherratt

What can you do when your turf is flooded after all the precipitation occurs?

Submerged turf needs to be uncovered quickly and renovated, since turf will die if it is submerged under water for several days. It’s important to get the water off asap and pumps can help to do this.  Removing deposited silt and debris will be the next big task ahead. Brooms, rakes, vacuums and/or high pressure hoses can help to get the silt and debris off the turf. Tilling the silt into the top few inches of soil will cause all kinds of surface drainage problems in the future so the silt must be completely removed from site. Once the silt has been removed, evaluate the turf damage. If the field has been submerged more than a few days the grass will likely be dead so new turf establishment will be needed. Continue reading Dealing with Flooded Turf →

By Pamela Sherratt and John Street

Growth covers can offer many advantages to field managers

Consistent rain and low temperatures, coupled with cloudy days (sunlight seems to have been non-existent), has led to some pretty unhappy grass lately.

The sports facilities are closing their fields down for the winter. Those facilities that host spring games might investigate purchasing a growth cover/tarp. Continue reading Extending the Green on Athletic Fields →

By Pam Sherratt

Snow mold appears on baseball field and newly planted lawns!

Snow Mold
Source: OSU Turfgrass Pathology

With the snow gone, pink snow mold is present on turfgrass, especially on immature, lush, succulent stands of grass seeded last fall. In general, snow cover was not of long enough duration this past winter for the development of gray snow molds. There are some situations where light damage of gray snow mold is present but these are limited to sites where snow was piled up for long periods of time or in snow belt areas.

Continue reading Snow Mold →

With spring just a few weeks away, it’s time to start planning season fertilizer programs! We offer some information on soil test costs and nutrient sufficiency ranges for turfgrass, as well as a helpful table on calculating the amount of fertilizer needed based on nitrogen analysis.. Continue reading Looking Ahead: Sports Field Nutrition →