Turfgrass Pest Management and Disease Control Review

Surface/Above ground pests

Insects that have chewing mouth parts (or piercing and sucking mouth parts that favor drought stress) and feed on leaves and stems.

Subsurface/Belowground pests

Insects that live in the thatch and root zone and feed on the roots and crown, making them the most difficult to control.

Complete metamorphosis

A life cycle that includes four stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult.

Examples of insects with complete metamorphosis

Annual bluegrass weevil, ants, armyworm, beetles (white grubs), cutworms, sod webworm, cranefly.

Incomplete metamorphosis

A life cycle that includes three stages: egg, nymph, adult.

Examples of insects with incomplete metamorphosis

Chinch bugs, ground pearls, leafhoppers, mole crickets, spittlebugs.

Techniques to detect turfgrass insect pests

Visual inspection, soil/thatch inspection, soap flush, water flotation, pitfall traps, pheromone traps, and light traps.

Factors influencing threshold levels for turfgrass insect pests

1. Location of the course, 2. Pest in question, 3. Turf area's level of use, 4. Club members' expectations, 5. Budget constraints.

Biorational pesticides

The use of live natural enemies as pests.

Examples of biorational pesticides

Endophytes, bacteria, nematodes, fungi, other insects, growth regulators.

Advantages of biorational pesticides

Have very little, if any, adverse effect on beneficial organisms or the environment.

Disadvantages of biorational pesticides

They are short-lived, require multiple applications, are often life-stage-specific and insect-specific, and require proper timing of application and positive insect identification.

Endophytes

Fungi and other organisms that form symbiotic relationships with certain grasses but do not cause disease and are not externally visible on plants.

Mode of action of endophytes

Fungus produces ergot alkaloids that are toxic or incompatible to certain insects.

Pythium

Causes pythium blight, characterized by white-gray 'cobwebby' mycelium present when humidity is high, non-septate hyphae, and hyphae that grow 1-3 cells into the epidermal and cortical tissue.

Rhizoctonia solani

Causes brown patch, identifiable by cobwebby mycelia growth in the 'smoke ring' of the patch early in the morning when dew is present, with septate hyphae branching at 90-degree angles.

Rhizoctonia cerealis

Causes yellow patch.

Sclerotinia homoeocarpa

Causes dollar spot.

Helminthosporium

Causes leaf spot.

Fusarium spores

Causes fusarium patch, fusarium blight, and summer patch.

Helminthosporium spores

Causes leaf spot and melting out or Bipolaris and Drechslera.

Curvularia spores

Causes curvularia leaf spot.

Weed

A plant located out of place.

Annual Weeds

Weeds that have one growing season.

Winter annuals

Weeds that germinate in late summer or fall, grow slowly in winter, flower and seed in spring, and die in late spring or early summer.

Summer annuals

Weeds that germinate in spring, produce flower and seed in summer or fall, and die.

Biennials

Weeds that have two growing seasons.

Perennials

Weeds that have three or more growing seasons.

Contact herbicide

Herbicide that resides on the outside of the leaf.

Systemic herbicide

Herbicide that is translocated throughout the plant.