By Pam Charbonneau,
OMAFRA Turfgrass Specialist
Pink and Grey Snow Mould
It is a mess out there under the snow with damage from both pink and grey snow mould. With the long period of snow cover over the winter there were ideal conditions for both of these diseases. You can usually determine which disease is which by looking for a few clues. Pink snow mould in the spring usually has a bronze outer edge around the margin of the scar. Grey snow mould will have sclerotia (small, round, black fruiting bodies about the size of the head of a pin) embedded in the turf leaf blades. Luckily with snow mould on residential turf, the damage is usually superficial. A bit of raking to help dry out the matted, diseased area and a light application of fertilizer will get the snow mould scars well on the way to recovery.
Vole damage
Voles are small mouse-like rodents. Voles differ from mice in that they have small eyes and ears and short tails. During the spring, summer and fall, they live in burrows below ground. During the winter, they live under the snow cover. They are vegetarians and feed on the grass under the snow. They also feed on tree trunks during the winter. The narrow runways (2.5 to 5 cm wide) left behind when the snow melts are completely devoid of grass. Luckily, the damage to the grass plants is superficial and in three to four weeks, the runways are no longer visible. To encourage the grass to grow and fill in, rake the area to get rid of the dead grass debris. A light application of fertilizer will also help to speed the recovery of the grass. With the long duration of snow cover the voles had ample opportunity to cause turf damage this winter.
Grubs
European chafer and Japanese beetle grub damage was minimal in the fall of 2000. However, this doesn’t mean that the grubs weren’t present in the turf. It just means that the grass roots were so healthy that the grub feeding wasn’t great enough to cause turf damage. There is a good probability that we will see some secondary damage caused by skunks, racoons and starlings feeding on the grubs in the spring, however, I expect the amount of secondary damage will be much less than we have seen in the past three to four years.
European Crane Files
As I reported last fall, there were sporadic out-breaks of European crane fly adults (larvae are called leatherjackets) again in the fall of 2000. These areas include Ancaster, Burlington, Cambridge and Kitchener. I have also had reports of European crane flies in the Sarnia area. My impression, from reading about this insect is they do not survive the winter very well. When I talked to people on the west coast about this (they have had European crane flies there since 1965), they told me the reason for this is not due to cold weather, but because the birds prey on the leatherjackets throughout the winter in British Columbia. So, the fact that we have had a fairly cold winter will probably not have any impact on the survival of the leatherjackets here in Ontario. There was also little frost in the ground because of all the snow, so that may have helped winter survival as well. Be on the lookout for leatherjacket damage in late April to early May. Insecticide treatment at that time should be successful, but usually by the beginning of May, the bulk of the damage to the turf has already been done. Again, I would like to invite anyone who encounters this new turf insect in areas outside of the ones that I have mentioned in this article, to contact me. I can be reached at (519) 824-4120 x 2597.
