Annual Bluegrass Weevil

The annual bluegrass weevil or known to us turfheads as ABW's, is a new pest to our area.  It's one we have studied for years as we have seen it destroy turf in the Northeast region (New York and Connecticut).  This little pest was known for it's ability to survive winters and attack Poa annua on shortcut areas (greens, tees, edges of fairways) in the spring and early summer.  The adults would lay eggs, the nymphs burrow into the turfgrass stem causing damage then move into a larva stage and act like a small white grub feeding on roots until it's time to move forward into an adult.  All three stages are seen above.

Usually the damage is light and seen when the temperature rise.  We have been on the lookout for the past several years on the edges of our poa greens and never seen any activity.  As they have progressed down the coast a new issue has become evident.  This pest now has adapted to bentgrass as well as poa grass.  In addition, poa is attacked in the spring, but bentgrass is the choice in our summers.

Why is this so important, well these pests are the reason for the damage to the approach to 8 green as well as the tees at 9 and 14.  What we took for wilt and heat stress was weakened turf from the weevil damage, which is prevalent when the temperatures become extreme and the turf under a lot of stress.

As you can see from the size, it is like finding a needle in a haystack.  We have been advised that subsequent years are worse than the initial infestation.  We are taking preventative measures by adding control programs to the budget for next year, but in many cases it's just hard to beat nature when it comes to defeating all the variables thrown at you.   These issues are heightened when we get summers that exceed normals and turfgrass is pushed to the limits of it's recuperative potential.

Why is the rough so Rough?

This has been the year of years for rough grass.  Almost all the issues for the rough are tied to disease.  This happened over the past 4-5 weeks and was caused by one of three primary agents.  The shorter cut rough around collars and fairways was die back from Grey Leaf Spot on ryegrass.  Largest outbreak since WGCC abandoned ryegrass fairways and switched to bent grass.  The kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue of the rough was taken down by  summer patch and brown patch.

In all cases these diseases were widespread not only at our course but many across the area.  Almost no one was immune to the loss from these three diseases.  I know of some on preventative spray programs that suffered loss due to shortened residual activity due to the extreme environmental pressure.  This year was the hottest on record and the 3rd driest, so combining that with an unusually humid August set up a whammy that many of our older variety of grasses could not survive,   I have submitted a budget that includes preventative sprays for some of the diseases in the rough next year given that we may be able to better help the grass there with irrigation.  

Many of the shortcut areas that survived are sections that we began planting to newer varieties of rye and tall fescue that are bred with some disease resistance.  Our plan for recovery is to start next week with wholesale seeding of newer varieties into the close in rough to establish better tolerance and try to manage these with chemicals and irrigation.  Overseeding is only 20% or so effective when trying to seed into existing stands, but we hope with time to introduce these better varieties into the rough.  The area sodded to the right of 3 fairway past the bridge is some of the newer varieties of tall fescue and it maintained it's integrity extremely well, even mowed low in the short cut.

Many question why we did not spray the rough.  The short answer is that unless you are on an active preventative program the timing and products are too late to be of much help.  In a way, we just eliminated a lot of very weak grass that we can replace with a stronger variety.  We are not alone with this issue and I have some information of the WGCC website in the USGA section detailing issues with the various grasses in our region

The tees at 9 and 14 are different matters, as is the approach at 8.  All these areas were affected by an insect known as the annual bluegrass weevil (ABW).  This weevil is new to Virginia and extremely destructive.  It has been a Northeast pest that primarily attacked Poa annua, or at least that's what was presumed.  Sometime in the last few years, this pest has mutated to attack poa in the spring and then turn onto bent grass as a source of food in the later generations.  With 4-5 generations a year this pest keeps giving and giving.  Anyway,  outbreaks can be a nuisance and controlled, but unless preventatively controlled, outbreaks are not seen until large scale damage has occurred and this is not typically severe unless long periods of heat and drought are in effect to also weaken the insect laden turf.  We are also proposing a strategy to combat this pest next year with preventative sprays.  As in all previous cases once established this pest has outbreaks stronger in the following years.

In addition, both 9 and 14 tees are extremely small with heavy divot pressure.  We are looking at using some of the newer varieties of bermuda sod in both these areas to help hold up to the heavy traffic and heat in these small spots.

The clubhouse viewing area has been overrun by bermuda, so the hotter and sunnier the better.  Unfortunately that look will not be so green come winter, in which painting might be the best answer to be presentable, but when summer sun and heat arrive it looks great.  There are no known remedies for Bermuda control in cool season rough except extreme chemical measures and those are mostly used when a complete stand of tall fescue is sodded and you can start fresh.