Thawing out

Well, I'm finally running at about 80% speed after being knocked on my butt from a double-whammy of a cold AND food poisoning. My sweetie, Kris, had to deal with a very yucky Valentine this week. I'm hoping to be 90-100% back-to-normal tomorrow. On Tuesday, as the cold really came on strong, you could have graphed snot-production on an exponential curve...


Me and my Valentine of 10-years, on a less-snotty day!


The high yesterday and Wednesday was about 70, and virtually all the snow is gone except for giant piles in parking lots, and those are fading fast. I have not heard from anyone regarding pink snow mold/Microdochium patch but I suspect there may be some out there. The forecast for the next week is pretty crazy (see below). Microdochium patch doesn't need snow, just cool/wet temps, so keep your eyes out.


Another disease that frequently appears in this region around this time is yellow patch/cool-season brown patch. This disease usually goes away readily on its own as the temp warms up and grass gets growing. That all depends on weather. I have seen yellow patch symptoms into mid-April.




The above photo of yellow patch was from Feb 2008.


Freeze/Thaw and Drainage

The forecast calls for a few more days of warm temps, then showers, snow, and cold (lows in the teens). This type of weather can lead to a lot of cycles of freezing/thawing which can cause damage to turf.




There are a lot of reasons to address drainage problems. Freeze/thaw problems is one more to add to the list!

Labels


If you recall, 2-3 weeks ago I talked about a new web-distributed labeling system that the EPA was testing out. I pasted some info from a fruit newsletter that I receive. The comment talked about some correspondence among EPA, Greenbook, and CropLife America regarding the web distributed labeling. The correspondence was posted here:

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ppdc/2010/dec2010/session3-willsltr.pdf