Yesterday Brett Corbett, a graduate student from NC State, started some season long research at HCC. In the above picture Brett is sampling on #3 fairway for Annual Bluegrass Weevil. The population of the ABW has continued to increase rapidly throughout Western North Carolina and can cause devastating damage, overnight on turf. ABWs have always been a very big problem in the Northeast, with some Superintendents losing large sections of fairways while sleeping. The insect, pictured below, is very difficult to control due to having multiple stages in their life cycle. While most chemical treatments are effective, timing is critical. If a preventative chemical is targeted for the larval stage of the insect is mis-timed, then the entire application could be a waste of money, while also leaving thousands of active weevils in the turf. At HCC we have a very effective monitoring program. Each spring we perform tasks, such as a soap flush, which is simply pouring soapy water into the soil. The soap irritates the insects and forces them to come to the surface. They are then collected and monitored, when the amount collected reaches our threshold then we will spray. Secondly, we have a pitfall trap located on the left side of #1 fairway. This allows us to monitor any insects migrating from their warm pine-straw habitat through the winter, into their summer home on our turf.
Below is a photo taken from a course located in Western North Carolina. You can see the damage can be substantial and very rapid! Once again this is not HCC!!
One last shot of Bret sampling the area. Using his square shown below he can monitor multiple locations while keeping a consistent square footage, helping to keep average overall populations.
