You Are Here: Management Updates 2004 Archive April 8, 2004

Date: April 8, 2004
Category: Insects
Subject: What Impact Has the Winter Had on Turf Insects?

Every year I receive several telephone calls in the spring, asking what I am predicting for insect activity in the coming growing season. Here is my best guess for this year.

The key aspect of the winter of 2003 - 2004 was the intense cold weather that occurred in January. For turf managers whose sites did not have snow cover at the time of that severe cold spell, there may have been some natural mortality of the kinds of insects that remain near the surface during the winter. That would include chinchbugs, in particular, and possibly even annual bluegrass weevil adults and black turfgrass ataenius adults (golf course pests only). In locations where there was already a significant snow cover (at least four to six inches) at the time of the cold spell, the snow may have provided enough insulation to protect those insects.

Unfortunately, white grubs are very well adapted to moving vertically through the soil profile, and normally are able to stay well below the frost line. So I do not expect that there was much natural mortality of white grubs this winter.

Incidentally we have had reports of European chafer grubs feeding this spring, from areas as far north as "Mid Coast Maine" (Camden, Rockport area). Remember that the European chafer grubs are much less sensitive to cold temperatures, so they usually are the first to return to the root zone each spring. Chafer populations are spreading throughout New England. They have been well established in eastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire for several years, but there are also active areas in Chicopee and Amherst (Mass.) and seem to be spreading throughout Berkshire County as well. And there is a very active population around Burlington, Vermont.

Springtime is a good time to collect some grubs and identify which species you are dealing with. Treatment options are limited, but at least if you identify which culprits you have, you can start planning your summer control strategies.

- Submitted by: Dr. Pat Vittum