Annual Bluegrass Weevil Damage is Localized

Annual Bluegrass Weevil Larvae

It's that time of year again! Annual Bluegrass weevils are causing slight, isolated damage to our high populations of Poa Annua (Annual Bluegrass). We expect it and are dealing with the pest accordingly. You may notice some weakened areas on collars, approaches and fairways. I do think that we have had less damage this year than in previous years.

Green and tee surfaces have been completely unaffected!

I do think our new, early season scouting method, using pitfall traps, was helpful in our timing of spring insecticide applications. Unfortunately, this persistent pest will likely be a problem every year.
On the plus side... we continue to increase creeping bentgrass populations which are unaffected. There are now many areas we do not even spray. This not only improves cost effectiveness but is environmentally responsible. Areas which still contain small percentages of Annual Bluegrass are left untreated on purpose. The insect weakened Poa Annua allows the creeping bentgrass to dominate. The more desirable plant species which takes over, improves our chances at even less damage and cost in subsequent years. The trick is to balance the damage with playability to ensure member satisfaction.

Here are a couple of links to previous blog entries I have written...

http://farmsccsuperintendent.blogspot.com/2011/03/annual-bluegrass-weevil-adults-already.html

http://farmsccsuperintendent.blogspot.com/2010/07/annual-bluegrass-weevil-damage-is-very.html