- Posted by: Lauren Fordyce
Knowing what weedy grass you have in your lawn or landscape is very important in being able to properly control it. Dallisgrass is a common perennial weed that is easily identified and grows in uneven clumps in lawns and turf. This growth pattern creates a tripping hazard as well as a poor playing surface for parks, front lawns, and athletic fields. Clumps must be dug out to prevent its growth. Solarization with clear plastic can help control dallisgrass.
For more details about the biology of dallisgrass, management methods, and extensive information about herbicides, see the newly updated Pest Notes: Dallisgrass, authored by UC Cooperative Extension...
- Author: Janet Hartin
- Posted by: Elaine Lander
Your customers want their lawns to be beautiful and functional (Figure 1) but dead patches or other problems sometimes occur. Figuring out the cause of turfgrass damage can be a challenge since many plant pathogens affect grasses as well as numerous abiotic (non-living) disorders. can impact the quality of lawns, playing fields, and other turf areas.
Keeping turfgrass healthy is essential for reducing damage due to both diseases and abiotic disorders. Following recommended practices regarding irrigation scheduling, integrated pest management, fertility, mowing height, soil aeration, and other measures is your customer's best line of defense.
Identify the cause of...
Warmer weather means many pests are flying and joining you indoors while you shelter-in-place or outdoors while you are getting some exercise or keeping connected yet socially distant from the neighbors.
Lately you may have seen some large, leggy insects bumbling around on your walls and windows. What are these? While many people call them “mosquito eaters” or “mosquito hawks,” they are actually crane flies. And unfortunately, they do not eat mosquitoes. These insects may be a nuisance when you find them in your home, but the adults are basically harmless. Although the adults are not particular pests of importance, the larvae can be...
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
- Contributor: Andrew Mason Sutherland
You may be seeing long-legged, flying insects in your house lately, bouncing around the walls, ceilings, and corners. Many people call these “mosquito hawks” or “mosquito eaters,” but unfortunately, they are not predators of mosquitoes.
These flying insects are actually adult crane flies and although annoying to find in the home, they are basically harmless and won't help with any mosquito problems.
Many reports claim these adult European crane flies (Tipula paludosa) bite or sting, but this is false. Most adult crane flies, which superficially resemble large mosquitoes with very long legs, eat very little, if at all. Adult crane flies live for only a few weeks, and when they find their...
Spring is a good time to begin monitoring for any lawn insect pests. Pest examples include various root, crown and leaf-feeding caterpillars, grubs like masked chafers, billbugs and chinch bugs.
Although insects can be serious pests of lawns, lawn damage is more frequently due to lack of proper cultural care and/or improper grass species selection for your area. An unhealthy lawn is more easily attacked by insects, weeds and diseases.
Insects are sometimes are blamed for lawn damage when the culprit may actually be disease-causing pathogens, dog urine, or abiotic causes such as leaving an item on the lawn for some time and inappropriate use of garden chemicals such as fertilizers and herbicides.
It's important to...