In this issue
Final issue for 2006
Turfgrass
Final autumn turf tips
Around the home
This old house: fall maintenance tips
Other news
New Ag weather station installed: Commerce Township (Oakland County)
Too close for comfort: Hydrilla hunting now urgent
Weather news

Final issue for 2006
This issue concludes our publishing season for the 2006 Landscape Alert newsletter. We welcome your suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover in 2007. We also are interested in your ideas to improve our publication and web site (http://www.ipm.msu.edu/land-cat.htm). Let us know about any annoying glitches or helpful improvements.

Please send your comments to catalert@msu.edu or mail them to: Joy Landis, MSU IPM Program, B18 National Food Safety & Toxicology Bldg., East Lansing, MI 48824. Indicate whether you are referring to our fruit, vegetable, field crop or landscape edition.
Thank you – Joy N. Landis, editor.

Final autumn turf tips
Kevin Frank
Crop & Soil Sciences

Fall broadleaf weed control
October is the ideal time to control broadleaf weeds because the weeds are storing carbohydrates in their root system and are more susceptible to herbicide applications. So if your turf is being overtaken by a wide array of broadleaf bandits, applying an herbicide now could make the difference for next year. Apply the herbicides on a sunny day when rain is not in the forecast for 24 hours. We want the herbicides to dry on the leaf surfaces and not be immediately washed off. Also, make sure the turf is actively growing, cool weather and timely rains in the last week should ensure active growth in most areas. The reason we want to see actively growing turf and weeds is that if they are sitting dormant those herbicide applications won’t be very effective. There are many different herbicides that could be used including the most common three-way broadleaf weed control mixtures. As with any pesticide application, always make sure to wear the appropriate safety attire and follow all label recommendations. The greatest shortcoming of killing broadleaf weeds at this time of year is that you really don’t get to watch them die. In many cases you may not see the obliteration of these weeds this fall, but next year they won’t be there or will at least be reduced in numbers.

Mulching leaves
Well it wouldn’t be the final issue of the Landscape Alert without talking about mowing leaves into turf – so here goes. The leaves are changing and soon they’ll be a falling, which means it’s time for you and me to start mulching. Okay, that’s a pretty lame rhyme, but you get the point.

If you’re still of the belief that you need to rake leaves, come on over to the mowing side. Here’s what you need to know to successfully mow leaves into the turf. First of all, make sure your mower has a sharp blade, after a long season of mowing, the blades may be dull at this time of year and trying to chop up leaves will be more challenging with a dull blade. Second, raise the mower as high as it will go and mow at your normal speed, don’t “rev” the throttle to the high jackrabbit setting and blaze around the yard. Try to mow the leaves when they are moist from the morning dew, but don’t mow them when they’re really wet. This will prevent the leaves from blowing all over the place and will help with your allergies. Finally, don’t let the leaves pile up too high before you mow: too high would probably be greater than 3 to 4 inches of leaf depth on the turf. Mulching leaves helps the turf by returning nutrients and organic matter. After a nice rain shower, you usually can’t even tell that you mulched the leaves into the turf.

One final thought, many people ask about lowering the mowing height for the final mowing of the year. When you get past the leaf mulching period in the fall and the turf has essentially stopped its top-growth, it is ok to lower the mowing height to clean-up the turf and prevent it from being too tall going into winter. I would recommend that you lower the mowing height no more than one notch on your mower (typically 0.5 inch). This will help you clean-up any left over leaf mulch or debris and give the turf a little trim before winter sets in. Enjoy the snow, I’ll be back here next spring for another season!

This old house: fall maintenance tips
Tom Ellis
Entomology

Editor's note: Tom Ellis retired from MSU, but his advice on home maintenance for the fall is being reprinted for your information.

It's time for the fall inspection of the old homestead. Winter weather will only exasperate the problems you have now. Any repairs you do will also reduce the numbers of insects and other critters that "magically" appear during sunny winter days and early spring.

Many insects and similar creatures seek out houses to spend the winter. Put yourself in the bugs place. Would you rather spend the winter under a rock or bark flap of a tree, or would you rather curl up and take a five-month snooze in an attic or wall void? This is natural selection in action. Your household offers them a better deal.

Let's use my house as an example. We'll take a walk around, in, and on top of it and inspect the structure for possible minor maintenance needs. Every repair that I make will dissuade one or several species of insects from becoming a member of my household. Also, any repairs that I make will totally astound my spouse and friends!

Keep in mind that no house in this day and age will ever be 100 percent insect proof. In fact, insect proofing, other than a termite barrier, is never a consideration when a house is designed or constructed. Probably the last (and maybe only) insect proofing innovation in new home construction was the invention of wire window screen!

My house is a basic ranch style with 1,300 sq. ft. It was built in 1957. It has three bedrooms: one for my wife and I and two for our cats. It has a basement, attached garage and scuttle-access attic. The basement is finished. There is a fireplace in the basement and living room. The siding is vinyl over wood (probably cedar). The insulation under the siding is Styrofoam. The insulation in the wall and ceiling is fiberglass batting. The house had new asphalt roofing put on in 1986. The house has an attached deck in back running approximately two-thirds the length of the house. The back of the garage has cabinets built in for storage of screens, storm windows and miscellaneous junk.

So, grab, or borrow, an extension ladder and let's take look at the gutters, roof, chimney and vent pipes.

Gutters
Gutters should be cleaned out every fall after most of the leaves have fallen. At least three or four species of mosquitoes will lay eggs in and on gutters. In addition to the mosquitoes, we can find several other species of aquatic fly species in my eave troughs.
 Some are biting species, and some are not. While we're here we'll check fascia and soffits. Wasps, carpenter ants and even carpenter bees will be attracted to fascia and soffits that are not in good repair.

Roof
Up on the roof, we'll check for loose shingles and rotted boards. These areas are especially attractive to carpenter ants and a variety of insects that overwinter as adults. Prune back branches of trees and tall shrubs that hang over or touch the roof.
Carpenter ants actively scavenge for food on these plants and will move on to the roof if we provide a "branch bridge."

Chimney
While we are up here, we'll check flashing around the base of the chimney and consider whether it should be tarred soon. Check for loose bricks in the chimney. Both areas are great spots for various wasp species to overwinter. Make sure there is a screen covering the chimney opening. This will discourage squirrels, birds and raccoons.
If you have a fire place, you don't want to be roasting a dead raccoon with your first romantic fire of the fall season!

Vent pipes
One more stop and we can go back to terra firma. Let's check to see if the vent pipes are clear of debris. Check the flashing around the vent pipes too.

Siding, windows and doors
Back on the ground we can now inspect siding, windows and doors for cracks, holes, and weather stripping that needs replacing. Check boards for rot. Probe boards, especially around door and window casings, with a pen, knife or an ice pick. Rotting boards will puncture easily. If they are rotten, check for termite and carpenter ant damage. If you discover termite damage, fall is a good time to find it. You really don't need to take corrective action until spring. This will give you ample time to select a pest control company and make the most favorable deal (economically) for you. Be wary of companies that will try to pressure you into taking quick action and those that do not find termites, but offer to sell you a "protection" contract.

If you find an area that you suspect was an active wasp or hornet nest, note where the exit/entrance hole is and wait until March to caulk the hole. This will ensure that it has been vacated for the year. Do not plug the entrance if you think there is any chance of activity this fall. Wasps and hornets can chew there way out on the other side and into your living area.

Insects commonly found making their way into wall voids and other suitable areas by way of cracks and crevices in the siding and through improperly sealed doors and windows include: cluster and house flies, wasp and hornet queens (and an occasional worker that has not yet died), honey bees, box elder and leaf-footed pine seed bugs, elm leaf beetles, various ants, mosquitoes that overwinter as adults, crane flies, and spiders.

Basement foundation and windows
As we look at the foundation and basement windows, we will be checking for cracks, holes, cracked and loose mortar, and weather stripping that needs replacing. The same critters that attempt to enter through siding, windows and doors will also try to make their way into your basement. Basements are favored habitat for pill and sow bugs also. While you are at it, get rid of cardboard boxes and other items that hold moisture and attract these beasts. Check the outside foundation for gypsy moth egg masses. They should be removed and destroyed.

If you store birdseed or dry pet food in the basement, keep it in a sealed metal container. This is a good place to get a whole raft of pantry pests started.

If you have a crawl space, be sure that there is plenty of air circulation through it. This will discourage rotting and the buildup of various fungi and molds.

Attic
Check the attic vents. This can be done by going into your attic or with the extension ladder. From the outside, the screens should be in good repair. If they have holes, check the attic for bird and rodent nests. They will probably contain bird mites, bat bugs, and carpet beetles that will eventually find their way into the house after they've run out of feathers and other goodies to feed on. Also, remove nests from house eaves, gutters, etc. for the same reason.

Attached garage and out buildings
We can't quit yet. The procedure here is the same drill as the house proper.

Over the course of the next month or so, insects like boxelder bugs, lady bugs and cluster flies will accumulate on house siding and on the outside surface of windows, sometimes in large numbers before finding their way under siding and into wall voids. This will be especially conspicuous on the south side of buildings. Routine removal and disposal of these insects is an appropriate pest management action.

New Ag weather station installed: Commerce Township (Oakland County)
Late last week a new agricultural weather station was added to the statewide network maintained by our Agricultural Weather Office at MSU. This station is in Commerce Township and is located at the Long Family Farm and Orchard.

The addition of the weather station in Oakland County will fill a wide gap in the Michigan Automated Weather Network that we rely on across the state. This will be particularly helpful for not only fruit growers, but also for the vegetable and landscape industries as well. Many thanks to the Long family for helping to get this station up and running.

Information from this station can be accessed at www.enviroweather.msu.edu

Too close for comfort: Hydrilla hunting now urgent
The invasive plant Hydrilla verticillata has been confirmed in a lake less than an hour’s drive from Michigan. As a result, Michigan Sea Grant is encouraging waterfront property owners, boaters, anglers and swimmers to search the state’s inland lakes to make sure it hasn’t infested bodies of water in Michigan. Sea Grant is also asking recreational users to take precautions against transporting hydrilla and other aquatic invasive species on their gear.

Biologists from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently confirmed the presence of the so-called “perfect weed” in Lake Manitou near Rochester, Indiana, 55 miles south of the Michigan border near U.S. 131, a major highway to the state.

Carol Swinehart, aquatic invasive species communication specialist for Michigan Sea Grant Extension, says it’s critical to find out whether any Michigan inland lakes are infested.

“The sooner we learn whether Michigan waters are infested, the better chance we have of eradicating or controlling it,” she says. “Many of our lakes are already infested with invasive Eurasian water milfoil, and experts tell us that hydrilla is even worse.”

Hydrilla has many adaptive qualities that allow it to outcompete and greatly diminish populations of native species. It can grow in low-light areas. It absorbs carbon from the water more efficiently than other plants. It is very tolerant to both standing and flowing water and can also grow up to an inch per day. Finally, its reproductive abilities make it particularly threatening. The tubers that grow from the roots can persist, in a viable state, in the lake bottom for several years. It can also reproduce through flowers, fragments and turions (cone-shaped growths) on its stalks.

Michigan Sea Grant Extension has spearheaded the Michigan Hydrilla Hunt since 2004 in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Office of the Great Lakes. Background information and a specimen identification card are available through the Sea Grant Web site: http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/ais/plants.html.

Citizens can also obtain hydrilla indentification cards and a fact sheet from Michigan Sea Grant Extension offices at Michigan State University and in Grand Haven, Traverse City, Tawas City, Mt. Clemens, Detroit and Marquette, as well as MSU Extension offices in Barry, Benzie, Branch, Calhoun, Charlevoix, Clinton, Emmet, Genesee, Grand Traverse, Livingston, Macomb, Montcalm, Muskegon, Kent, VanBuren, Kalamazoo and Ottawa counties and the Kellogg Biological Station in Hickory Corners.

“If someone thinks they've found hydrilla, we ask that they compare the plant with the image on our web site or the Hydrilla Hunt card, which provides illustrations to help distinguish it from the native aquatic plant elodea. If it has all the characteristics described there, send us a sample so that we can make sure,” Swinehart says.

It is illegal to possess hydrilla in Michigan (except to send it for identification) or to take the plant across state lines. Michigan residents and visitors can help prevent the spread of hydrilla by properly cleaning watercraft or other water recreation gear.
More information on invasive species prevention practices is available at www.protectyourwaters.net

Michigan Sea Grant is a collaborative program of Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, conducting Great Lakes research, education and outreach. It is one of 30 Sea Grant programs in coastal states supported by the National Sea Grant College Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For additional information about Michigan Sea Grant, visit www.miseagrant.umich.edu

Weather news
Jeff Andresen
Agricultural Meteorology
Geography

An area of low pressure over the Central Great Plains region Friday morning will move through the Great Lakes region Saturday into early Sunday (September 24). This will lead to a very wet weekend in Michigan. Rain will overspread the state from southwest to northeast during the day Friday and continue overnight into Saturday. Thunderstorms will be possible across southern and central sections of the Lower Peninsula overnight Friday and again Saturday afternoon and evening. Due to very strong dynamics with this weather system, some thunderstorms could become severe across southern sections of Lower Michigan Saturday. Rainfall will gradually end from west to east across the state by early Sunday. Widespread rainfall totals in the 0.5- to 1.0-inch category are expected through the next few days with some 1.0- to 2.0-inch totals possible. High pressure is forecast to bring a return of dry weather next Monday and Tuesday.

Temperatures during the next couple of days will average a couple of degrees above the normals with highs increasing back into the 60s north to mid-70s south on Saturday and low ranging from the 40s north to the 50s south. Somewhat cooler temperatures are likely by Monday. Another weather system is expected to move into the region by the middle of next week with the chance for rainfall again in Michigan by Wednesday. Cool, cloudy, and fall-like weather is forecast for the end of the workweek and early weekend next week.
Medium range forecast guidance is consistent in calling for an upper air troughing feature forecast across the central United States in the one to two week time frame. This pattern would suggest an active weather pattern for the Great Lakes region with frequent chances for precipitation.

The official NOAA Climate Prediction Center 6-10 day and 8-14 day outlooks (covering September 27 through October 1 and September 29 through October 5) both call for below normal mean temperatures state- and region-wide. Above normal precipitation totals are forecast statewide for the 6-10 day period decreasing to near normal levels during the 8-14 day period. The first frost or freezing temperatures of the season, which have already occurred in northern sections of the state, would also be a possibility in central and southern sections of the state. Climatological normal maximum temperatures during the last week of September range from the upper 60s north to the low 70s south, with low temperatures ranging from the low to mid-50s. Normal weekly precipitation totals range from about 0.75 inches in eastern sections of the state to just less than 1.0 inch in extreme western sections of both Peninsulas.