THE

CONN

C L I P P I N G S

CONNECTICUT

GOLF COURSE « 
SUPERINTENDENTS]

APRIL 1968

WINTER INJURY TO PLANTS 

AND TREATMENT

It is quite common for many shade 
trees and ornamental shrubs to be injured 
during severe winters. Injury may result 
from low temperatures, snow, wind storms 
and other causes. Varying with the cause, 
damage may occur directly to the roots, 
the stem of the plant near the ground 
'me, or in the upper branches.

Most noticeable is injury to such pop­
ular evergreens as yew, juniper and arbor- 
vitae, revealed by browning and death of 
the foliage on one or more branches or 
over the entire plant in the spring. This 
results from more moisture being given 
off into the atmosphere through the 
foliage than the roots can replenish by 
absorption from the soil. Deeply frozen 
soil may prevent normal absorption of 
water; often the soil lacks moisture be­
cause of dry autumn weather. Most likely 
to be injured are plants that are fully ex­
posed to the drying effects of the sun and 
wind. Evergreens on which all or most 
of the foliage becomes brown usually die; 
those showing less severe injury generally 
respond well to careful pruning, watering, 
and judicious use of fertilizer.

Cold weather frequently causes injury 
to deciduous trees and shrubs, but seldom 
are such injuries fatal to established plants 
except under unusual conditions. Typical 
symptoms of injury include late develop­
ment of foliage, and the leaves often are 
small, pale in color and less abundant than 
normal. Branch tips may die back during 
ffje summer. Areas of dead bark may be
>und on the trunk or branches.

(continued on page 3)

THE HAPPENING

Today a seedling is popping its head 
out of the soil. The seed was planted 
last winter when the Connecticut Asso­
ciation of Golf Course Superintendents 
appointed an editor, authorized funds and 
said, "We need a newsletter.” For the last 
couple of months the seed was nursed and 
with the help of many individuals it now 
is alive. But, we all know what will 
happen to that lonely plant if it gets no 
assistance from "Mother Nature” and the 
planter. The CONN. CLIPPINGS has 
been published for the first time and it 
will continually need nourishment in 
order that it might be classified as a 
worthy publication.

editor

VOL. 1 NO. 1

THE GRASS CATCHER 

By Charles G. Baskin

Yale Golf Course has installed a new 
watering system which is fully automatic. 
The system includes all greens, tees and 
fairways. The majority of the trenching 
had to be blasted out of rock. Harry 
Meusel is the superintendent at Yale. 
Harry spoke this past winter at the 
University of Delaware Turf Conference.
The 1968 Turf Conference in Massa­
chusetts took another step forward. The 
conference site was moved to the White 
House Inn in Chicopee, Mass, and the 
program was lengthened to three days. 
The quality of information presented at 
this conference is always improving. 
Speakers for this year’s conference came 
from Conn., Mass., R.I., N.J., Dela., Penna., 
Va., Ga., Ohio, Calif., and Oregon along 
with a speaker from Canada. Dr. Joseph 
Troll, Univ. of Mass., does an excellent 
job presenting this conference.

Richard Bator, Mill River C.C., reports 
that they have constructed a new green 
and rebuilt half of the fairway on their 
7th hole. The green was sodded with 
C-l, C-19 creeping bent taken from their 
nursery. Their 15th men’s tee was ex­
tended and resodded with Astoria-Seaside 
bent sod which was grown in their nur­
sery. Dick had an article in The Thinking 
Superintendent column of our national 
publication. The story was about they 
built a steam cleaner out of a hot water 
tank.

Point to remember . . . The Sahara 
Desert embraces 3^2 million square miles. 
Its elevation varies from 440 feet below 
sea level to 11,000 feet above.

(continued on page 4)

CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION 

OF GOLF COURSE 
SUPERINTENDENTS

President .....
Vice-President
Secretary ......
Treasurer .....

..................Michael Ovian
........... Charles G. Baskin
...................Karnig Ovian
...............Charles Traverse

Board of Directors 
Roger H. Barrett 
George T. Christie 
Pierre Coste

Alfred Hawkins, Jr. 
Chester A. Rue 
Robert Tosh

John J. Perry

The object of this association is to pro­
mote research, education and an exchange 
of practical experiences in the field of 
turf grass culture so that the increased 
knowledge will lead to more economic 
and efficient management of golf courses 
and related turf areas.

The CONN. CLIPPINGS is an official 
publication of the Connecticut Association 
of Golf Course Superintendents.

Charles G. Baskin, editor
22 Lee Street
Waterbury, Connecticut 06708

TIME OF DAY FACTOR 
IN INSECT CONTROL

The time of day insecticidal sprays are 
applied may affect the degree of control 
achieved, according to results of tests 
made by scientists of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture. In these tests flies and 
roaches were exposed to an insecticidal 
aerosol for a few minutes at different 
times of the day and night, and mortality 
results tabulated for each period. It was 
found that the death rate was greater 
among those exposed to the insecticide 
during the afternoon than among those 
treated in the morning or at night.

It is during periods of activity that in­
sects in general seem to be most suscepti­
ble to insecticides. This has been observed 
frequently, particularly with respect to 
spider mites. These pests move about and 
feed actively during the warmth of the 
day, and it is then that spraying is most 
effective. There seems some doubt 
whether increased activity occurs in a 
daily cyclic pattern, or is simply a response 
to a rise in air temperature.

— 2 —

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

After many year’s of discussion about 
having a newsletter, it has become a 
reality. At this time I want to thank 
Charley Baskin for accepting the chair­
manship of this publication. Charley will 
need the cooperation from each and every 
member to make this part of our associa­
tion a complete success. This publication 
will promote fine public relations for our 
association with the press, green chairman 
and country clubs throughout the state.

At our recent Board of Governors’ 
meeting, some changes were made and 
new ideas were adopted to be used in the 
future. Some of these are:

1.  New and colorful membership card 

with name typed.

2.  Certificate of membership to be dis­

played in your office or home.

3.  Newsletter to be published four 

times a year.

4.  Certificate of appreciation to our 

monthly guest speaker.

5.  Letter of appreciation to be sent to 
each club president where our meet­
ing was held.

6.  New trophys for association and 

other division championships.

7.  Setting up annual budget.

I think you will agree that these changes 
and new ideas are a giant step towards 
the upgrading of our association, but let 
us not stop here. The success of an 
organization is directly related to the total 
effort put behind it by all its members, 
not just a certain few. When any of you 
have suggestions to make to me or the 
Board of Governors feel free to come and 
make your views known.

In closing, I want to thank all the mem­
bers for the honor you have bestowed 
upon me. I can only say that I am grate­
ful to you all for giving me the oppor­
tunity to serve you. You may be assured 
that every action taken by me will be 
with the entire membership in mind.

I wish everyone a successful season, 

health and turfwise.

Michael Ovian 
President

NATIONAL AFFAIRS 

By John J. Perry

The Connecticut Association of Goli 
Course Superintendents was well repre­
sented at the 39th International Turfgrass 
Conference and Show in San Francisco, 
California, February 18-23, 1968. Twenty 
eight regular and associate members were 
in attendance. 13 Connecticut wives were 
also in attendance. Rev. Harvey Hahn, an 
excellent and humorous speaker reminded 
these men that taking their wives on a 
convention was like going hunting with 
the game warden. Total attendance 
(2914) was only slightly lower than it 
was last year in Washington, D.C. 
(3008).

The lectures and exhibits provided the 
superintendent with an excellent oppor­
tunity to keep abreast with the advances 
in our field. Included in the program 
were a variety of subjects, such as, golf 
course beautification, proper chemical 
application, a small engine clinic, putting 
green construction and maintenance and 
even a talk on use of helicopter spraying. 
Each year the program provides the op­
portunity to learn more about turfgrass 
and it is surprising the number of.club,r 
that recognize this point and requir' 
their superintendent to attend the con­
ference. All but one Connecticut club 
paid the expenses of the attending super­
intendent.

I was privileged to play three of the 
golf courses on the Monterey Peninsula: 
Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach and Cypress 
Point. These courses though spectacular 
in their natural beauty, in my opinion, 
were not maintained to any higher degree 
than ours in Connecticut.

The annual membership meeting was 
conducted very smoothly. James Brandt, 
Illinois, is the new president. Dick Blake, 
our friend from neighboring Massachu­
setts, was re-elected as a director. The 
two proposed by-law changes were voted 
down. They both dealt with the re­
classification of those members changing 
profession.

Any member desiring a membership 
classification change should write to the 
national headquarters and request the 
change. This is the responsibility of the 
individual.

Remember next winter — 40th Inter­
national Turfgrass Conference and Show 
at the Fountainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach, 
Florida, January 19-24, 1969.

WINTER INJURY 
(continued from page 1)

Most serious injury is likely to occur 
when there is a sudden, drastic drop in 
temperature in early autumn while the 
leaves are still green and the stem wood 
is succulent. Then the roots may be killed, 
or the tissues under the bark near the base 
of the plant may die, partially or com­
pletely around the trunk. In grafted 
plants, sometimes there is a difference in 
climatic hardiness between the rootstock 
and the upper plant; then cold weather 
may kill the less hardy portion.

The more usual forms of winter damage 
include blighting of buds and leaves by 
unseasonably low temperatures in either 
autumn or spring; cankers, or localized 
areas of dying bark on the trunk and 
branches of thin-barked plants; frost 
cracks in the trunk; and, of course, branch 
breakage and other mechanical injuries 
that may occur during storms.

Proper treatment of winter-damaged 
plants varies with the nature of the in- 
;ury. Trees with sections of dead bark 
at the base of the trunk may be aided 
by bridge grafting. Bark cankers should 
be cut back to living tissue and the sur­
face coated with wound dressing material. 
Since poor drainage is a contributing fac­
tor to root injury, sub-surface soil drainage 
should be provided as a part of the 
treatment of affected plants. In most cases 
of winter injury, judicious pruning is 
needed to remove dead branches, or 
restore the balance between top and roots. 
Fertilizer application generally is advisa­
ble to stimulate growth of the plant.

Shade Tree Digest

CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION 

OF GOLF COURSE 
SUPERINTENDENTS

APRIL MEETING 

April 16 
Wampanoag C.C.
West Hartford, Conn.
LABOR WAGE LAWS

MAY MEETING 
C.C. of Fairfield 
LANDSCAPING

3 —

THE ANNUAL BLUEGRASS
WEEVIL AND ITS CONTROL

stretch of the imagination could any part 
of the visible or measurable injury to the 
turf be attributed to this species.

John C. Schread, Entomologist

Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 

Station

New Haven, Connecticut

Although the annual bluegrass weevil 
Hyperodes anthracinus identified by Dr. 
R. E. Warner of the Insect Identification 
and Parasite Introduction Research Branch 
of the USDA was reported by him as a 
new record for Connecticut, the insect is 
in all probability a much older grass pest 
in the northeast than suspected.

For many years the summer decline of 
bluegrass (Poa annua) in golf course turf, 
especially noticeable in fairways and tees 
(however, occuring occasionally in putt­
ing greens) has, because of the fact that 
the grass is a cool weather species, been 
attributed to unfavorable hot, humid con­
ditions during the summer months. It is 
now believed that in other years some of 
the loss of Poa annua was due to 
Hyperodes. The devasting activity of the 
insect pest in conjunction with unfavor­
able weather have resulted in die-out of 
Poa annua in many areas.

So far our experience with the blue­
grass weevil has been limited to a single 
season. During 1967 only one golf course 
in Connecticut indicated serious trouble 
from the pest. All of the fairways at 
WeeBurn Country Club, Noroton, were 
to a greater or less extent infested. 
Several fairways were badly damaged by 
the pest.

At the time of our first visit to the 
golf course on June 29, 1967, an obvious 
decline in Poa annua had occured in these 
areas. The grass was dead or dying. The 
affected areas varied in size from less than 
one square foot in extent to many.

Weevil counts in the badly infested turf 
ranged from 50 to 100 per sq. ft. Up­
ward of 90% of the individuals were in 
the pupal stage. About 1 out of 10 of 
the pupae had transformed to the adult 
stage; however, none was found above 
the surface of the ground. Larvae, pupae 
and adults were at a depth of one to two 
inches below the surface of the fairways. 
It was obvious that where thatch occurred 
(although quite shallow) all stages of the 
weevil were adjacent to its lower surface - 
none was found in the thatch.

Although the great majority of the 
weevil population belonged to the species 
H. anthracinus a very few clover weevil 
(Hypera postica) larvae were found in 
association with them. However, by no

There may be only one generation of 
Hyperodes during the growing season. 
The adults emerge from the soil over 
a period of several weeks and perhaps 
longer. This was borne out by the fact 
that examinations made at WeeBurn on 
July 12 indicated 85% of the population 
had emerged. Most of the remaining 
individuals were in the pupa stage.

Eggs are deposited in the grass plants. 
After hatching, the larval stages feed on 
the foliage mining the leaves and sheaths. 
Some feeding may also occur at the crown 
of the plants and on the rootlets as the 
individuals burrow into the soil to pupate.

CONTROL

Owing to reports of disappointment, 
voiced by golf course superintendents on 
Long Island, in the use of certain chlor­
inated hydrocarbon insecticides for con­
trolling annual bluegrass weevils, it was 
suggested that heptachlor be used as a 
spray on fairway turf at WeeBurn Country 
Club. The superintendent was asked to 
use heptachlor emulsion on July 5 so as 
to achieve 2.5 lbs. of technical insecticide 
per each acre of fairway turf. Tractor 
drawn hydraulic spray equipment was 
used to apply the treatment. A 22 foot 
contour boom fastened to the front of 
the tractor atomized the insecticide onto 
the grass foliage from a height of 10 
inches. The boom had 16 fine spray 
nozzles spaced at 19-inch intervals.

A second treatment was applied on July 
12 and a third one on July 19. One-half 
of the fairways were resprayed on July 26. 
The fairway watering system was turned 
on immediately following the July 5 
treatment. This was intended to achieve 
greater penetration of heptachlor to the 
base of the grass plants and the surface 
of the soil. Subsequent treatments were 
not watered in, hence all of the insecticide 
was permitted to remain on the grass 
foliage where it would be in immediate 
contact with the adult weevils.

Examinations made on several occasions 
from mid-summer through mid-fall 
showed that all adult weevils had been 
killed by the heptachlor treatments ■— 
dead ones were found but no live ones 
were seen. Furthermore, examinations of 
the turf from the surface of the soil to a 
depth of 1 to 2 inches revealed no eggs 
not larvae of Hyperodes anthracinus, or 
unrelated species.

THE GRASS CATCHER
(continued from page 1)

Karl Knobloch, superintendent at 
Orange Hills C.C., reports that they have 
built two new tees and built a new 8th 
green. The tees were planted to Merion 
and Penncross was used in the construc­
tion of the green.

Michael Ovian, President of our asso­
ciation, took in the Hawaii tour after our 
national conference in San Francisco.

The National Golf Foundation reports 
142 regulation golf facilities in Con­
necticut. In addition there are 14 par 
three golf courses. In Conn, we have a 
golf facility for every 18,750 persons. The 
average in the U.S. is 21,196 persons per 
golf facility. Since 1931, 59 new courses 
have been constructed in Conn, and 3,645 
throughout the country.

Robert Tosh, educational chairman, is 
doing an excellent job lining up the pro­
gram for the coming year for our state 
meetings.

Golf car sales rose 8% last year. Last 
year’s manufacturer’s figures show that 
80% of the golf cars sold were electric 
powered. There are about 135,000 golf 
cars in use in the United States.

The Magovern Company put on an 
excellent display of turf equipment at 
their Lourtjh annual Turf Equipment 
Show.

What’s happening at your golf course? 
Drop a line to CONN CLIPPINGS and 
let us know. Any new ideas or ways to 
improve the newsletter will be welcomed 
by the Newsletter committee.

CONN CLIPPINGS
Charles G. Baskin, editor 
22 Lee Street 
Waterbury, Conn. 06708

— 4 —

CONNECTICUT STATE GOLF ASSOCIATON GREEN SECTION

The Connecticut State Golf Association has formed a Green Section with Martm 
J. Moraghan, Jr. as chairman. Also on the committee are James H. Killington an' 
Frank D. Ross. Mr. Charles Baskin, retired Superintendent at the Country Club of 
Waterbury, is not a member of the Green Section. The Green Section’s press release 
erroneously stated that Mr. Baskin was a member.

The Green Section was organized this past winter as a result of action taken at 
the association’s annual meeting at the Country Club of Waterbury. _ A golfer from 
the New Haven area warned of a turf disease appearing in the New York area and 
spreading into Connecticut. The Green Section was then formed to assist clubs 
in gaining counsel on turfgrass problems. Mr. Moraghan said that the committee 
will work as a referral agency to help clubs obtain expert advise.

Editor’s note: The formation of this committee is an excellent example of the 
need for dissemination of information. The reported disease was instead an insect 
problem. Superintendents attending the monthly meeting were kept abreast of the 
problem and were told of possible control measures by one of the top entomologists, 
in my opinion the best, John C. Schread. In Connecticut we are very fortunate to 
have available to us a man like John. In another section of CONN. CLIPPINGS, 
John goes into detail about Hyperodes anthracinus.

This incident is an excellent example, of the need for each superintendent to 
attend as many meetings and conferences as possible in order to keep abreast of the 
latest developments in our profession. It also shows the value of each club having 
an informed superintendent and of the club making proper use of this professional 
man. The superintendent is the man with the answers to golf course operations. 
If he doesn’t have the answers, he knows where to get them.

IN CASE OF ILLNESS.............

SPEAKERS BUREAU

Please pass the word around anytime 
you hear about illness striking any of our 
members. Also, give our welfare chair­
man, A1 Hawkins, a call. We would 
appreciate it if the wives would help us 
out in this project by notifying your 
neighbor superintendent or calling A1 
Hawkins if your husband is ill.

FIRST CLASS

The CAGCS has formed a speaker:, 
bureau which will provide speakers to 
organizations. Speakers will be well 
versed on a variety of subjects relating 
to golf and the growing of grass.

For further information, please contact 
any of our officers or our public affairs 
chairman:

Roger Barrett
174 Brook Street
Wapping, Conn.