Disease and scarab ID. 13

Disease and scarab ID. 

These are pretty useful for turf disease and scarab ID in the field. Indigo Specialty have very kindly donated this handy Australian lawn fungus identification chart for disease ID. It has some nice clear images plus control options. The key to managing disease and scarab larvae is knowing exactly what you are dealing with. More product information is available in our turf protection section and also our turf blog discussing turf chemical application.  Any copyright issues let me know and I will remove immediately.

Beetle ID.

The second part of this blog on disease and scarab ID covers scarab identification. The key to scarab ID is using a hand lens to look at their rear ends or rasters. Grub/scarab identification is important as there are multiple species that cause damage in the Australian turf industry.

Knowing which are present can have an impact on the damage caused, when they cause it and the best means of control. Most have a single-year (annual) life cycle, but some beetles have a multi-year life cycle. This guide to grub ID shows how you can do this but as it’s American the following will help with the actual identification. This scarab ID guide has some pretty nice real-life images.

• The Argentinian Scarab has a one year lifecycle and damage is similar to drought stress, as they chew away the roots.
• The African Black Beetle can cause significant damage but even at lower population densities you can see secondary damage from birds.
• The redheaded cockchafer has a life cycle of 2 years.

Once you have identified what you are dealking with you can then decide how best to manage it. Recent product developments such as Echelon Duo® which is a granular insecticide and pre emergent herbicide means that you can control scarab larvae and weeds in one application.