IPM Manual Update on the Update end September 2025

by Jerry Rousseau

Final delivery of the updated IPM manual for BC Turfgrass Managers is expected by late 2025. Here is an update on the update by author, Mario Lanthier of CropHealth Advising and Research.

Links to current version:

Download Manual (Small – 33 MB)
Download Manual (Full Size – 238 MB)

Part 1 in the proposal

Proposal: Corrections and minor additions to the current edition
Status: Almost completed.
Work performed:
Editing:
• 3 persons read through the documents looking for spelling mistakes or changes to grammar. All changes were entered.
Pesticide lists:
• All lists were updated with product registrations as of August 2025.
Minor additions:
• Added pictures and content to the page Black turfgrass ataenius (BTA) (we have pictures of Aphodius granarius, a beetle similar to BTA, from a visit to a golf course on Vancouver Island)
• Added pictures for identification of cutworms (from a different project conducted by our company)
• Added pictures for fairy ring diseases (from our library, the largest disease concern in municipalities)
• Added content on horsetail weeds (from our library, the most common question from landscapers)
Deposit at Library and Archives Canada:
• In progress. This cannot be completed until the final draft is ready.

Part 2 in the proposal
Proposal: Visit to 5 golf courses to document summer patch diseases.
Status: Visits are now completed. If more contacts are received at our office, we will continue the visits.
Work performed:
• 12 golf courses were visited for this project: 2 on Vancouver Island, 2 in Lower Mainland, 1 in Cariboo, 6 in Okanagan and Nicola-Thompson region
• At each visit, samples are collected and forwarded to Guelph University for DNA confirmation of pathogens present (diseases). The pictures and lab reports will guide further additions to the Manual.
• Visit # 1 to document diseases at snow melt at a high elevation golf course (lab confirmation of Microdochium + Pythium)
• Visit # 2 to document diseases at snow melt (pictures of grey snow mould and speckled grey snow mould)
• Visit # 3 to document diseases at snow melt at a high elevation golf course (lab confirmation of cottony snow mould)
• Visit # 4 to document a disease (lab confirmation of yellow patch on 3 samples)
• Visit # 5 to document an insect (samples recovered identified as Aphodius granaries beetle, similar appearance to black turfgrass ataeinus)
• Visit # 6 to document a disease (lab confirmation of brown patch on 3 samples, another sample was confirmed Pythium)
• Visit # 7 to document a disease (lab confirmation of necrotic ring spot on 1 sample)
• Visit # 8 to document diseases (lab confirmation of Pythium and necrotic ring spot, second sample was anthracnose, third sample is pending)
• Visit # 9 to document diseases (lab confirmation of necrotic ring spot, second sample was anthracnose)
• Visit # 10 to document diseases (lab confirmation of anthracnose and Pythium in 5 samples, no Rhizoctonia in any of the patches) 
• Visit # 11 to document diseases (lab confirmation pending, 4 samples of summer patch symptoms, could be necrotic ring spot and Pythium again)

At this time, many of the samples are returned from the lab with Pythium infection. This disease may be a larger problem than is currently being discussed in the industry.

Final delivery:
As mentioned in the proposal, we are aiming to deliver the final product in late November or early December 2025.