Hello,

It’s been a strange spring.  The temps have been warmer than normal, in some cases WAY warmer.  Here in Manhattan it was 89 on April 1.  Even the warm-season grasses are growing like mad.  Along with the early plant growth, plant diseases are ahead of normal, too.  I haven’t seen it yet myself in person, but large patch is active in the area:

Dollar spot is active already in some sites, too.

Yellow patch was still lingering in some sites as of last week:

In the non-turf world, all our trees and ornamentals are ahead of schedule, and so are some of the diseases.  Cedar apple rust has been active for a few weeks, and just today I saw fire blight in ornamental pear.  Everything is early early early this year!  The temperatures over the next few days appear to be more seasonal – goodbye 80′s – but it will be warm enough for things to keep on rolling ahead.

Let’s just up the 89-degree flash of July-in-April is not foreshadowing another brutal summer!