The annual bluegrass weevil: height matters

The annual bluegrass weevil, Listronotus maculicolis, attacks poa, and less frequently bentgrass, but its damage appears to be restricted to tees, collars and fairways — greens are seldom attacked. Penn State graduate student Benjamin Czyzewski, who works with entomologist Dr. Ben McGraw, set out to find out why.

Two key behaviors seem to dictate the weevil's absence in the very low cut turf on greens:

1. At low heights of cut, about 50 percent of all adult weevils are removed…