Here is a list of links to some interesting articles regarding turf and golf. Have a great weekend!
IPM Planning Guide. The Environmental Institute for Golf has released an IPM Planning Guide. The Institute has developed the free IPM Planning Guide to help superintendents and their facilities create a comprehensive written document that contains the strategies and tactics to manage pests on the golf course…http://www.eifg.org/sustainability/toolbox/ipmguide/default.aspx
John Deere Classic Feature. Before everyone heads overseas for next week’s Open Championship at St. Andrews, there’s still a big order of business to take care of – the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill. Zach Johnson from nearby Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will be the main attraction at the event that seems to keep growing steam and prestige…http://www.pgasportsdaily.com/pga-golf/local-knowledge-2010-john-deere-classic-and-tpc-deere-run-pga-com.html
The Root of it All: Microclover in the lawn? Clover in the lawn is not a new idea, but microclover is a new twist. Clovers and other small plants like wood violets were routinely included in lawn seed mixes prior to World War II. Dr. John Stier, Professor of Environmental Turfgrass Science at UW-Madison, and a UW-Extension Specialist, says that there were a lot of reasons to stop including broadleaf species in turfgrass seed mixtures and to start controlling weeds in lawns…http://www.journaltimes.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/article_9438047c-893e-11df-8796-001cc4c002e0.html
Does the Grass Know the Cost? Today's golf course superintendent has a huge range of products to choose from for turfgrass fertilization. Competition brings better products, better service on these products, and lower costs. In today's challenging economic times, anything we can do to reduce or control costs is good, especially if the health, appearance, and playability of your turf is not compromised. This article considers options that may do just that. It is a basic discussion about fertilizers. Does the grass really know the difference among the myriad fertilizer products available to today's turf manager…http://turf.lib.msu.edu/gsr/2010s/2010/100532.pdf
Hazeltine gets a facelift. Construction on Hazeltine’s new clubhouse began last year; it’s scheduled to open Oct. 1, even though there won’t be any golf to be played. The new clubhouse is designed to attract more special events; the dining and meeting areas will hold nearly double what the old one did. The Chaska golf course is shutting down for nearly a year to get new greens and fairways before the 2016 Ryder Cup…http://www.startribune.com/localwest/97824554.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUo8cyaiUiD3aPc%3A_Yyc%3AaULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Rainfall and Fairy Rings Throughout the Midwest. Our wet weather has continued throughout the Midwest. Accompanying the wet weather, has been heat- at least heat for us. I feel guilty saying we are hot when I saw the temperatures forecast for the Northeast and Southeast. On the weather channel this evening a couple took a picture of a bank marquee showing temperatures in New Jersey topping 100 degrees…http://turfdiseases.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-wet-weather-has-continued.html
Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant
Friday, July 9, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
HOW LONG CAN GRASS STAY UNDER WATER?
Nick Christians, Iowa State University
June has been extremely wet and there have been a number of temporary flooding events in Iowa this spring. A common question the last two weeks is “how long can grass stay under water and still survive?”
As with so many other things, there is no one good answer to this question. In my experience it varies with several different factors. They include the species of grass, the condition of the grass going in to the flooding event, time of year, the amount of silt build up, the depth of the water, the temperature, the soil type and probably several other things that are hard to observe.
Creeping bentgrass is surprisingly tolerant of flooding. This is followed by Kentucky bluegrass, and then perennial ryegrass and annual bluegrass. I have seen bent go under water for up to 5 or 6 days in the cooler temperatures of spring and still survive when the water goes down. I have also seen bent die in a few hours when it’s hot and the water is shallow, allowing the temperature of the water to heat to high levels. Bent also seems to do fine for a few days under deeper water in summer, particularly if the water keeps moving and the grass stays cool.
The green tissue of bluegrass seems to die easily, but the rhizome system stays alive and the area usually recovers from rhizome growth. When I worked in Colorado, I saw bluegrass fairways under water for several days followed by several days of silt cover. The silt was cleaned off and there was complete recovery a few weeks later from the rhizomes. Unfortunately, annual bluegrass comes back from seed and recovery usually takes a few weeks. Ryegrass has no rhizomes and unless there is a lot of seed in the soil, the area needs to be reseeded.
Another thing that I have noticed with bent is that if there are repeated, short flooding events , such as occurred in 1993, it recovers the first few times, but finally gives up and dies.
I AM INTERESTED IN YOUR FEEDBACK.
Several of you have experienced flooding over the years. What has your experience been? Send a short paragraph of what you have experienced to my e-mail address, nchris@iastate.edu and I’ll post them for others to read. Pictures would be useful if you have them. You can also use the comment section below to respond to this post.
The pictures below were from the week of June 28 on Ames Golf and CC. Supt. Mark Newton will be posting some information on what happened to these flooded areas in the next couple of days.
June has been extremely wet and there have been a number of temporary flooding events in Iowa this spring. A common question the last two weeks is “how long can grass stay under water and still survive?”
As with so many other things, there is no one good answer to this question. In my experience it varies with several different factors. They include the species of grass, the condition of the grass going in to the flooding event, time of year, the amount of silt build up, the depth of the water, the temperature, the soil type and probably several other things that are hard to observe.
Creeping bentgrass is surprisingly tolerant of flooding. This is followed by Kentucky bluegrass, and then perennial ryegrass and annual bluegrass. I have seen bent go under water for up to 5 or 6 days in the cooler temperatures of spring and still survive when the water goes down. I have also seen bent die in a few hours when it’s hot and the water is shallow, allowing the temperature of the water to heat to high levels. Bent also seems to do fine for a few days under deeper water in summer, particularly if the water keeps moving and the grass stays cool.
The green tissue of bluegrass seems to die easily, but the rhizome system stays alive and the area usually recovers from rhizome growth. When I worked in Colorado, I saw bluegrass fairways under water for several days followed by several days of silt cover. The silt was cleaned off and there was complete recovery a few weeks later from the rhizomes. Unfortunately, annual bluegrass comes back from seed and recovery usually takes a few weeks. Ryegrass has no rhizomes and unless there is a lot of seed in the soil, the area needs to be reseeded.
Another thing that I have noticed with bent is that if there are repeated, short flooding events , such as occurred in 1993, it recovers the first few times, but finally gives up and dies.
I AM INTERESTED IN YOUR FEEDBACK.
Several of you have experienced flooding over the years. What has your experience been? Send a short paragraph of what you have experienced to my e-mail address, nchris@iastate.edu and I’ll post them for others to read. Pictures would be useful if you have them. You can also use the comment section below to respond to this post.
The pictures below were from the week of June 28 on Ames Golf and CC. Supt. Mark Newton will be posting some information on what happened to these flooded areas in the next couple of days.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Rain, Rain, Go Away
The 4th of July weekend brought rain across much of the state adding moisture to already saturated soils. Many parts of the state received upwards of 10 inches of rain for the month of June. Des Moines received 13.41 inches for the month which is well beyond their average of 4.57 inches. This ranks as the 4th wettest June on history, right behind 2008 when central Iowa received 13.45 inches. The average daily maximum temperature of 83.7 was slightly above the average of 81.8. The slightly above average temperatures coupled with the abundant rainfall provided plenty of opportunity for diseases.
The extreme wet conditions were especially conducive for slime mold development. In fact, slime mold often appears after heavy rains that were preceded by periods of dry weather (sound a little like our transition from May to June?). The slime mold I observed appeared overnight on a putting green following a couple days of rain. While slime molds are aesthetically unappealing, they are generally not harmful to the turf.
Most textbook and web references will describe symptoms of slime mold as round pustules that cover the leaf blade. The pustules can range in color from white, gray, purple, yellow, or orange. The bright colored pustules may appear first before turning darker in color, often within a few days. However, these descriptions best characterize the symptoms as they appear on taller mown turf. As you can see from these pictures, the symptoms of slime mold on green height turf appear slightly different from what is normally described.
These samples were collected shortly after the morning mowing. It is likely that the pustules were present but were smashed and smeared by the mowers. At quick glance while walking across the green, the mold resembled grease that had been tracked from the mowers but appeared in a random fashion. A microscopic view shows the black pustules covering the ends of the grass blades.
Because slime mold is usually short-lived and do not cause damage, fungicides are generally not recommended. Cultural controls normally include washing the pustules from the leaf surface with water. However, given the excess moisture that can accompany slime mold, removing the pustules by gently brushing the turf may be a better alternative.
Let's hope we get a break from rain this week.
Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant
The extreme wet conditions were especially conducive for slime mold development. In fact, slime mold often appears after heavy rains that were preceded by periods of dry weather (sound a little like our transition from May to June?). The slime mold I observed appeared overnight on a putting green following a couple days of rain. While slime molds are aesthetically unappealing, they are generally not harmful to the turf.
Most textbook and web references will describe symptoms of slime mold as round pustules that cover the leaf blade. The pustules can range in color from white, gray, purple, yellow, or orange. The bright colored pustules may appear first before turning darker in color, often within a few days. However, these descriptions best characterize the symptoms as they appear on taller mown turf. As you can see from these pictures, the symptoms of slime mold on green height turf appear slightly different from what is normally described.
These samples were collected shortly after the morning mowing. It is likely that the pustules were present but were smashed and smeared by the mowers. At quick glance while walking across the green, the mold resembled grease that had been tracked from the mowers but appeared in a random fashion. A microscopic view shows the black pustules covering the ends of the grass blades.
Because slime mold is usually short-lived and do not cause damage, fungicides are generally not recommended. Cultural controls normally include washing the pustules from the leaf surface with water. However, given the excess moisture that can accompany slime mold, removing the pustules by gently brushing the turf may be a better alternative.
Let's hope we get a break from rain this week.
Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Greetings from Hong Kong!
My name is Damian Richardson, a recent graduate of Iowa State University. I am currently on a six-month internship with the Hong Kong Golf Club. The HKGC is a 121-year-old private club with a membership of roughly 2,400. The club hosts many Club and Hong Kong Golf Association tournaments, as well as the USB Hong Kong Open, which is a stop on the European Tour. The club is comprised of four different courses totaling 63 holes. The New, Old, and Eden courses each have 18 holes and are located 40 minutes north of Hong Kong Central and 10 minutes south of China in Fannling, Hong Kong with the remaining 9 holes at the Club in Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong.
The three 18-hole courses at Fannling (where I will be spending most of my time) have many different grass species. Below are the grass species and varieties that cover the three courses here:
Greens–
Bermudagrass (Tifdwarf, Tifeagle, Fanling 27, Fanling 33, and common Bermudagrass, and Transvaalensis)
Bentgrass – A note on the Bentgrass green – On the 13th hole of the New Course, there is an option to use one of two targets available. On one target we have Bermudagrass and on the other is Bentgrass. The average temperature in June (according to www.wolframalpha.com) has been 78 overnight and 86 during the day and averaging 67-89% humidity. This green was installed September 2009 and has been a struggle to keep alive so far this summer. It will be interesting to see how it performs over the coming months. The green is purely an experiment to see how well bentgrass can do in this area and how intensively it must be managed to be kept alive.
Fairways –
Seashore Paspalum (Salam)
Emerald Zoysia (Zoysia japonica)
Manillagrass (Zoysia matrella)
Bermudagrass (419, common Bermudagrass)
Tees-
Seashore Paspalum (Salom)
Zoysiagrass (japonica and matrella)
Bermudagrass (common Bermudagrass)
Rough-
Carpetgrass
Bermudagrass (419 and common Bermudagrass)
Seashore Paspalum (Salam)
Zoysia (japonica and matrella)
Due to the nature of these warm season grasses, we must have nursery stock available for repairs and renovations. Since we have so many species of grass on the course, it is necessary for us to have a large nursery area. Here we have multiple nurseries totaling approximately 10 acres in size.
To increase the understanding of warm season turfgrass in Hong Kong, there is research is being conducted here based on discovering which species grow best in our area, and what types of management practices are needed to achieve the best quality turf for golf. The unique climate of Hong Kong (hot, humid, rainy, and limited sunlight in summer, and extremely dry and cool in winter) makes it a very challenging place to grow grass. The club has developed a research center that has over 40 plots of numerous species and varieties of turfgrass. Dr. Micah Woods of the Asian Turfgrass Center is employed as a consultant for collecting and developing data from the research area.
I look forward to sharing more about my internship with the readers of iaTURF and will be discussing many new discoveries I have made at the Hong Kong Golf Club, as well as other clubs that I visit in Hong Kong.
Damian Richardson
The three 18-hole courses at Fannling (where I will be spending most of my time) have many different grass species. Below are the grass species and varieties that cover the three courses here:
Greens–
Bermudagrass (Tifdwarf, Tifeagle, Fanling 27, Fanling 33, and common Bermudagrass, and Transvaalensis)
Bentgrass – A note on the Bentgrass green – On the 13th hole of the New Course, there is an option to use one of two targets available. On one target we have Bermudagrass and on the other is Bentgrass. The average temperature in June (according to www.wolframalpha.com) has been 78 overnight and 86 during the day and averaging 67-89% humidity. This green was installed September 2009 and has been a struggle to keep alive so far this summer. It will be interesting to see how it performs over the coming months. The green is purely an experiment to see how well bentgrass can do in this area and how intensively it must be managed to be kept alive.
Fairways –
Seashore Paspalum (Salam)
Emerald Zoysia (Zoysia japonica)
Manillagrass (Zoysia matrella)
Bermudagrass (419, common Bermudagrass)
Tees-
Seashore Paspalum (Salom)
Zoysiagrass (japonica and matrella)
Bermudagrass (common Bermudagrass)
Rough-
Carpetgrass
Bermudagrass (419 and common Bermudagrass)
Seashore Paspalum (Salam)
Zoysia (japonica and matrella)
Due to the nature of these warm season grasses, we must have nursery stock available for repairs and renovations. Since we have so many species of grass on the course, it is necessary for us to have a large nursery area. Here we have multiple nurseries totaling approximately 10 acres in size.
To increase the understanding of warm season turfgrass in Hong Kong, there is research is being conducted here based on discovering which species grow best in our area, and what types of management practices are needed to achieve the best quality turf for golf. The unique climate of Hong Kong (hot, humid, rainy, and limited sunlight in summer, and extremely dry and cool in winter) makes it a very challenging place to grow grass. The club has developed a research center that has over 40 plots of numerous species and varieties of turfgrass. Dr. Micah Woods of the Asian Turfgrass Center is employed as a consultant for collecting and developing data from the research area.
I look forward to sharing more about my internship with the readers of iaTURF and will be discussing many new discoveries I have made at the Hong Kong Golf Club, as well as other clubs that I visit in Hong Kong.
Damian Richardson
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
CLOVER LOVES WET WEATHER
From: Nick Christians, Iowa State University.
I have had a number of calls lately on white clover. There seems to be more of it this year than people have seen for awhile. That is not your imagination. Clover loves wet weather, particularly early in the summer. In 1993, the wettest year on record for Iowa, clover took over many golf course fairways, lawns and sports fields in Iowa.
What can be done? Clover is surprisingly tolerant of 2,4-D, our old standby for broad leaf weed control. It is not uncommon for areas treated with 2,4-D alone to have the clover curl up, but then recover in a few weeks.
The best herbicides for clover control are those that contain MCPP, or one of the pyridine compounds: tyiclopyr, chlopyralid, and fluroxypyr. Of the three pyridines, triclopyr seems to be the best in my experience. You can find these compounds in several of the combination products for broadleaf weed control. Remember that any of the materials present a risk to dicotyledenous plants in the landscape such as trees and shrubs. They are also deadly to tomatoes and most flowering plants.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A Really Good Burger
Ok, so I know that we usually write about topics relevant to turf, but the rain has stopped, the temperatures have broken, and sometimes it’s just nice to take a break and talk about something fun…like a great burger. Those of you who sat in on my technology talk at last year’s Iowa Turfgrass Conference already know about the Triple D app (Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives) and heard me wax poetic about my missed opportunity at experiencing the Cheesy Sacramento from Brewburgers.
For those that don’t know the story, I was in Omaha over Memorial Day Weekend 2009 with a stop scheduled at Brewburgers, only to find out the restaurant wasn’t open on Memorial Day. Well, I was back in Omaha this past weekend and had a successful rendezvous with the Cheesy Sacramento. The Cheesy Sacramento is a typical burger apart from being smothered with a mountain of cheese that forms a nifty “cheese skirt” thanks to a unique cooking technique. It took some doing, but I was able to work my way through all the cheese.
A video featuring Brewburgers and the making of the Cheesy Sacramento is below. We’ll be back tomorrow with actual turf related stuff.
Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Happy Birthday iaTURF!
The blog turns one today. Can you believe how fast the time has gone? Here’s a quick recap from our first year of blogging.
- 113 articles on a wide variety of subjects were posted to the blog during its first year. Special thanks to everyone that contributed by sending in an article. The blog really becomes more dynamic when we can post information directly from industry professionals.
- The blog had over 11,000 visits from over 4,000 different visitors. We had visits from every state, except Alaska (Does anybody know someone in Alaska that can visit the site for us?) Iowa and the six surrounding states accounted for about 80% of the visits. Also, a shout out to Des Moines, Muscatine, Cedar Rapids, Ft. Dodge, and Urbandale for logging the most hits within the state of Iowa.
- The average time spent on the site was 1 minute 7 seconds. I’m actually really happy about that. Our goal is to get timely, relevant information to you. We’re not trying to write novels here!
- The blog caught the attention of the turf industry by being featured by GCSAA.
What’s next for iaTURF?
The entire goal of the blog was to get relevant information to you in a way convenient for you, and possibly have some fun while doing it. Continuing with that theme, we are launching an iaTURF Facebook page where you will be able to access information from the blog. You may have noticed the blue Facebook button at the top of the right hand column. This links directly to the iaTURF facebook page. Become of fan of the iaTURF Facebook page by clicking the “Like” button at the top of the page.
Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant
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