In today’s episode I talk with Dr Ben McGraw from Penn State University. Ben is an entomologist and has unbelievable knowledge of insects. He has done a plenty of research into the bluegrass weevil which is similar to our Argentine Stem Weevil so there is a lot to learn here. Ben is really entertaining as well and I think could have been a stand up comic in another life.

I was lucky enough to catch Peter at the recent Australasian turfgrass Conference in Brisbane after his session on the work he has done in resistance testing in turf. Peter works at the University of Adelaide as well as managing Plant Science Consulting where turf managers can send samples of their turf for herbicide resistance testing. Peter was very open about the challenges the industry faces with herbicide resistance. I hope you enjoy this short chat with Peter. I will also endeavour to head to Adelaide to visit Peter in his home state.

Disease testing- everyone knows it but not everyone utilises it as much as they should. I give some thoughts on why its important and what benefits there are in confuting disease testing.

This is just my thoughts on social media and the use in the turf industry. Many of you now I am very active on social media and have presented a number of talks at various conferences in Australia. These are just some of the reasons why I love it so much.

In this podcast these are my thoughts on best use of fungicides in turf. There is some confusion in what to use and when abnd how each product works. I hope this short episode helps with understanding fungicides.

From time to time I will be putting my thoughts out there on certain topics and hoping to give some help in dealing with agronomic aspects of turf management. In this episode I am talking about ERI management and some things to think about in helping to control this disease.

Bruce Williams is known in a lot of turf circles worldwide and has been a regular visit to Australia with his work with Grigg Brothers through Globe Australia. Bruce has been on the GCSAA board and president of 4 GCSAA chapters. However one of his specialities that I wanted to talk to him about was his consultancy he does. He is involved in not just the agronomic side but the human side as well teaching turf managers to be better in all aspects in including, project management, budget and equipment analysis. I hope you enjoy this quick chat. 

This is a discussion I was apart of with some superintendents in Sydney from a while back. We were lucky enough to have Micah on the line. He talks about summer stress and experience in the Asian region as well as how to best manage turf in the summer. We also talk about new verities coming onto the market. I apologise if the audio is a bit week as we were in a board room. 

Conferences- there are plenty to choose from and a lot of turf managers attend them however there are many that don’t I am a big believer in them small or large. These are my thoughts and I hope it gives you some guidance in looking to attend a few in the coming months.

John Cisar may not be know to many Australians however John has had a distinguished career been in turf management at a university level He is now a retired professor from University of Florida. His knowledge is first class and has been on the board of the International Turfgrass Society. His expertise is broad including nutrition, wetting. Agents, water quality, turfgrass physiology and plant Heath product evaluations. We have general chat about the industry. I hope you enjoy. John can be found on twitter @CisarTurfDoc