The Doublecut with Micah Woods

Independent turfgrass researcher John Dempsey, Ph.D., joined me to discuss evaluating treatment effects and the importance of having a good control. We talked about diseases, nutrition, and this blog post:

https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/problem-with-the-controls/

Find John on X at https://x.com/J_J_Dempsey

• Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
• Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
• Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
• PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
• ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

Dr. Henry Qu, partner and data scientist at Oxbridge Economics, joined me to talk about data analysis, and statistics, and how to try to learn things in turfgrass science. We discussed NTEP, posterior distributions, disease resistance, ANOVA, total organic material expectations by species, the process of learning, and much more.

• ATC blog post about surface organic material of putting greens: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/total-organic-matter-surface-putting-greens/
• Henry's 2023 CSSA presentation "On the Data Analysis of Small-Plot Field Trials in Turfgrass Science:" https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2023am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/148936
• NTEP, the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program: https://ntep.org/
• Oxbridge Economics: https://www.oxbridge-econ.com/about

• Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
• Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
• Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
• PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
• ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

Jon Wall, golf course superintendent at Shanqin Bay, joined me to discuss doing more work to make grass better, rather than doing less. And also about what I'd want everyone to do, which is doing the right amount of work for your property.

We talked about many things, starting off with:

• Better turf conditions with more intensive maintenance blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/doing-more-work/
• Our previous conversation about sustainable turfgrass management: https://youtu.be/hXtqiYOOq1E?si=8IVV-t06JVTqcfo6
• Infiltration rate: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/why-i-dont-worry-about-infiltration-rate/

• Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
• Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
• Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
• PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
• ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

It's summer in the northern hemisphere, and the two items discussed in this episode provide guidance on managing turf when it has to survive through heat stress.

• From the ATC website, a 12 point list: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/catching-up-on-reading-heat-stress/
• From PACE Turf, the Heat Kills document: https://www.paceturf.org/member/Documents/0108.pdf

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

Carl Schimenti from Cornell University joined me to discuss intro to #MLSN explanations vs. using MLSN the way it is designed to be used. We also talked a lot about ball roll assessment using the #BobbleTest, and the USGA GS3 ball, and other methods.

• MLSN project page: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/mlsn/
• Daniel Palin with the MLSN test on The Talking Greenkeper: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daniel-palin/id1435947281?i=1000647459615
• Blog post on one additional chatter of snaking event in three rolls: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/one-chatter-or-snaking-event-in-every-third-ball-roll/
• Linde et al. on "Comparing Three Methods to Measure Putting Green Trueness" https://doi.org/10.2134/itsrj2016.05.0332
• My video on How to measure the smoothness and trueness of golf course putting greens? https://youtu.be/Fg_aDTB-O10?si=ZA4rgU2A1SLACrJ5
• Bobble test rating scale: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/bobble-test-rating-scale/

• Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
• Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
• Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
• PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
• ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

Soil P, pH, and salinity are a few things that likely vary by depth in your rootzone. I've started recommending that 20% of putting greens tested be done with a sample divided at the 5 cm depth. Send the lab a 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm depth sample from that green, rather than the standard 0-10 cm depth sample.

I discussed this blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/reconstructing-soil-p-from-disassembled-soil-samples/

The MLSN page on the ATC site: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/mlsn/

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

Maggie Reiter joined me to discuss how the start (and end) of the turfgrass maintenance season might be predicted. When is spring green-up? When does the season end? 

• We discussed, and showed charts of growth potential and temperature, from this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/maps-of-average-temperatures-in-the-usa/
• The Sunday Lawn Care plans
• We discussed the article "An examination of turfgrass species use on golf course putting greens" by Brosnan et al., which you can read, and see the maps of species use, at: https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20160
• The 15th International Turfgrass Research Conference will be held in July 2025 at Karuizawa, Japan: https://itrc2025.turfsociety.com/
• See our previous conversation about ecoregions at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP3XmNyDN6s
• Black sand topdressing in Iceland to increase temperature: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/turfgrass-mystery-the-case-of-the-greener-grass/

• Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
• Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
• Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
• PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
• ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., president of GreenKeeper, joined me to discuss the new water resource planning tools in GreenKeeper, along with disease risk, PGRs, soil surfactants, and weather data.

See more about these tools at the GreenKeeper app: https://www.greenkeeperapp.com/
Irrigation posts at the ATC website: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/tag/irrigation/

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

I discuss small plot university research with fixed treatments vs. golf course and sports turf maintenance with treatments that vary, and consider which results we should trust more. I also discuss the bobble test after 270 rounds, mention that core sweepers are a nice machine, and explain how I estimate N harvested in creeping bentgrass clippings.

Posts discussed and relevant links include:

• https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/ball-roll-after-270-rounds/
• Short bobble test video with T-Jay Creamer: https://youtu.be/Y2Fbw8Ks-gE
• ATC2x episode with T-Jay about management of the greens: https://youtu.be/NJwc7XJQRGk
• Bobble test rating scale: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/bobble-test-rating-scale/
• MSU Turfgrass Information File database: https://tic.msu.edu/database
• https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/green-sweepers-that-work-beautifully/
• Cleaning aerification cores the easy way in Japan: https://youtu.be/yv26e9rqwBw
• https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/nitrogen-harvested-in-clippings-calculation-update-for-2024/

• Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
• Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
• Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
• PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
• ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter

I describe what  we can learn from looking at five years of Mehlich 3 soil test phosphorus results from golf course putting greens, how to calculate the turfgrass speedo in a standard way, rather than in a chaotic way, and recommend an episode of the Cornell Turfgrass Show that asks if soil testing is the answer to all your problems.

These are the links to posts and videos mentioned in the show:

• https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/mehlich-3-soil-test-p-in-sand-rootzones/
• https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/spring-growth-flush/
• https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/soil-testing-cornell-turfgrass-show/
• https://youtu.be/LHEs7vT2hfU

Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter