The Turf Zone Podcast

Mississippi Turfgrass – Mississippi Turfgrass Association

It is with regret that we notify you that our 2020 Deep South Turf Expo, originally scheduled for November 4-5, 2020, at the Mississippi Coast Convention Center has been cancelled. After careful consideration, our Board of Directors made this decision since we cannot guarantee the positive and rewarding experience that our attendees and exhibitors have come to enjoy each year in Biloxi. A successful Conference and Trade Show relies on in-person networking, face-to-face business meetings and hands-on instruction that will simply not be possible, given the continued social distancing measures that we anticipate will still be in place throughout the remainder of this year. With so much uncertainty, the board feels it prudent to forgo our education program and trade show and focus on making the 2021 Deep South Turf Expo the best ever!

Tournament

Rather than completely miss an opportunity to have our group come together this year, the DSTE is going to host DSTE 2020 Reinvented: Tournament, Trade Show and Tailgate! Tournament will be hosted by The Preserve Golf Course on Monday, October 26th. This will allow us ample space to socially distance and gather, while keeping the spirit of the DSTE alive for next year. October will be a great time to play this Certified Silver Audubon International Signature Sanctuary Golf Course. One of the only 21 golf courses in the world to receive this prestigious designation, the Preserve is committed to helping preserve the natural environment, while maintaining pristine playing conditions. Judging from the popularity of past DSTE Tournaments at this course they have succeeded! Many thanks to Jeremy Stevens and Stephen Miles, CGCS for hosting the tournament, and their dedication to the Deep South Turf Expo since its inception!

Trade Show

In addition to the golf tournament we are offering opportunities for our vendors to showcase their products during the tournament by displaying on a hole during the golf tournament. Players and attendees (aka customers) will come by on their golf carts, or people carriers, and visit with you. Registration includes exhibit location and entrance to the tailgate celebration. Since we will have limited space, we suggest you register ASAP.

Tailgate

The Tailgate Picnic, which was so popular last year, is being reprised. Whether you golf or not, we encourage everyone to come by for the Tailgate, sample some great food, listen to some great music, and gather with their peers. Please SAVE THE DATE! There will be rooms available at the Beau Rivage for special rates on Sunday and Monday nights.

While it is of primary importance to the Deep South Turf Expo mission to offer an outstanding education conference each year, there were many factors that determined that we would be unable to host the wonderful program that had been planned. Even a scaled-down live version of this conference would be difficult. Our host hotel, the Beau Rivage, has been mandated to reduce occupancy and many universities have eliminated travel of their faculty during this time. In addition, many of our exhibitors have had travel budgets frozen and could not confirm that they would be able to exhibit until this fall. Our committee is still working on making some offerings that would enable our attendees to get points on a digital platform. As soon as confirmation can be made, we will promote and share this information.

The Deep South Turf Expo Board and staff wish you and your family a safe summer. Whether you play in the golf tournament or not, we hope you will come to the tournament and tailgate. We miss you all and would love to see you there!

Pennsylvania Turfgrass – Pete Landschoot, Ph.D. Professor of Turfgrass Science, Penn State

During late spring and summer, summer annual grasses can be an unsightly weed problem in many Pennsylvania lawns, sports fields, and golf course fairways and roughs. Reasons for severe infestations include high seed populations in soil, thin turf canopies allowing space for weeds to grow, mistimed preemergence herbicide applications, and premature breakdown of preemergence herbicides. Once summer annual grasses begin to emerge, they generally grow faster than cool season turfgrasses and will gradually takeover large sections of turf. If not controlled before producing seed, another large weed crop will emerge the following year.

The most common summer annual grasses likely to infest turf in Pennsylvania include crabgrass, goosegrass, and foxtail species. Other summer annuals that may be problematic in certain areas are barnyardgrass and Japanese stiltgrass. Seeds of summer annual grasses don’t all germinate at the same time; instead, germination and seedling emergence is staggered over several weeks or months. This timing mechanism ensures that a late frost or some other weather-related event won’t kill off the entire population. Depending on where you live in Pennsylvania, you may see crabgrass seedlings emerging from mid-April to mid-July. Also, seed of various species of summer annual grasses germinate at different times of the growing season. For example, goosegrass seed usually germinates and emerges 3 to 4 weeks later than crabgrass. The long germination/emergence period makes control of summer annual grasses challenging.

The most effective means of controlling summer annual grasses is through cultural measures that create a dense turf and applications of preemergence herbicides. When these measures fail, postemergence herbicides can be used. Postemergence control of crabgrass and other summer annual grass weeds involves the use of products that kill growing plants after they have appeared in the turf. Postemergence herbicides can be used to treat only those areas where summer annual grass weeds have emerged. Preemergence herbicides, on the other hand, are usually applied over the entire turf area since the applicator does not know where seeds are located, or if they are present.

 

Stage of Growth and Postemergence Herbicide Applications

Knowing the growth stage of the target species and the corresponding herbicide rate are important for successful postemergence control of summer annual grasses. Stage of growth can be determined by examining individual plants and observing the number of leaves on the main shoot, or how many secondary stems, called tillers, have emerged from the crown. Generally, summer annual grasses with 1 or 2 tillers are easier to control with postemergence herbicides than plants with 3 or more tillers. As the number of tillers increases, the product rate will likely increase, or a different herbicide may be needed.

Because summer annual grass seedlings emerge in turf stands at different times during spring and summer, their growth stages will vary. Be sure to examine several plants in different locations of the turf stand to get an adequate assessment of plant maturity. If early in the growing season, the stand may be composed mostly of non-tillered or 1 or 2-tiller plants. In this case, choosing a herbicide product and rate that provides effective control and is safe on turf may be easier. Adding a preemergence herbicide with a postemergence product early in the growing season will prevent late-germinating summer annuals from infesting the stand. Later in the summer, annual grasses may have 4 or more tillers along with some newly emerged plants. In this case, you may need to apply a herbicide at rates that will control weed plants with the higher tiller numbers. Postemergence applications at this stage of growth may require more than one application for comple...

ATA Turf Times – Bryan Unruh, Professor of Environmental Horticulture & Associate Center Director at the University of Florida

Introduction

The use of ride-on applicators in the landscape is common in the northern and transition zones of the United States. However, it has only been in recent years that these machines have made their way south. Ride-on applicator use on warm-season landscapes has been steadily rising over the past few years.

In visiting with lawn care operators, the consensus is that the increasing difficulty in finding labor is prompting the shift towards the ride-on applicators. In a leading industry survey, 56% of survey respondents listed labor as a major concern.[i] The challenge is due to the aging workforce and the difficulty in attracting younger workers. A cursory review of Lawn & Landscape Magazine reveals several articles aimed at attracting and retaining young employees. The use of ride-on applicators is seen as a key move to keep younger workers satisfied.[ii] Ride-on applicators also allow for increased productivity since one can spray and spread at the same time. Additionally, ride-on applicators require less manual labor, putting an end to dragging hoses or pushing spreaders. The advantages and disadvantages of the ride-on applicators are listed in Table 1.

Types of Ride-on Applicators

There are basically two types of ride-on applicators: Spreader only and Spreader/Sprayer. The spreader only applicators are useful for applying granular products such as fertilizer or fertilizer sparged with a pesticide. Examples include the Ferris Rover™ Ride-On Spreader, the Spyker Ride-On Spreader, and the LESCO HPS Chariot Ride-On Spreader. Retail pricing for spreader only models range from $4,600 – $6,775.

The Spreader/Sprayer applicators allow for singular or simultaneous application of both dry and liquid products. There are two types of sprayer designs: Boomless and boom-type. The boomless sprayers employ a cluster of FloodJet® type nozzles that distribute the spray solution through a single nozzle operating at a given time. The boom sprayer, as the name implies, has three or four nozzles uniformly spaced along a rigid boom. Examples include the PermaGreen, Ferris Venture™, Z-Spray, and the Turfco T3100 Spreader & Sprayer. Retail pricing for the Spreader/Sprayer systems range from $10,000 – $13,000.

Calibrating Ride-on Pesticide Sprayers and Fertilizer Spreaders

As with any fertilizer or pesticide application equipment, calibration is critical for achieving effective pest control and providing uniform greening without yellow streaking from fertilizer misapplications. When combining two distribution methods (granular and liquid), the calibration can be quite challenging. Fortunately, Purdue University Extension has a fantastic publication on Calibrating Ride-on Pesticide Sprayers and Fertilizer Spreaders available as a free download (https://ppp.purdue.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/PPP-104.pdf).

Do Ride-on Applicators Work as Well as Conventional Equipment?

As noted, proper calibration is the first step in achieving success with any application equipment. The application of fertilizer using a ride-on applicator does not differ too much from a standard push spreader. Assuming the machine is operated in the intended manner, one can achieve uniform results. Conversely, the spray delivery systems on ride-on applicators can offer some unique challenges that differ from conventional landscape sprayers – namely the low volume applications and operating the equipment in small, tight areas.

Historically, most lawncare spray volumes ranged from 1.0 – 3.0 gallons per 1,000 ft2 [43 – 130 gallons per acre (gpa)] delivered through industry standard spray guns such as the Lesc...

MTC Turf News – Michael Goatley, Jr., Ph.D., Professor & Extension Turfgrass Specialist, School of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech

Nothing reminds us of how fragile our lives, jobs, and relationships are until they are seriously disrupted by an unforeseen event. If you’re anywhere near my age (58) then 9/11 and 4/16 have particular significance in our lives, and Covid-19 will be another event that will be remembered for how it changed the way we do things, even in managing turfgrasses. The 2020 Pandemic has certainly impacted the turfgrass industry and its effects will continue even as/after social distancing restrictions are relaxed and public activities on our sports fields and golf courses expand and/or return. For situations where budgets and labor forces were not severely impacted by the pandemic, turfgrass managers have taken advantage of the downtime in what are typical high turfgrass use periods to complete a variety of activities/projects that otherwise would not have been possible. I have noted irrigation and drainage installations, bunker renovations, a wide variety of tree management activities, earlier than ever spring transition of ryegrass overseeding back to bermudagrass, rebuilding/renovating infield skins, pitching mounds, and batter’s boxes, etc. The only ‘slaps on the hand’ for the turfgrass managers that I have heard in these situations has been admonishments in some cases for not paying enough attention to ‘social distancing.’ However, the real world scenario for many turfgrass managers has been that they have had to be ultra-creative in managing their labor forces, not just to address social distancing guidelines, but to handle a budget that has been cut and might continue to shrink. Predicting what is going to happen for the rest of 2020 in our industry will likely be as accurate as most of our pandemic models have been to this point in time because this is such a fluid situation; it’s unchartered territory from a variety of perspectives and perceptions. However, necessity brings out the best (and sometimes worst) of human ingenuity, and quite often our management and business models will never be the same again. In listening to and observing industry peers from around the mid-Atlantic, here’s some forecasting that even if it doesn’t pan out as I think it will, should still be applicable strategies to fit most turfgrass management situations:

 

Site-specific management continues. This is one of the oldest and best budget saving strategies in all phases of turfgrass management. Focus management on the areas that warrant the attention because of their specialized purpose or their intensity of use. Logically it’s greens, tees, and fairways in that order on golf courses and it’s been interesting watching how superintendents are adjusting pest, fertility, and mowing strategies to deal with current and anticipated challenges in budgets and labor. Similar concepts are being applied in sports fields with an emphasis on repairing and restoring the heaviest trafficked areas, and only providing minimal maintenance on most other areas. The classic example long preached in sports field management is to emphasize turf recovery between the hashes and the 30s in the spring on football fields, even when they are being used for spring soccer. Focus on infields and hips on grassed baseball and softball facilities and minimize efforts in the outfield (except for perhaps three general locations in left, center, and right?).

Many turfgrass managers have told me that budgets simply aren’t going to allow for broad-scale scheduled aeration events, even if performed ‘in house’, and a primary reason is the cost of the tines themselves. The same limitations might apply to scheduled pesticide or fertilizer applications. Adjust the areas that you are managing to those that absolutely need the attention, and return to the other areas as budgets allow.

ATA Turf Times – Dave Han, PhD & Beth Guertal, PhD, Alabama Extension & Auburn University

It sometimes seems as though the turfgrass world is being bombarded by new turfgrass varieties. Although turf managers who come from the world of seeded cool-season grasses are more used to changes in variety names and blends, the world of vegetatively-propagated warm-season grasses has traditionally been more static. After all, Tifway bermudagrass has been with us since the 1960s, and Meyer and Emerald zoysiagrass had a decades-long run as the dominant varieties in the Southeast. But in recent years, the market has seen newer varieties making inroads into the warm-season markets, especially bermudagrasses and zoysiagrasses. Here is an overview of some of the new and new-ish varieties to the market in the Southeast in the last few years.

Where do these new grasses come from?

Universities and the USDA

There are several sources of new turfgrass varieties. Some of the most well-known warm-season turfgrasses were developed by universities working alone or in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. The prime example of such a cooperative effort is the breeding program at Tifton, Georgia, where the breeding program shared by the University of Georgia and the USDA-ARS has given us many famous bermudagrass varieties over the decades, from Tifgreen (328) and Tifway (419) in the 1950s and 1960s all the way to TifTuf, released in 2016. TifTuf, the newest in the ’Tif’ series of hybrid bermudagrasses, maintains its color under drought conditions much better than Tifway and is fast growing. TifBlair centipedegrass, bred for increased cold tolerance, is another release from this group, while several seashore paspalum varieties such as the SeaIsle series and SeaStar have come from the University of Georgia’s breeding program at Griffin, Ga.

The University of Florida maintains an active turfgrass breeding program focusing mainly on developing St. Augustinegrass and zoysiagrass varieties. Released in 1973 in cooperation with Texas A&M, Floratam St. Augustinegrass is still a standard variety, while their newer St. Augustinegrasses Captiva and CitraBlue came out in 2007 and 2018, respectively. Captiva is a semi-dwarf variety with a lower growth habit than most St. Augustinegrasses, and CitraBlue is a UF has also released several zoysiagrasses in 2018 and 2019, such as FAES 1319 and FAES 1307.

Texas A&M University also has a new St. Augustinegrass variety, TamStar, bred for improved drought tolerance and tolerance to gray leaf spot. They are perhaps best known for their zoysiagrass releases. In the 1990s and 2000s, they released Diamond, Crowne, Palisades, Royal and Zorro. The latest zoysiagrass releases from

Texas A&M since 2015 include Chisolm, Lazer and Innovation. Chisolm and Innovation were developed in cooperation with Kansas State University. Lazer is a putting green variety, while Chisolm and Innovation are medium and fine textured grasses, respectively, suitable for fairways, lawns, etc. Both Innovation and Chisolm have been bred for improved cold tolerance. This is a common goal among all warm-season grass breeders. Another common characteristic of newer zoysiagrass varieties – from all sources – is that they tend to be faster growing than older zoysiagrasses. This offers quicker establishment and better recovery from damage, but may mean they need more frequent mowing.

Oklahoma State University is another prolific producer of warm-season turfgrass varieties, especially bermudagrasses with improved cold tolerance. In the past twenty years, OSU released Patriot (in 2006), Latitude 36 and Northbridge in 2011, and most recently Tahoma 31 in 2019. Oklahoma State also has released seeded bermudagrass varieties such as Riviera and Yukon. It has also shown improved shade tolerance in bermudagrass variety trials.

Pennsylvania Turfgrass – Michael Goatley, Jr., Ph.D., Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech

Nothing reminds us of how fragile our lives, jobs, and relationships are until they are seriously disrupted by an unforeseen event. If you’re anywhere near my age (58) then 9/11 and 4/16 have particular significance in our lives, and Covid-19 will be another event that will be remembered for how it changed the way we do things, even in managing turfgrasses. The 2020 Pandemic has certainly impacted the turfgrass industry and its effects will continue even as/after social distancing restrictions are relaxed and public activities on our sports fields and golf courses expand and/or return. For situations where budgets and labor forces were not severely impacted by the pandemic, turfgrass managers have taken advantage of the downtime in what are typical high turfgrass use periods to complete a variety of activities/projects that otherwise would not have been possible. I have noted irrigation and drainage installations, bunker renovations, a wide variety of tree management activities, earlier than ever spring transition of ryegrass overseeding back to bermudagrass, rebuilding/renovating infield skins, pitching mounds, and batter’s boxes, etc. The only ‘slaps on the hand’ for the turfgrass managers that I have heard in these situations has been admonishments in some cases for not paying enough attention to ‘social distancing.’ However, the real world scenario for many turfgrass managers has been that they have had to be ultra-creative in managing their labor forces, not just to address social distancing guidelines, but to handle a budget that has been cut and might continue to shrink. Predicting what is going to happen for the rest of 2020 in our industry will likely be as accurate as most of our pandemic models have been to this point in time because this is such a fluid situation; it’s unchartered territory from a variety of perspectives and perceptions. However, necessity brings out the best (and sometimes worst) of human ingenuity, and quite often our management and business models will never be the same again. In listening to and observing industry peers from around the mid-Atlantic, here’s some forecasting that even if it doesn’t pan out as I think it will, should still be applicable strategies to fit most turfgrass management situations:

 

Site-specific management continues. This is one of the oldest and best budget saving strategies in all phases of turfgrass management. Focus management on the areas that warrant the attention because of their specialized purpose or their intensity of use. Logically it’s greens, tees, and fairways in that order on golf courses and it’s been interesting watching how superintendents are adjusting pest, fertility, and mowing strategies to deal with current and anticipated challenges in budgets and labor. Similar concepts are being applied in sports fields with an emphasis on repairing and restoring the heaviest trafficked areas, and only providing minimal maintenance on most other areas. The classic example long preached in sports field management is to emphasize turf recovery between the hashes and the 30s in the spring on football fields, even when they are being used for spring soccer. Focus on infields and hips on grassed baseball and softball facilities and minimize efforts in the outfield (except for perhaps three general locations in left, center, and right?).

Many turfgrass managers have told me that budgets simply aren’t going to allow for broad-scale scheduled aeration events, even if performed ‘in house’, and a primary reason is the cost of the tines themselves. The same limitations might apply to scheduled pesticide or fertilizer applications. Adjust the areas that you are managing to those that absolutely need the attention, and return to the other areas as budgets allow.

Virginia Turfgrass Journal – Michael Goatley, Jr., Ph.D., Professor & Extension Turfgrass Specialist, School of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech

Nothing reminds us of how fragile our lives, jobs, and relationships are until they are seriously disrupted by an unforeseen event. If you’re anywhere near my age (58) then 9/11 and 4/16 have particular significance in our lives, and Covid-19 will be another event that will be remembered for how it changed the way we do things, even in managing turfgrasses. The 2020 Pandemic has certainly impacted the turfgrass industry and its effects will continue even as/after social distancing restrictions are relaxed and public activities on our sports fields and golf courses expand and/or return. For situations where budgets and labor forces were not severely impacted by the pandemic, turfgrass managers have taken advantage of the downtime in what are typical high turfgrass use periods to complete a variety of activities/projects that otherwise would not have been possible. I have noted irrigation and drainage installations, bunker renovations, a wide variety of tree management activities, earlier than ever spring transition of ryegrass overseeding back to bermudagrass, rebuilding/renovating infield skins, pitching mounds, and batter’s boxes, etc. The only ‘slaps on the hand’ for the turfgrass managers that I have heard in these situations has been admonishments in some cases for not paying enough attention to ‘social distancing.’ However, the real world scenario for many turfgrass managers has been that they have had to be ultra-creative in managing their labor forces, not just to address social distancing guidelines, but to handle a budget that has been cut and might continue to shrink. Predicting what is going to happen for the rest of 2020 in our industry will likely be as accurate as most of our pandemic models have been to this point in time because this is such a fluid situation; it’s unchartered territory from a variety of perspectives and perceptions. However, necessity brings out the best (and sometimes worst) of human ingenuity, and quite often our management and business models will never be the same again. In listening to and observing industry peers from around the mid-Atlantic, here’s some forecasting that even if it doesn’t pan out as I think it will, should still be applicable strategies to fit most turfgrass management situations:

 

Site-specific management continues. This is one of the oldest and best budget saving strategies in all phases of turfgrass management. Focus management on the areas that warrant the attention because of their specialized purpose or their intensity of use. Logically it’s greens, tees, and fairways in that order on golf courses and it’s been interesting watching how superintendents are adjusting pest, fertility, and mowing strategies to deal with current and anticipated challenges in budgets and labor. Similar concepts are being applied in sports fields with an emphasis on repairing and restoring the heaviest trafficked areas, and only providing minimal maintenance on most other areas. The classic example long preached in sports field management is to emphasize turf recovery between the hashes and the 30s in the spring on football fields, even when they are being used for spring soccer. Focus on infields and hips on grassed baseball and softball facilities and minimize efforts in the outfield (except for perhaps three general locations in left, center, and right?).

Many turfgrass managers have told me that budgets simply aren’t going to allow for broad-scale scheduled aeration events, even if performed ‘in house’, and a primary reason is the cost of the tines themselves. The same limitations might apply to scheduled pesticide or fertilizer applications. Adjust the areas that you are managing to those that absolutely need the attention, and return to the other areas as budgets allow.

North Carolina Turfgrass – Jennifer Howard

Editor’s note: COVID-19 restrictions have dramatically impacted research activities.  See our update at the end of the story on how researchers are adapting to current social distancing requirements.

Which half of your landscape water use is wasted?  Experts estimate that more than 50% of our outdoor irrigation goes to waste – even more in dry years and dry climates.  Our landscape watering habits are the primary culprit in this overflow. It’s a big issue. The typical suburban homeowner irrigates an estimated 10,000 gallons of water each year, primarily aimed at their lawn. Conserving our freshwater supply is essential for long term sustainability.  

Saving Water & Turf’s Benefits

Turfgrasses occupy over 30 million acres in the U.S. It’s tempting to assume that eliminating our outdoor grass carpeting could solve the water demand problem.  But it’s not so simple. Turf provides substantial environmental and economic benefits in our landscape.  It mitigates heat around our homes, stabilizes soil against erosion, provides safe play space, and reduces noise, glare, and pollution.  Eliminating turf would create a whole new set of environmental challenges.

A network of turfgrass researchers from six major universities, including NC State, is solving this dilemma by developing turfgrasses that are attractive and healthy with minimal water. 

NC State Leads New Research

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently approved a specialty crops grant to continue the multi-university group’s work producing drought-tolerant warm-season turfgrasses.  The team (32 scientists strong) has collaborated for nine years with a rotating leadership structure.  NC State’s Susana Milla-Lewis will be at the helm in their new phase of study. “Our 2010 and 2015 projects were crucial in the development of drought-tolerant turfgrass cultivars. The levels of improvement of these grasses are promising and validate the need to promote adoption, continue cultivar research, and develop tools that facilitate the breeding process,” Milla-Lewis said.

Early Season Success

The team of turf researchers’ work has focused on selecting and testing drought-tolerant cultivars of four of the most economically important warm-season turfgrass species in the southern US.  By exchanging plant materials and data among university breeders, turf varieties are tested under many climatic conditions, and the results accumulate quickly.

“The collaboration among breeders across such different environments is priceless,” Milla-Lewis said. “It helps us select better lines with more performance stability because they have been tested against a wide range of weather conditions like drought and cold as well as an array of pests and diseases.”

The team has already released six new drought-tolerant varieties from previous project phases including two bermudagrasses (‘TifTuf’ and ‘Tahoma 31’), two St. Augustine grasses (‘TamStar’ and ‘CitraBlue’), and two forthcoming zoysiagrass varieties.

Growing Tough

‘TifTuf’, a University of Georgia release, alone has achieved massive success.  The team’s research demonstrated a 40% water savings over the leading bermudagrass, without loss of turf quality.  This convincing research data has led to the rapid acceptance of TifTuf within the sod industry – representing a six-fold return in gross earnings compared to the grant investment.

With tangible success already, what will the next research phase include? More trials with new avenues to share and test them. Plant breeding is a long-range game, 10-15 years in most cases.  The group has already evaluated over 2,500 potential varieties in their nine years together. Now Milla-Lewis and team are intent on warping this speed with new technology.

Tackling Turf Technology

The group’s next phase of research will integrate tech specialists using drones and...

MTC Turf News – Julie Holt, Content Director, TheTurfZone.com

The Turf Zone: Welcome to The Turf Zone. In this episode of Maryland Turfgrass, we’re talking to Logan Freeman, MTC Board Member and Golf Course Superintendent at Mountain Branch Golf Club in Joppa, Maryland. Logan, thanks for joining me. So let’s start at the beginning and get a little background on you. How did you decide to pursue a career in turfgrass management? 

Logan Freeman: I just kind of stumbled into it in high school. Senior year of high school, my dad brought home an application for a local country club in Boise, Idaho where I used to live. And he’s like “Here’s an opportunity for a summer job,” and I thought okay, I’ll check it out. So I filled out the application and went down and did it. I ended up with a summer job where I started just a couple weeks after graduating high school, way back in ‘99 and I enjoyed it. All I did was rake bunkers the first year, pretty much, and do detail work. But it just kept in the back of my mind something that I was enjoying, even though I think I honestly tried to get out of it, like three or four different times in the first two or three years that I worked there. I ended up sticking it out and kept coming back and honestly, through college I was thinking I was going a different direction, I was going to get into emergency response, that was where I thought I was going to go. But lo and behold, twenty-some years later and I still haven’t left.

 

TTZ: So you never dabbled in other areas of turfgrass management – no sports fields or lawn and landscape? 

LF: For about three months I helped a friend of mine start his lawn care business. I was his residential irrigation tech. I did that and at the club I had been at for several years before, the assistant superintendent position came open. I thought I would just go talk to the superintendent at the time about it to see – he had been my boss before when I’d left and just to ask him if he thought I was qualified for the position, if I’d be a good fit and he said “of course” and that’s how I ended up really getting back into it and at that point, I think I had finally decided it would be a career, potentially, a path that I was looking to follow. I was an assistant at that club for several years and then when I left there, I moved out to Maryland in 2010 and came out here and didn’t have a job. I followed some family at the time and came out and was able to stumble into the assistant position at Mountain Branch that came open. So I took that and then that position led me into, 5/6 months later, into the superintendent position when it came available. Lately I have started doing some side job stuff myself, I’d always done family’s, that sort of stuff, helping out lawncare wise, now I’ve started my own side business where I do some fertilizer applications and aerification mainly, stuff like that. I don’t do mowing and things, but that business has just kind of been some added, extra income where I’m able to use my skillset and I’ve actually developed that to be a pretty nice little business, so I understand both sides, but I’ve never done sports turf. I love what sports turf people do and how they do it and it’s fascinating and I enjoy how lawn care companies work and other golf superintendents and it’s part of what I enjoy in the business, is just learning from everybody possible.

 

TTZ: That brings me to your involvement in Maryland Turfgrass Council. How did you decide to get involved in that role as a board member and what do you think is most important about bring a part of a membership like that? 

LF: Since I moved out here I’ve been a member of the Mid-Atlantic Golf Course Superintendents. MAGCS is just an awesome group and I’ve really enjoyed supporting them and going to their functions and all that. Then I was like, “Well, it’s time for me to start to give back and how do I want to do it?

MTC Turf News – Kyley Dickson, Ph.D. and John Sorochan, Ph.D.

This article was originally published in SportsField Management.

Athletic fields require maintenance whether they are natural or synthetic. The challenging aspect for athletic fields is that they change as a season progresses. One of the best ways to reduce injuries and increase performance is to have a consistent playing surface that is within acceptable ranges for athlete safety. Without regular field testing, it is hard to determine variances in playing surface consistency as use/wear increases. Knowing how a field is changing throughout the year can help field managers make data driven decisions to optimize the performance of the playing surface and in turn the safety of the surface for the athlete. Keeping records of different field properties across a season and years can help paint the picture for the field managers on what is also going on below the surface. Unfortunately, testing takes time and can be expensive, and these draw backs can lead to many overlooking the need to test a field. However, testing is another important tool to have in the field managers toolbox.

One of the main benefits of testing a field is it indicates consistency and characteristics of a field’s impact on athletes. Tests that are conducted give clues to the health of a field and help identify maintenance practices that are needed. While there are different testing criteria for natural and synthetic surfaces, there are shared tests beneficial for both. However, not all tests can be used on both types of fields. In determining what tests are needed for a surface, a few questions need to be answered: first, is it natural or synthetic; second, what sport or sports are played on the field; and lastly, what is the budget and time available for testing. This information will help determine what tests would be the most beneficial information for a surface. To start, some basic tests need to be established for field managers as a base.

The University of Tennessee Center for Athletic Field Safety (UTCAFS) has a suggested basic kit for natural and synthetic fields. Natural field basic test kit should include a soil moisture probe, a side soil profiler, and a rotational traction testing device. The cost for the components to buy new will range from $2,500 to $5,000 depending on which products are selected. On a synthetic surface the basic kit recommended is an infill depth gauge, surface temperature measuring device, and some type of rotational traction device. The costs for synthetic turf range from $850 to $1,000. All kit estimates are from price researching different suppliers’ websites and totaling the cost. The purpose of this article is not to promote one specific brand’s testing equipment, there are a variety of products available.

All testing done is a snapshot of that field at that particular time, the same test could be conducted the following week with different results being observed. That is why taking multiple readings in a year will give a more detailed picture of what is happening. The other key in getting a good snapshot is testing for the variables that have the greatest impact. Published research has identified a few variables that have been found to influence many parts of the field (Baker, 1991; Dickson et al., 2018). For natural grass fields, the soil moisture content of the field has been found to impact: surface hardness, traffic tolerance of grass, rotational traction/resistance, increase in soil bulk density when trafficked, head injury criterion, and translational traction (Baker and Gibbs, 1989; Baker, 1991; Dickson et al., 2018a, Dickson et al., 2018b). Soil type of a field is important, because soil moisture content will have a greater influence on the playability of a soil that is higher in silt plus clay than a sand based field (Dickson et al., 2018). While there are a multitude of tests for additional field performance para...