TurfNet RADIO

Frank catches up with Ken Benoit twice in this extended episode of the Turfgrass Hotline highlighting the Connect to Protect tour. Ken’s logged over 1800 miles and another 6 miles straight up and he is still in the great plains! Before he heads across the Continental Divide he has tells us about a few Golf Course Supts. in the Great State of Nebraska!

There are some heartwarming moments and gut-wrenching frustration on the road. Ken faces a lot of adversity and continues to see that the diversity across the US can be a strength not a weakness. Keep abreast of the journey at ecoturfconsulting.com.

In this edition of TurfNet University, sponsored by Brandt, Todd Hicks of the turfgrass pathology department at Ohio State University discusses some of the issues that he and colleague Joe Rimelspach are hearing from golf course superintendents. This includes disease issues like dollar spot and anthracnose as well as other challenges associated with stress from traffic, a lot of play and a summer that has been very hot and dry. He also discusses some of the challenges to helping superintendents while being prohibited from traveling to golf courses around the state due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Connect to Protect Tour pedals on with Ken Benoit on ride day 13 (total day 15) and closing in on 1300 miles as he puts his leg up for a few days in IA with Tim Gravert. BMPs of water use reduction and pollinators are highlighted on these course visits and just as much learning going on internally for Ken as a “niggle” turned to a “bark” from his Achilles tendon.

Adjustments to the pedaling stroke are being made, new and old friendships made and renewed, and a positive journey hopes to continue into Nebraska. In fact, Ken’s looking for a course visit in the Cornhusker State!  Join Ken as he enters the great grasslands of the US at ecoturfconsulting.com.

This week the Hotline is in heart of the transition zone with Professor Lee Miller at the University of Missouri. Root diseases are dominating the pest scene and extremes of moisture (wet and dry) that expose weaknesses in rootzones as saturated black layer or persistent localized dryspot.

Lee suggests seeding to help recover from summer stress woes and discusses the value of selecting good varieties for the transition zone and for him why Perennial Ryegrass is considered the “quick and the dead” of turfgrasses!

As usual a lot of above- and below-ground information gets covered in 15 minutes! Even a shout out to the Carolina Show, expected to promote nationwide education this Fall.

We are on the road again this week with Ken Benoit and the Connect to Protect Tour. We caught up with Ken In OH with some aches and pains, some bumps in the road, and more Best Golf Course Management Practices focused on Environmental Stewardship.

Ken’s is 1000 miles into the journey across the country and has already visited iconic venues in OH, IL and soon IA. Superintendent are intentionally reducing water use, fertilizer use and pesticide use, not because they have to but because it’s the right thing to do.

And some of the car drivers in OH might learn about the “right thing to do” when it comes to bikes on the road! “I’m just a guy on a bike, trying to get to Oregon,” says Ken. Listen to learn more!

This week the Turfgrass Hotline. is tracking the Connect to Protect Tour, a 3000 mile bike journey by my friend, Ken Benoit, CGCS. Ken is the President and Founder of EcoTurf Consulting and a long time golf course superintendent conditioning golf courses for 25 years.

Ken, an avid and experienced cyclist, is riding 3000 miles in 30 days with 40 lbs of gear on the Connect to Protect Tour, highlighting best management practices for water quality protection across the US. His goal is "to raise awareness within the golf industry of the importance for golf course facilities to adopt BMPs and to demonstrate, to people outside the golf community, golf’s dedication to preserving and protecting water quality, pollinators and wildlife habitat."

For Ken this is as much a personal journey as a professional one. 

We recorded this interview on Monday August 17, right before Ken headed from State College to Westerville, OH, a 112 mile ride.

Follow Ken's travels on his YouTube channel (Eco Turf Consulting)  Twitter feed (@ecoturfconsult) and Instagram (@eco.turf.consulting).

In this episode, RW and gang deal with "News Depression" and how to fix it, as well as "Skin Cancer and The GCS"... and our solution. Rockbottum tackles questionable turf lab results and the best way to cure them, and studies an important survey that affects the golf course crew.

Also, they discuss spoiled tour players, the impact of social media on our jobs, and then go in-depth on the current golf boom and how to sustain it.

Presented by DryJect.

The August Editions of the Turfgrass Hotline starts with Rich Buckley of Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Lab, and the “Ugly” situation many in the northeast are facing with the “cumulative effects” of summer stress, ideal fungal conditions and already weakened turf.

Recognizing the tools available for control and the data used to predict pests, golf course superintendents have good short term options. But for the widespread turf loss, it might be time for more resistant varieties.

As usual, a quick 15 min trip through the troubles of growing grass in the Northeast!

Recorded August 12, 2020.

Frank Rossi takes the hotline on the road to Nebraska to chat with Professor Bill Kreuser about his growth management work with mowing heights, nitrogen rate and PGR program impacts on performance. 

Just in time for the virtual field day this week. Be sure to take look and listen.

Recorded August 7, 2020.

Frank Hale, Ph.D., entomologist at the University of Tennessee, talks about turfgrass insect pests that are common and native to warm- and cool-season turf in Tennessee, and also shares management tips. Hale, who is based at the university's Soil, Plant and Pest Center in Nashville, also discusses how changing climate conditions have affected pest migration, the threat of invasive species and the importance of daily scouting on golf courses to minimize damage and inputs.