TURFHUGGER

Video: Getting - and keeping - the bugs out

Last year at the 2011 Cornell Landscape Webinar Series: Getting Your Turf on the Right Track, sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension Sustainable Landscapes-Horticulture Program Work Team, Cornell University Assistant Professor & Turfgrass Entomologist Dan Peck, Ph.D., discussed the early-season scouting and intervention strategies for Invasive Crane Flies, Annual Bluegrass Weevil, Chinch Bugs and White Grubs.

Video: James Baird Interview

James Baird, a turfgrass specialist at the University of California, Riverside, talks about cool- and warm-season grasses, their carbon sequestering abilities, and how these grasses respond to water. In this interview, he also offers homeowners some lawn-care advice.

What is a Stimpmeter used for?

GCSAA.TV explores the many interpretations of what a Stimpmeter is, what it does, and why it's important to turf grass management and golfers alike.

Organic Golf Course Management in Utah

Utah State University has identified Utah to be a perfect model to explore the use of organic management strategies on golf courses because of its diverse climates and landscapes that reflect those throughout the Intermountain Western US. As a means to increase awareness to golf course managers and superintendents about unnecessary pesticide use and provide alternative management tactics for golf courses in these landscapes, the USU Extension and the Center for Resource Management present the online training module "Organic Golf Course Management in Utah".

The creation of these training videos (powerpoints turned into videos) was to help superintendents make the transition to an organic management program. The USU presentations were funded by an EPA Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program grant and include the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. Variety Selection
3. Irrigation Management
4. Soils
5. Insects
6. Diseases
7. Weeds
8. Conclusion - Sustainable Management

Sustainability at La Costa Resort Promo

Carlsbad CA's La Costa Resort and Spa has embarked on a new golf experience, renovating the legendary golf course of the PGA Championship location with the designers, Pascuzzo and Pate, making it more environmentally sustainable and player-friendly.

Cordova Bay GC

Dean Piller, 2010 CGSA Superintendent of the Year, talks about how golf courses can be (and are) environmental leaders. Dean has long spearheaded Cordova Bay Golf Course's environmental programs. In the past, Dean's work has made Cordova Bay Golf Course the first "Audubon Certified" golf course on Vancouver Island. Now Dean is introducing a 'nutrition' rather than 'fertilization' program aimed at providing exactly what nutrients the grass needs and no more.

Check them out at http://www.cordovabaygolf.com

5 Sustainability Q’s for the Trade Show Floor

Golf course sustainability does not start on the course, it begins with the supply-chain. All of your efforts to green your golf course operations can be undermined or enhanced by choosing products or services that may or may not be aligned with your own sustainability goals.

I’ve prepared 5 questions (and a few talking points) to help you make informed decisions, and transform your operations from an old linear style, towards a sustainable system.

Note: Although I’ve mostly covered the environmental aspect of the supply-chain, it’s important to remember that social and economic demands, together with the environment, make up the three pillars of sustainability and that all three should be considered within your procurement policies. I’ve put a * beside the questions I feel would be relevant to most superintendents. Also, when asking these questions try to be specific about one particular type of product or service to help frame the conversation.

image courtesy of Out on a Limb

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PACE Turf: Golf Course Sustainability Metrics

In this 7 minute video, Dr. Larry Stowell provides guidance that will help you to navigate and achieve the demands for increased sustainability at your golf course.

To learn more about how PACE Turf provides turf managers with practical, yet science-based solutions to turf management problems, take their member benefits tour: http://www.paceturf.org/index.php/tour/

Fertility: Are You Ready For The Season Ahead?

As the big thaw across Britain begins, our minds start looking forward to the season ahead and our thoughts turn to our maintenance programmes for the coming season. Without doubt one of the most crucial elements of producing good surfaces is how we apply nutrients to the plant. Too much all at once will produce soft, slow, spongy surfaces. Too little could thin out the sward encouraging diseases such as anthracnose. There has been a lot of talk over the past decade about how we have overfed our surfaces. This is probably true to some extent. Have some people now gone too far the other way? Could they be under-feeding their surfaces?