Viridescent - the Asian Turfgrass Center blog

Sunshine, Zoysia, and Grass Performance in Asia

There are four grasses in the image above (click on it to get a larger view). We are looking at Tifeagle and Novotek (both are Cynodon hybrids), Sea Isle Supreme (Paspalum vaginatum), and a fine-bladed zoysia, probably Zoysia pacifica. This is a test on a shaded green in Manila. The green is maintained for seashore paspalum. The seashore paspalum can handle this shade, although it has a relatively coarse leaf blade compared to the zoysia. Both types of Cynodon fail to produce an acceptable putting surface in this type of shaded condition under which both seashore paspalum and zoysia can produce a good stand of turf.

In fact, this zoysia produces a really superb putting surface, as seen at right, a photo I took on the 18^th green at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club during last week's Philippine Open. It requires very little in the way of fertilizer, few pesticides, and is able to tolerate the low sunshine levels and tree or building shade that can cause Cynodon, with its higher light requirement, to fail. Wack Wack recently underwent a renovation and the Club made a wise choice to keep the native zoysia on greens and the native carpetgrass everywhere else. There are beautiful mature trees across the property, and other grasses would not produce such fine surfaces in these low light conditions, but the zoysia and Axonopus thrive.

Many people ask me "what type of zoysia is that?" My best answer is that it is probably a type of Zoysia pacifica (previously called Zoysia tenuifolia), and I base that on a paper published in 2005 by Akamine et al. in volume 33 of the Journal of the Japanese Society of Turfgrass Science entitled "Morphological Characteristics of Zoysia tenuifolia Willd." In the research project reported in that paper, Akamine et al. found that Z. pacifica leaves are folded in the sheath, as compared to Z. matrella leaves which are rolled in the sheath. Upon close inspection, I found that the fine-bladed zoysia from the greens at Wack Wack has folded leaves, while the leaves of a typical Zoysia matrella from Japan were rolled.

For more information about sunshine, shade, turfgrass performance in Asia, and links to a lot more information about assessing the sunshine hours close to your location, here is a video I've recorded with Dr. Larry Stowell from PACE Turf about light.

Cynodon, Paspalum, and Zoysia at Putting Green Height

Golf course putting greens in Southeast Asia are usually planted to either hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon x C. transvaalensis), seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum), or zoysia (Z. matrella or Z. pacifica). I saw this test recently at a golf course in Southeast Asia. This is a putting green in an area with extensive cloud cover for much of the year. Can you identify the species being grown here? Which are bermuda, which are paspalum, and which are zoysia?

This green is being maintained at about 4 mm, the test plots have been established for more than three months, and there are obviously some differences in how the grasses perform at this mowing height. This test corresponds exactly with what I have observed on the performance of these grass species at low mowing heights across a broad swath of Asia.

Turfgrass Teaching in India

I spent the last month at Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Kodaikanal, and Bangalore, conducting a Greenkeeper Education Programme for the Indian Golf Union. Working with technical experts from the Asian Golf Industry Federation, we taught a series of weeklong courses in each of the country's four zones, providing practical information covering many aspects of golf course maintenance, with a focus on these topics:

• grass selection for golf courses in India
• how to produce the desired playing conditions
• operation and maintenance of reel and rotary mowers
• preventative maintenance of golf course machinery
• safe operation of turfgrass equipment
• introduction to irrigation, plant nutrition, and management of soil organic matter
• on-course sessions to investigate and apply what was learned in the classroom

The primary grass used on golf courses in India is Cynodon (bermudagrass). Some courses have been planted with Paspalum vaginatum (seashore paspalum). Zoysia matrella is used in landscape areas and on a few courses the zoysia has invaded the Cynodon but has not yet been planted on a golf course. Axonopus compressus grows well and provides the playing surface on many courses in the country. Those are the main grasses we discussed, although there is isolated use of Stenotaphrum secundatum, Pennisetum clandestinum, and Digitaria didactyla in the South, and there are some courses at high elevation at which cool-season grasses can grow.

This programme is supported by The R&A and aims to provide information and education that greenkeepers in India can use to develop improved playing conditions on the many golf courses across the country. See photos from the IGU Greenkeeper Education Programme here, or read more about the programme at its dedicated website.

Golf Course Flooding at Thailand

Yesterday on a flight departing Bangkok I flew over much of the flooded area in central Thailand. Riverdale Golf Club was still dry (above), but the adjacent 27 holes at Bangkok Golf Club are all flooded. See below for the normally sedate appearance of Bangkok GC (July 2009). 

Many of the courses around Bangkok are flooded or are at risk of inundation during these floods, as are many areas of the city. Here are dramatic images of the flooding in a photo gallery from The Atlantic. For the golf courses that are flooded, I expect the grass to survive. Fortunately, the warm-season grasses that are used at courses around Bangkok, zoysia, bermuda, and seashore paspalum, are able to tolerate weeks and even months of submersion. Dr. Jack Fry's paper Submersion Tolerance of Warm-season Turfgrasses explains that zoysia and bermuda can survive for two or three months under water. Research at Singapore found that seashore paspalum tolerated waterlogging and it is expected to recover as well once the flood waters recede.

In October 2006, when the Asian Turfgrass Center was being constructed at Bangsai GC in Ayuddhaya province north of Bangkok, floodwaters from the same river overflowed their banks and it was necessary to increase the height of the dike wall around the research area (right). That dike wall has been raised again, and it was raised yet again this year to protect the property from the floods.

Now five years later, the course is again at the risk of flooding but the higher flood barriers around it have so far protected the course from the rising waters. I flew over Ayuddhaya yesterday, and one can see the 27 holes at Bangsai, the only dry land for kilometers in the flooded Chao Praya basin.

A Surprising Discovery in Oregon: zoysiagrass and bermudagrass

The state of Oregon on the West Coast of the United States is well-known for cool-season grass seed production. From ryegrass to kentucky bluegrass, bentgrass to fine fescue, there are vast fields of grass seed in Oregon. But these are all cool-season plants that grow in temperate climates. So I was quite surprised when I visited Dr. Virginia Lehman and Dr. Milt Engelke last week, on their farm in the Willamette Valley, to find fields planted to zoysiagrass and bermudagrass. Breeding work is underway with these grasses here, not so much for the Oregon market, but for eventual use in the warm-season and tropical areas where these grasses thrive.

Turfgrass breeding is a fascinating subject, and I learned a lot about how zoysia and bermuda varieties are developed, grown, and marketed. Dr. Engelke showed me a tray of Diamond zoysiagrass with its extensive rhizomes and we discussed the management of zoysia for various turfgrass uses.

Zoysia is native to East and Southeast Asia and I am accustomed to seeing it growing in the wild and in managed sites across Asia. To see new types of zoysia in my home state of Oregon was both a surprise and a treat, especially so because I had a chance to discuss this grass with the scientists who are working to develop even better varieties of this species.

A Report From the 2011 China & US Golf Turf Seminar

I've been at Wuhan for a few days to participate in the 2011 China and US Golf Turf Seminar. This event is put on by the Shanghai Meinong Turf Engineering Co. and brought together 130 delegates from across China to hear lectures from Lee Sellars of Hong Kong-based Premier Turf, Professor Wang Zhaolong from Shanghai Jiatong University, and Micah Woods from the Asian Turfgrass Center. We also visited the Hanmaster Golf Country Club and took a tour of the certified Tifsport nursery operated by Meinong at Wuhan. Here is a slideshow of images from this event.

I also showed climatological normal data for 38 Chinese cities, explaining how the temperatures between Chinese cities and their counterparts in the US are similar throughout the year, but differences in sunshine duration create some challenges that must be considered when choosing grasses and when managing them in China. These charts of climatological normal data for Chinese cities can be accessed in English or with the city names in Chinese.

     

Ten Years Ago on a Golf Course in Japan: part 1

I was a golf course superintendent in Japan from September 2000 until August 2001. Now, ten years later, it is interesting to see some of the photos from that year and to remember what it was like. We were working with a maintenance crew of about sixteen people in July of 2001, and I think five people on the crew went on to be golf course superintendents themselves; two interns from the United States, and three of the Japanese crew. 

We had a great team. July 22 was a Sunday that year, and on Japanese courses then, it was not typical to have much afternoon or "twilight" play. Golf tended to be (and generally still is) a structured event, so tee times (Japanese courses usually do a two tee start, off #1 and #10) would generally be booked a few weeks in advance, with the last tee times usually set at midday. Even on a busy day, after 14:00 or so the course would begin to clear as the last golfers played their final nine holes. 

We were able to get a lot of work done on these afternoons. Soil tests of the fairways showed that the soils were low in magnesium and potassium. We were able to find sul-po-mag (0-0-22) from a Japanese agricultural supply company and apply it to fairways to increase the potassium and magnesium availability. And we had to do a lot of work to manage soil compaction, improve water infiltration, and stimulate growth on the bermudagrass fairways. At the time Habu CC was one of the few courses in Japan that used two passenger carts, and at which the carts were allowed to be driven on the fairways. We were doing about 4,000 rounds per month, all with carts driving onto narrow fairways of this course in the mountains of Chiba. So ten years ago today, we waited until the last golfers had moved off these holes and then worked until the sun went down.

What Grasses Are Growing on Golf Courses in Thailand?

In 2006, ATC conducted a survey of the grass types on golf courses in Thailand. Surveys were sent to the more than 200 courses in Thailand, and 41 of the surveys were completed and returned. Data from that survey are shown in this table:

I've visited or played golf at 24 different golf courses in Thailand since January 1, and I thought it would be interesting to summarize the different grass types that are being grown on these courses. Of the 24 courses I've been to this year, 79% have hybrid bermudagrass on the greens, 4% seashore paspalum, and 17% use Zoysia matrella. On fairways this year, 38% of the courses I've visited have seashore paspalum, bermudagrass and Zoysia matrella are each on 29% of the courses, and a native grass mixture is on 4%. 

I like the native grasses on the fairways because of reduced fertilizer and water requirements and the paucity of any pests on Zoysia or Axonopus in Thailand. Not only do these fairways have great color (see at right), they also have great playability.

At Thailand there has been rapid adoption of new bermudagrass cultivars. Nineteen of the courses I visited this year have bermudagrass on the greens, and of those there are two with Miniverde, four with Novotek, five with Tifdwarf, and eight with TifEagle.

Many of the older courses in Thailand such as Royal Hua Hin (pictured below) and Royal Bangkok Sports Club use a fine-bladed Zoysia on the greens. This grass requires little maintenance and produces a fine playing surface for year-round play. One thing I don't see much of on zoysia greens is algae — the grass leaves provide such a dense cover of the ground and the irrigation requirements are such that algae never has a chance to gain a foothold.

I wrote more about warm-season grass selection and maintenance in this article for Golf Business Asia in 2008. But no matter what grasses are used at the courses in Thailand, I think you will find that the playing conditions across the country are consistently among the best in Southeast Asia. With an active golf course superintendents association (the Thai GCSA), regular educational events such as the Sustainable Turfgrass Management in Asia conference, and a steady stream of new golf courses being built and older courses being renovated, Thailand is an exciting place to study grass.

World Cities Plotted by Climatological Normals, June

This bubble chart shows 45 world cities plotted by average June temperature, June sunshine, and June precipitation. The plot for May had 46 cities; because Kota Kinabalu and Brunei have similar weather conditions and often overlap on these plots, I have elected to omit Brunei for clarity.

Compared with May, the cities in India have more rain and less sunlight as some monsoons begin, and New Delhi is really hot, hotter than Dubai, Phoenix, and Las Vegas! Hong Kong still doesn't have much sunlight but there is more than in May. And there is a big difference in transition zone cities such as Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, and Atlanta; by temperature and rainfall these cities are similar but during the month of June there is a lot more sunlight in Atlanta. We can also see why it is difficult to grow bentgrass in Atlanta. The temperature in June is similar to Hawaii or Florida but the summer is just getting started.

World Cities Plotted by Climatological Normals, May

Last week I created a bubble chart showing seventeen world cities where warm-season (C₄) grasses are usually grown. The cities were plotted by average annual temperature on the x-axis, annual sunshine hours on the y-axis, and the size of each city's "bubble" on the chart was proportional to the city's average annual rainfall.

I have now made additional charts, with the number of cities in the dataset expanded to 46 to give a broader picture of the variability in climatological normals. And I have plotted the data on a month-by-month basis for a more detailed look at how the temperature, sunshine, and rainfall vary throughout the year.

Click the image above to view the bubble chart at a larger size. All data used to generate these plots are from the climatological normal tables for world cities as posted on the Hong Kong Observatory website. The bubble charts were created using the ggplot2 package in R.

I find it interesting to see how the average weather data for different cities change throughout the year. Of the 46 cities plotted here, Hong Kong stands out as having relatively little sunshine (on average) in the month of May. And in cities such as Tokyo and Osaka and Shanghai, where warm-season grasses are almost always used on fairways, the golfing season is well-underway but the temperatures are still too low for the optimum growth of warm-season grasses.

I think there is a lot of information in these plots that turfgrass managers may find interesting. As an example, Miami and Hong Kong have nearly the same average temperature in May, but Miami has more than twice the sunshine hours. This is the season when intensive cultural practices are done to control organic matter in bermudagrass greens in Florida; from looking at the bubble chart above it is obvious that the recuperative ability of bermudagrass at Hong Kong is probably much less in an average May than it would be at Florida. 

At which month is the temperature and sunshine at Tokyo the same as Singapore? How does this bubble chart change during the monsoon season in India? And does the sunshine at Hong Kong ever rise to the level of Miami? I'll post a new chart each month to show how the average weather changes in these cities over the course of a year.