Viridescent - the Asian Turfgrass Center blog

Research, Teaching, and Speaking in Tennessee

I visited Tennessee this month, speaking at the packed Tennessee Turfgrass Association conference, meeting with faculty in the Plant Sciences Department at the University of Tennessee (of which I am an adjunct faculty member), learning about some of the turfgrass research projects now underway at the University, and teaching this semester's first session of the Turfgrass Rootzone Construction and Management course.

I participated in a panel discussion with Rodney Lingle (Memphis CC), Matt Shaffer (Merion Golf Club), and Chris Hartwiger (USGA Green Section) in which we discussed ultradwarf bermudagrass management, preparation for the 2013 US Open, cold tolerance of bermudagrass, and heat tolerance of creeping bentgrass. I gave three other presentations at the conference, on topics ranging from course preparations for the Open Championship, fertilizer for sand rootzones, and turfgrass management in Asia. The attendance at the conference was superb. In fact, for many of the presentations it was standing room only, and the trade show was bigger than I had expected too.

At the University of Tennessee I saw the now completed Center for Athletic Field Safety with some really great looking synthetic surfaces along with natural turf. This impressive facility is being used for some cutting-edge research about sporting surfaces, biomechanics, and athlete safety.

I saw a lot of other research as well -- zoysia trials, lots of weed control work, many with the new herbicide indaziflam, rooting experiments, seedhead control of zoysia -- suffice it to say that there is a lot of interesting information being developed by the turfgrass team at the University of Tennessee.

We also discussed turfgrass educational programs in Asia and weed control in India for upcoming sessions of the Indian Golf Union's Greenkeeper Education Programme.

At the end of my week in Tennessee, I taught the Plant Science 442 course, Turfgrass Rootzone Construction and Management. I talked about sand rootzones, why we do core aerification (coring, hollow-tine aerification), and what some of the challenges are in managing turf in sand rootzones. I spoke, basically, about these topics:

• Managing the rootzone (handout from Sustainable Turfgrass Management in Asia 2010)
• Managing the rootzone (presentation slides from Sustainable Turfgrass Management in Asia 2010)
• Do fairways need a sandcap? (article from Asian Golf Business)

Chemical Fertilizer Programs for Sand Based Rootzones - the 1 minute version

Last week at the Tennessee Turfgrass Association conference I gave a 30 minute presentation with the title Chemical Fertilizer Programs for Sand Based Rootzones. But this topic doesn't always require 30 minutes to explain - I like to distill this topic into the most important principles. There is plenty of experimental and empirical evidence to show that these four principles, if followed, will give excellent results.

1. Apply the right amount of nitrogen
2. Ensure soil pH is more than 5.5 and less than 8.3
3. Ensure soil potassium (as measured by the Mehlich 3 extractant) is kept above 50 ppm
4. Ensure soil phosphorus (as measured by the Mehlich 3 extractant) is kept above 35 ppm

The End (of the 1 minute version of this topic)

If you are especially interested in mineral nutrition for turfgrass or soil nutrient analysis for sand rootzones, you may want to read or watch some of these more lengthy expositions.

Simple Fertilization: Use the Nutrients Already in the Soil, from the Hawaii GCSA newsletter

PACE Turf Potassium Sufficiency Video, on Youtube

Soil Testing: It Does Not Have to be Difficult, on Youtube

Creating an Excellent Playing Surface: Managing the Plant, especially section 2 regarding nitrogen application

Does Potassium Fertilizer Really Increase Roots?, from TurfNet Monthly

And for those who really want to reduce P and K, consider the implications of The Park Grass Experiment and the Fight Against Dogma, written with Dr. Frank Rossi and published in the USGA Green Section Record

Turfgrass Research at the University of Tennessee

I visited the East Tennessee Ag Research and Education Center in Knoxville yesterday to see many of the turfgrass experiments now underway. This large facility has vast swaths of turfgrass plots sweeping down to the Tennessee River.

What really caught my eye, and is now under construction and nearly ready for planting, is an exciting new research center. The Center for Safer Athletic Fields is a partnership between Astroturf® and the University of Tennessee. Dr. Jim Brosnan explained how these 60 miniature athletic fields and other research plots at the Center have been designed for many interesting experiments. From the press release announcing this Center:

The unique outdoor research facility will comprise 60 small-scale athletic research fields constructed from a variety of playing surfaces. UT turfgrass scientists will compare the safety and performance of synthetic playing surfaces to natural grass surfaces. Field qualities will range from those employed for professional-level sports to surfaces used by schools, public parks and recreation fields. 

Some of the other research trials I saw included:

• Bluegrass evaluation plots
• Zoysiagrass variety evalution
• A multitude of weed control plots, including some really interesting pre-emergent product results, Poa annua control trials, and innovative combinations of herbicides with cultural practices to optimize weed control
• Seedhead and disease control trials
• Ultradwarf bermudagrass and seashore paspalum and zoysiagrass on putting greens

The UT Turfgrass Field Day will be held on September 15, 2011. I wish I could be there for that. Seeing the various grasses right at the end of summer, when we might expect warm-season grasses to be at their best, and cool-season grasses to be at their worst, would be an ideal time to see which grasses perform best and which maintenance practices and products perform well to create the desired playing surfaces.

Teaching Turfgrass at University of Tennessee

I'm at the University of Tennessee this week, where I am an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Plant Sciences, for meetings and teaching. Yesterday I was a guest in Dr. Brandon Horvath's inimitable PLSC 462 class, Professional Development in the Turfgrass Industry. This class is modeled on the television show Inside the Actor's Studio and has an interview format. 

The class was very interesting, not only in this unique format of drawing out stories about professional development in the industry, but also with the studio lighting and three television cameras recording the class. This will be posted, I have been told, on iTunes U, so you will be able to see this innovative class format and, perhaps, if I can tie a bow tie without the assistance of a mirror. 

Immediately after my guest appearance in this class, I gave a seminar for the Department of Plant Sciences about the teaching work I do in Asia. Much of East Asia, and many of the population centers along the Pacific Coast of Asia fall into what we call the transition zone, meaning either C₃ (cool-season) or C₄ (warm-season) grasses can grow. Walking around the campus yesterday I saw tall fescue and bermudagrass, zoysiagrass and bentgrass, Poa trivialis and Poa annua — in short, just about every type of grass can grow in Tennessee. In the seminar, I spoke about the various education programs that ATC provides in Asia, where these programs are offered, and how I take a mechanistic approach to teaching turfgrass that focuses on modifying the growing environment to create the desired conditions for the grass to grow.

Today I'll be looking at turfgrass research plots and learning more about the research currently underway in the turfgrass program here at the University of Tennessee.  We are also discussing our continuing collaborative work, research projects that we may do in Asia and at Tennessee, and how we can work together to develop more (and better) turfgrass information and educational programs.