Turf Tips Archives
Spring Mowing Tips
Last week’s warm temperatures really made the grass green-up and begin growing which means many people are starting to think about seasonal mowing. Probably one of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is not starting to mow their lawns soon enough. Remember the mowing “rule of thumb”. For optimum turf health “try not to remove more […]
Tiny Trails in Turfgrass
With the winter snows melting away many are often surprised to find a series of tiny trails on the surface of their lawns and turfgrass fields. These are vole highways. Voles are often called meadow mice or field mice. While they are similar to a house mouse in general size and shape, they have some […]
Purdue Turfgrass Research Report Available On-Line
The summary of our turfgrass research in the year 2009 is now available at www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/report/2009/index.html. The overall goal of our research program is to minimize inputs while maintaining turf quality, minimizing costs, and further protecting our environment. Our research summary contains reports of on-going research at Purdue University . The report is a cooperative effort from […]
Snow mold damage
Melting snows revealed some significant snow mold damage. As you know there are two types of snow mold diseases, gray snow mold (aka Typhula blight) and pink snow mold (Microdochium patch). Although they create similar symptoms (circular patches of tan turf—sometimes with orange/brown margins) the pathogens are not closely related and they have different temperature requirements for infection. […]
Calculating the pounds of fertilizer to apply
There are literally thousands of fertilizers and fertilizer/pesticide combinations available to homeowners and professionals. Therefore, we can’t recommend how many pounds of a specific fertilizer to apply, but rather we must recommend fertilization rates in pounds of nitrogen per thousand square feet or lbs N/1000ft2. You can use our fertilizer calculator at http://www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/fertcalc/Fertilization%20calc.html or you can use […]
Professionals Only: Premergence herbicide strategies
As spring is closing in, we are fielding a number of questions four major questions right now: Which preemergence herbide to use? That one is pretty easy. We have only three active ingredients relatively easily available and they are dithiopyr, pendimethalin, and prodiamine. Our research shows that as long as they are applied at reasonable […]
Choosing a Preemergence Herbicide
There are many, many formulations and combinations of preemergence herbicides available for the professional. Following are some suggestions for purchasing and using preemergence herbicides. Control from every preemergence herbicide can vary from year to year, or location to location. Therefore, you can’t judge the performance of a product or a specific rate of that product […]
What’s it really cost to maintain an athletic field?
Whether you are maintaining a professional, university field or a local soccer field because your daughter is on the team, it is difficult to get an accurate estimate of the costs to maintain an athletic field. From my experience, we tend to dramatically underestimate the actual cost of maintaining athletic turf. Tom Samples and his […]
Purdue Alumni and Friends Reception at the GCSAA in San Diego
For those making the trip to San Diego for the Golf Industry Show, the Purdue Alumni and Friends Reception will be held Wednesday, February 10, 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Topaz room of the San Diego Westin, 400 West Broadway. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with your classmates and old friends. Please […]
Recent cold temperatures should have little effect on winter survival of Bermuda, zoysiagrass, or cool-season turfgrasses.
The recent cold snap has raised a number of questions about survival of warm-season turfgrasses, especially given the relatively recent popularity of bermudagrass for fairways and athletic fields. Though winterkill is highly variable, all turfgrasses are most susceptible to cold temperatures very early and very late in the winter and thus we wouldn’t expect much […]
Thanks to all who attended the Indiana Green Expo
On behalf of the Turf Program, Midwest Regional Turf Foundation (MRTF), Indiana Nursery and Landscape Association (INLA), and Indiana Flower Growers Association (IFGA), thanks to everyone who helped with and/or attended the 2010 Indiana Green Expo on January 6-8 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. This marks the fourth year of cooperation between the […]
Early-Bird deadline extended to midnight on Monday 12/21 for pre-registration to the Indiana Green Expo.
Time’s running out to register for the Indiana Green Expo to be held January 6-9 in Indianapolis. Though attendee registration is running slightly ahead of last year, we’re still extending the web registration and postmark deadline for reduced registration fees until Monday Dec. 21 at 11:59 pm. Highlights of the Expo include: 65 speakers from […]
Invitation to the Indiana Green Expo from Gary Shetler, MRTF President
This is a special invitation to all the Turf Industry to attend the Indiana Green Expo on January 6-9 in Indianapolis. If you have never attended or haven’t attended in a while, consider attending this year in spite of the economy. The educational program is consistently one of the best nationally and is incredibly diverse […]
Register for the Indiana Green Expo
Get your registration in for the Indiana Green Expo held Janauary 7-8, 2009 at the Indiana Convention Center in Downtown Indianapolis. The early-bird registration deadline is fast-approaching and forms must be postmarked by Dec. 18, 2009. The Indiana Green Expo is the largest turf, ornamental, nursery, and landscape conference in Indiana and is jointly sponsored […]
It’s not too late to do a lot of good for your lawn
The fundamental principle for effective lawn pest control is to “Cultivate a dense, healthy turf”. One way to promote turf density is to properly feed the plant at a time when it is most capable of utilizing these nutrients for purposes other than leaf growth. For cool-season grasses shoot density naturally increases during the autumn […]
Open Position on the MRTF Board of Directors
There is one opening on the MRTF Board of Directors in the upcoming December elections. MRTF’s mission is to support research and education and thus help advance our industry. We are looking for a potential board member dedicated to our industry and desiring to help steer the direction of turfgrass research and education. The commitment […]
Upcoming Education: Basic Training Turfgrass Management
This one-day workshop is perfect for new-comers to the industry as well as more experienced professionals who want a refresher course on turf management. This is a perfect training opportunity for you or your staff from lawn care operators, sports, golf course, or anywhere turf is managed professionally. Turfgrass growth, cultural practices, and fertilization will […]
A Few Opening Still Available for the Turf and Ornamental Seminar on November 9-10.
The Turf and Ornamental Seminar will be held on Monday November 9 and Tuesday November 10 at the Daniel Center at Purdue. This course is an advanced class for lawn care, golf course, sports turf, and sales staff. Enrollment is definitely limited to 70 attendees to optimize individual attention and allow plenty of time for […]
Cold, rainy, windy conditions playing havoc on fall applications
The window for effective broadleaf weed control is closing fast and we normally see good control of difficult-to-control weeds like ground ivy until about the end of October. However, you may still get adequate control of easier-to-control weeds like dandelion through the first week of November or as long as daytime highs are 50F or […]
Turf 101: Why does a November application of fertilizer work?
Nitrogen stimulates increased photosynthesis and the extra energy derived from this goes directly into growth, respiration to maintain the plant (similar to humans), or into storage. In early November, the temperature is still adequate for photosynthesis, but cool enough to minimize respiration demands and too cold for significant growth. Therefore, most of the extra energy […]