Lawn~O~Gram LOG — Quarterly Newsletter for Members of THE LAWN INSTITUTE VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3 JULY 1986 Annual meetings of The Lawn Institute Membership and Board of Directors were held June 24 at the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego, California. Minutes for these meetings are enclosed with this issue of Lawn-O-Gram. A new subscription policy for Harvests is now in place. Lawn and Turfgrass Management communicators as well as members of The Institute receive Harvests without need for a subscription. In recent months interest in Harvests by non-members has increased. We are pleased to be able to accomodate this new need. Articles in trade journals and in newspapers across the country continue to keep our message on lawn and sports turf before the public. Response has been favorable both by professional turf managers and by home gardeners. The Autumn 1986 Press Kit will be mailed in early August. It will feature material in response to early summer media presentations concerning hazards associated with chemical lawn care. Emphasis is placed on use of improved lawngrasses with more resistance to insects and diseases. Like most summers, some parts of the country are too wet and others too dry. Fall renovation of lawns will be an important practice this year. We wish you much success in handling these opportunities in your area. Executive Director Office Manager CONTENTS TOPIC PAGE - Annual Membership Meeting - Annual Board of Directors Meeting - Congratulations, Norm - New Members - Lawn-O-Gram - April issue - Harvests - April issue - Harvests Subscriptions - Seed World Cover and Articles - Sport Turf - Part III - Grass Seed Fit for a Global Market - Turf Related Injuries - Article - Bluefield, West Virginia - Article - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - Article - Dover, New Hampshire - Article - Alexandria, Virginia - Article - Willimantic, Connecticut - Article - Washington, D C - Handling Anti-Lawn Correspondence - National Garden Week - Sports Turf Forum III - Variety Review Board Grasses Hard to Find - Crop Seed with K-31 Fescue Seed - National Referral Center - Encyclopedia of Associations - Public Affairs, USDA Radio 2 2 3 3 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 Annual Membership Meeting The Annual Membership Meeting was held at the Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego, California on June 24. A copy of the minutes is enclosed. Annual Board of Directors Meeting The Annual Board of Directors Meeting was held at the Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego, California on June 24. A copy of the minutes is enclosed. Congratulations Norm A plaque in recognition of Norm Rothwell’s service to The Lawn Institute as President for five years from 1980 to 1985 was presented by Robert Peterson at the ASTA Lawnseed Division meeting on June 24. We count on Norm’s continued interest in and support of The Institute as a member of the Executive Committee. Congratulations, Norm. The following four applications for Affiliate Membership were received this past quarter. We welcome these new members. New Members Robert A Moore, President Aquatrols Corporation of America 1432 Union Ave Pennsauken NJ 08110 Richard Christ A & L Agricultural Laboratories 411 N Third St Memphis TN 38105 John McShane Stover Seed Company P O Box 21488 Los Angeles CA 90021 Barzen International Inc Larry E Wogensen, Pres P O Box 51 Stacy MN 55079 Lawn-O-Gram April Issue The April issue of LOG was mailed April 17. It contained 7 sheets printed on 14 sides and included an addendum of 18 sheets printed on 32 sides. Seventy copies were mailed to member firms. Costs included: Paper $14.83 Envelopes 9.10 Postage 66.36 $90.29 Delivered cost was $1.29 down from $1.50 for the January 1986 issue. Harvests April Issue April issue of Harvests was mailed on April 2. The mailing list was divided as follows: I. Communicators and Members: United States 848 Canada 40 Foreign 899 II. Seed Firms (non members): United States 47 Canada 1 Foreign 48 11 0 III. Potential Subscribers: United States Canada Foreign 304 22 4 330 1277 Distribution by zip code was as follows: Zip Without letter With letter Total States 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 75 92 78 134 65 67 79 36 58 164 848 40 11 899 empty table cell empty table cell empty table cell empty table cell 35 31 20 87 38 30 41 16 16 37 351 23 4 378 110 123 98 221 103 97 120 52 74 201 1199 63 15 1277 ME,NH,VT,CT,RI,MA,NJ NY,PA,DE MD,DC,VA,WV,NC,SC tn,ms,al,ga,fl MI,IN,OH,KY MT,ND,SD,MN,IA,WI NE,KS,MO,IL TX,OK,AR,LA ID,WY,CO,NM,AZ,UT,NV CA,OR,WA,AK,HI empty table cell CANADA OVERSEAS empty table cell Production and Distribution costs were: Envelopes Printing 312.09 Labels,string 20.00 Postage $ 29.17 231.34 $592.60 This amounted to $7.43 under budget. Unit cost delivered was down to $ .53 from $ .70 for the January issue. Harvests Subscriptions With April issue of Harvests, we mailed one of three letters to explain new subscription policy. Response to these letters has not been overwhelming, however we have obtained: 1 new member 68 Harvests subscriptions to date. This has amounted to a 2% response for new memberships and a 20% response for Harvests subscriptions. As of the end of May, a total of 327 names have been deleted from the Harvests mailing list. These individuals have not been sufficiently interested in Harvests to pay for a subscription. To date subscriptions cover about 25 % of the yearly publication costs. With members and communicators, the Harvests mailing list stands at 963. This is sufficient to make printing and mailing cost effective. Seed World Cover and Article The April issue of Seed World had a color cover picture of The Opryland Hotel in Nashville supplied by The Lawn Institute [see copy of cover attached]. Articles "Variety Review Board Recognizes Lawngrass Performance" and "Seed Considered Bargain in Lawn Establishment" were included in this issue [see copy of articles attached]. Sports Turf - Part III The April issue of Park Maintenance contained "Sports Turf—Part III - Cultivars for Hard Use Sports Turf". This was concerned with wintergrass [see copy of article attached]. Grass Seed Fit for a Global Market An article entitled "Grass Seed Fit for a Global Market" was published in the May/June 1986 issue of Southern Golf Landscape and Resort Management. This was prepared from information presented in 1982 at The Oregon Seed Growers League 42nd Annual Convention in Portland, Oregon [see copy attached]. Turf Related Injuries Conference Proceedings for the Fifty-seventh International Golf Course Conference and Show held January 27-February 4 in San Francisco were released the last of April. The paper "Turf Related Injuries" was included [see copy of paper attached]. Article - Bluefield [West Virginia ] Daily Telegraph The April 6 issue of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph contained an article entitled "From Fertilizer to Ryegrass..." Material for the article came from The Lawn Institute 1986 Spring Press Kit [see copy of article attached]. Article - The Evening News [Harrisburg Pennsylvania] On April 11 the Harrisburg Evening News carried an article entitled "Common Problems Relating to Proper Care of Lawn Are Discussed". This utilized several Questions and Answers from the 1986 Spring Press Kit [see copy of article attached]. Article - Foster's Daily Democrat [Dover New Hampshire] The April 11 issue of Foster's Daily Democrat contained a Home Ideas Section that featured several releases from the Spring 1986 Press Kit [see copy attached, including letter of April 11 from Richard Hayward]. Article -The Alexandria Virginia Gazette The Alexandria Gazette in its Spotlight Section featured an article entitled "Questions About Lawns Answered". Material was obtained from The Lawn Institute 1986 Press Kit [see copy of article attached]. Article - The Chronicle-Willimantic, Connecticut "Which End of Lawngrass Seed Goes Up" was included in the April 17 issue of The Chronicle - Willimantic, Connecticut. Attached is a copy of the news release. Article—Washington Post-September 1985 A letter dated May 20,1986 from Edward K Davis of Richmond, Virginia refers back to a Washington Post article of September 1985. We have gotten a lot of milage from this piece done nearly a year ago. Handling Anti-Lawn Correspondence A postcard from James Higgins and Laurie M Hanson of Cambridge, Vermont [see copy attached] presents some common negative concerns about lawns. These questions were answered in a letter of June 11 [see copy attached]. It’s difficult to change the views of people like this but it is necessary to set the record straight. National Garden Week The June 1986 issue of Seedsmens Digest contained a listing of organizations co-sponsoring National Garden Week scheduled for April 12 through April 18,1987. The attached copy provides more information on this event. Sports Turf Forum III On April 7 and 8 Sports Turf Forum III was held at USDA in Beltsville, Maryland. Fred Grau, Jack Murray, Tom Turner, Kent Kurtz and Eliot Roberts were elected to the first Executive Committee of the National Sports Turf Council. Organizational details concerning the Council will be finalized by this committee. Attached is a report from this meeting. VRB Grasses Hard to Find Increasing numbers of phone calls and letters indicate difficulty in obtaining Lawn Institute listed grasses. One caller said that in their area of Illinois, the only named brands were in a mixture of 29 % Highlight, 28 % Ensylva, 14 1/2 % Derby and 23 1/2 % fescue [total 95 %], Shouldn’t we be more aggressive in encouraging blends and mixtures that would carry the Seal of Approval and thus would be easier to identify ? Crop Seed with K-31 Fescue Seed The consumer is becoming more aware of the amount of crop seed in tall fescue seed. Attached is a letter of May 14 from Ms Reeve with my reply of May 21. The weed sent in for identification was orchardgrass. Letters like this give us an excellent opportunity to promote proprietary turf type tall fescues. National Referral Center The Lawn Institute is listed by the National Referral Center - Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Attached is a letter from Lloyd W Shipley, Head Resources Analysis Section. Encyclopedia of Associations Association Periodicals has requested more information on Lawn Institute Press Kits, Harvests and Lawn-O-Gram. They will use this information in their Encyclopedia of Associations. Public Affairs - USDA Radio On April 29 three radio tapes were made for USDA Radio-Public Affairs in Washington DC. George Holmes did the interview by phone. We have scheduled other tapes for this spring and summer. This is a new contact for us and an excellent opportunity to work with USDA.