TURF COMMS V -I . JAN -1 X 9 2 PURPOSE: To pass on what we learn willingly and happily to others in the profession so as to improve turf conditions around the country. A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL I#d like to take this time to thank all my customers. The loyal Turfcomms subscribers, the golf courses that take turf advisory visits, the lawyers that use me for a professional witness, and the turf related businesses that let me assist them better serving their customers. I'd like to introduce two of this latter group to you. ° GolfScapes, a golf course design firm managed by Jeffrey Brauer. GolfScapes and I have been working together for several years now. ° McMaster's Rice Hull Compost, a firm run by J. D. McMaster that has been supplying this replacement product for expensive sphagnum peat to the golf course industry for over 20 years. I have been assisting J. D. in North Texas since mid-August. WHO IS ON THE TURFCOMMS MAILING LIST: People in 27 different states, with CO, KS, MD, NE, SD and TX each having at least five percent of the total subscribers. One half are either superintendents or owners of golf courses. One third are either assistant superintendents or in related and supporting industries. Ten are newsletter or journal editors. Six are golf course architects or builders of golf courses, while four are relatives. TURFCOMMS is published at unpredictable intervals by the editor and publisher: Douglas T. Hawes, Ph.D. Certified Professional Agronomist Specializing in Golf Course Maintenance Consulting 2408 Roundrock Trail Piano, Texas 75075 (214) 867-0176 Subscription cost is $15. Send checks to Doug Hawes at the above address. NEW ORLEANS - GCSAA CONF. and SHOW: You can find me there by either leaving messages at the Clarion Hotel or the McMaster Rice Hull Compost Booth #s 1016 and 1018, Jane will be there to. TEXA.S TURE CONFERENCE 1. DIMENSION: At the Texas Conference John Mason of Monsanto was saying that this new material is safe to use on bentgrass putting greens. But, he definitely hedged that comment by urging a trial next spring not a full blown, whole hog switch to this new preemerge crabgrass herbicide for crabgrass control. Apparently it has the ability to control crabgrass in the one to three leave stage and thus can be applied late and give season long control in one application???? Anybody have any bentgrass green experience with this yet??? It also has preemerge activity on spurge and oxalis. 2. CUTLESS: This now has a bentgrass green label so you can legally use it there. One quarter to 1/2 lb. a.i. per acre every 3 to 4 weeks year round in Atlanta, GA climate, Fred Pretzer of Dow-Elanco claimed at the Texas Turfgrass Conference. He said that in addition to giving slow control of Poa annua superintendents using the product were able to either/or raise the height of cut and obtain the same green speeds or keep the 
height of cut and raise green speeds. DON'T MIX WITH STEROL INHIBITOR TYPE FUNGICIDES such as Banner or Bayleton. 3. PRIMO: We also heard from Ciba-Geigy about this new bermudagrass growth regulator which is foliar absorbed and really retards vertical growth while assisting root and horizontal growth. Don't use on St. Augustine that you think might have SAD. At the Texas Turfgrass Field Day last September Wallace Menn said it appears to stops vertical growth of Tifway (419) bermudagrass without stopping horizontal growth. The common chemical name for this material is cimectacarb, while the experimental number is 
CGA163935. The proposed trade name is Primo. Mr. Menn reported that there was no difference in divot repair between treated an untreated grass. Horizontal growth does not stop only vertical growth. It gives four to eight weeks of suppression with darker green color. 4. OSMUCOTE-LIKE TURF FERTILIZERS: I assume most of you are familiar with Osmucote fertilizers, the plastic or resin coated fertilizers that have been used for the last decade in the nursery business. Were you aware that similar products were attempting to obtain a share of the turf maintenance market? You have probably seen advertisements for one such product -Once??? In addition to hearing about the smooth and long term release rate of Once we also heard from the Pursell Industries and their Polyon product line. This to is a polymer coating of a soluble fertilizer which will release its N, P & K over a three to four month period. Pursell has a 0.9mm prill they have developed for the putting green market. The polymer coatings although much thinner than the sulfur-wax coatings of sulfur coated urea type products, these coatings are generally considered to be much tougher. The advantages of polymer coated fertilizers other than gradual release is that the release is determined by coating thickness and soil temperature - not pH, amount of rain or soil microbes. Another advantage over the farm grade fertilizers is that nitrogen is not loss to volatilization. The latter is a serious problem on Western soils with their high pHs. You also can increase your potassium applications to greens with these products without danger of burning. We also heard from the representative of Nutralene, a N source that is similar chemically to ureaformaldehyde. They claim it releases one half of its nitrogen by microbial breakdown and the other half by hydrolysis with a 12 to 16 week release curve. The advantage of Nutralene to the coated products is that it will perform the same crushed or not. All these slow release products are jumping on the environmentally friendly band wagon, claiming resistance to leaching with nature-like slow release. Of course data from turf research is showing little danger of nitrogen leaching in turf fertilization unless you are going to apply more than a pound of nitrogen per thousand or fertilize when the turf is dormant. All these new nitrogen sources advantages have the same disadvantage - a much higher price tag per pound of N, P & K. 5. WINTER GREEN COVERS: We have discussed this topic ourself several times and the Texas Turfgrass Conf. had the topic on last year, but it was Bill Johnson of American Golf who made it clear why these are becoming so popular for bermudagrass greens - $. Northern desiccation prone golf courses need to consider them for the same reason. Mr. Johnson pointed out that American Golf estimated it cost between 10 to 150 thousand dollars for the loss of one green. The primary cost was loss of revenue with replacement cost secondary. He also made it clear that putting covers on and taking them off was apt to involve an eight man crew and some experience. The covers perform best when stretched tight. Cost of covers apparently is running between 7 and 8 hundred dollars/green. Which is cheap if it reduces or eliminates the loss of revenue due to a lost green. WHITE AMUR (Grass Carp): Or if you prefer you may call this fish Ctenhopharyngodon idella. I have visited many golf courses that use this fish for aquatic weed control. The first time I saw it was in New Mexico during my first summer with the USGA Green Section. They do a great job and if the pond is overstocked they will trim the grass around the pond edge and any tree branches hanging over the pond to a height about six inches above the water surface. For you superintendents that are constantly moving from state to state here is the latest poop on where you can use the White Amur legally or otherwise. Legal or not most fisherman and conservationist would agree that the sterile triploid should be 
your only choice. LEGALLY - AL, AR, IA, ID, KS, MO, MS, NH, OK, and TN. * STERILE TRIPLOIDS ONLY - CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, KY, MT, NE NM, SC, SD, VA, and WV. STATE APPROVED EXPERIMENTS ONLY WITH STERILE TRIPLOIDS -OR, WY, LA, and NY. If you still haven't found your state you can't legally use the white amur to clean up the aquatic weeds in your pond. ^Source for the information on states of legal use - The IPM Practitioner, V.XIII, No.9, Sept. 1991. LOOKING FOR SOFTWARE? The SCMS product of Environmental Compliance Systems, Inc. is a spreadsheet plus that is worth looking at. It looks like it would be a little more user friendly than TRIMS. Write or call 21 North Avenue, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045. 1 (800) 472-8882. LOOKING FOR A NEW PRINTER? The Hewlett Packard DeskJet 500 can be married to most anything. How do I know? You're reading the results of material typed on a vintage Apple lie and printed on the above. END O £ 4