t TurfComms V. 13,1.8 Nov. 24, 2001 PURPOSE: To pass on what we learn willingly and happily to others in the profession so as to improve turf conditions around the country. URBAN AGRICULTURE: I have been requested to call attention to a symposium entitled Emerging Opportunities in Science. Education and Policy to be held May 20-22, 2002 in Dallas, TX. The organizing committee has listed four purposes of this symposium. What I see as the most important is: "Provide a forum for persons representing a wide range of activities related to urban agriculture; e.g. agronomy, agricultural anthropology, horticulture, soil science, food systems, entomology, ecology, 
economics, natural resources who would not normally come together." The hoped for outcomes include: "an improved appreciation of urban agriculture by our 
society and its leaders." Seeing that the turf industry does not have a turf researcher at the national level, this perhaps, is something the industry needs to come forth and support. For more up-to-date information visit web site @ <http://urbanag.tamu.edu> KARL DANNEBERGER: You need to get on his e-mail list. Why? Because he has neat NOTES at his site. About 2 or 3 times/week he posts an alert as to insect, disease or other problem, i.e. a new NOTE. Ohio may not be where you are at but, his alerts help to keep you on your toes, and they are always of broader interest than just Ohio. Two of his recent NOTES were: 1. A website where you can check all your calculations ( irrigation usage, budget, fertilizer, spray calibration, spreader calibration, seeding rate, topdressing volume); and 2. A new disease. TURFCOMMS is published at unpredictable intervals by the editor and publisher: Douglas T. Hawes, Ph.D. 3517 Deep Valley Trail Certified Professional Agronomist Piano, Texas 75023 Specializing in Golf Course (972) 867-0176 Maintenance Consulting web site <http://www.geocities.com/turfcomms/index.html> e-mail: dhawes@dallas.net Subscription cost is $15. Send checks to Doug Hawes at the above address. t I The site for calculation checks is http.7/aggieturf.tamu.edu/tools.html. Yup, that is a Texas Aggie website. I tried it, and found it excellent. The site for the disease is California, and the disease hasn't showed up in Ohio yet. Just in CA, NV, AZ, CO, TX, FL, and SC. To get on the list for his alerts email him at danneberger. 1 @osu.edu or visit the site first at http://hcs.osu.edu/karl click on NOTES and a list of his alerts comes up with the latest at the top. I'm sure there is a signup at this site also. Once you are on his list all that you get is a short note with subject and a URL to click on (the one on line two) and it brings you to the first page where you find and click on NOTES. You'll love it. ASA RESEARCH PAPERS CONTINUED: Evaluation of the Playing Surface Quality of an Infilled Synthetic Turf System. By A.D. Lathrop, et al of Penn State Univ. The authors in this poster reported on research on SofsportTM, a synthetic turf system where you fill between the upright fibers (blades) with sand or ???. They compared sand with sand and crumb rubber mixes. Pure sand filler had poor traction when moist. Best traction was at 50:50 sand and crumb rubber. As % crumb rubber went up the Clegg measured hardness went down. Suppression of Common Bermudagrass in 'Reveille' hybrid Bluegrass. By S.P. Metz and J.C. Read of TX A&M at Dallas. Ed. Reveille is a recently released cultivar produced from the cross of a southern range bluegrass species with Ky. Blue. The authors in this poster found that Acclaim and Turflon were most useful in suppressing bermudagrass in Reveille. The Relative Importance of Daytime vs. Nighttime Soil Temperature to Creeping Bentgrass. By Q.Z. Xu and B. Huang or Rutgers Univ. The authors looked at high day and high night temperatures under a controlled environment setting. Cool days did little to help the plant if nights were warm. On the other hand cool nights greatly assisted plants growing in hot days. Ed. Or if you wish to ice down your bentgrass greens do so early at night 
not in the morning. Microenvironment Effects on Bentgrass Putting Greens. By W.R. Kussow of Univ. of Wise., Madison. The author reported that the mass of clippings increased with decreasing light intensity but that the dry matter production decreased with decreasing light. Also turf quality and root mass decreased with decreasing light. By irrigating much less in the shade he was able to reduce mass of clippings removed and equal out dry matter production over the four light levels he experimented with. Ed. Thus keep those shady greens on the diy side for best performance. He also noted that of 10 soil admendments he looked at rice hulls had the poorest ability to increase moisture holding 
of a sand mix. Management of Plant Parasitic Nematodes on Golf Course Fairways with Curfew Soil Fumigant. By R.B. Cooper et al of Dow AgroSciences Dow Chem. Co. hopes to have a greens treatment label and mole cricket label for this 40 year old chemical, 1,3-dichloropropene. Ed. Dow has sold it for years to agriculture as Telone II. It lias been used on many crop plants as a preplant soil fumigant. An old label(1990) has it injected at least 10 inches below the surface and also lias a 72 hour reentry period. The authors report it dramatically knocks down sting and lance nematodes while resulting in increased rooting. Annual Bluegrass-Creeping Bentgrass Competition. By A.J. Turgeon of Penn State Univ. The author used various vegetative strains of Poa annua in Penncross, Pennlinks, and A-4. He placed plugs of the Poa annua strains in the bentgrass and measured spread over four years. He found the perennial Poas out competed the annual types at 1/8 inch and that A-4 resisted this competition more than Penncross; the latter was slightly better than Pennlinks. Salinity and Turfgrass Culture Symposium. This Wednesday morning session was something like getting the equivalent of a semester's course on the subject in four hours. A few pointers I picked up were. Carbonates are typically only high in well water. That 
all adjusted SAR formulas are not egual. The earlier formulations overestimated the amount of percipitation by the bicarbonate ion. Dr. D.L. Suarez of the USDA-ARS Salinity Lab. did not think Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) was a good value to use. High organic matter in the soil helps stabilize the soil against salt damage. Suarez gave 16 factors that affect the water suitability for irrigation. Dr. Duncan noted that the demand worldwide for freshwater is doubling every 20 years. The salt tolerant species Paspalum vaginatum has a high need for magnesium. Mr. M.T. Huck, former USGA agronomist noted that irrigation with salty water requires more water thus means that the irrigation system must be designed to apply more than ET. Why? A leaching fraction or flushing application will be needed. Huck also noted that sulphur burners used to acidify irrigation water use up oxygen in that water. The algae is the first to die, the fish next. Laboratory Performance of Root Zone Test Method. By R.O. Miller of CO St. U. and J.K. Amacher of Utah St. U. They reported finding some of the reasons there is so much variability in the saturated conductivity test between USGA testing labs. Hopefully with the results of their investigation the USGA can tighten up the test results. How bad was it? Well, the same sand sent to 12 labs, produced results from 4 to 26 inches per hour. Reinforcement Materials and Turfgrass Wear, Infiltration, and Surface Properties 
of Sports Fields. By W. M. Dest, et al of U. of Conn, and U. of Mass. The researchers looked at three different type materials. Intact fabric type as represented by 'Sportsgrass', interlocking grids as represented by 'Turfgrids', and mesh elements as represented by 'Netlon'. They concluded that none improved wear tolerance, in fact Sportsgrass had a negative effect. Got different result on silty soil vs. a sandy soil. There were no differences in infiltration rate between three products or the control; nor traction, 
ball roll, and ball bounce. However in one year they all gave better traction than the control. Bill Dest, the speaker, came away from the research feeling that none of the materials were cost effective. t Year-Old Kentucky Bluegrass Seed Germinates Faster. By Doug Brede, Simplot Corp. The researcher found fresh seed germinated slightly slower and produced significantly poorer quality turf for 11 months after sowing than one year old seed. Two year old seed germinated significantly poorer than both fresh and one year old seed. He looked at four cultivars and concluded, "Turf sod growers are advised to seek out year-old seed where a quicker turnaround is desired." Amendments and Construction Systems for Improving Performance of Sand-Based Greens. By C-H. Ok, et al from Univ. of MO and VA Polytechnic Univ. The researchers in this poster compared three California profile mixes with a USGA mix(sand&peat). One Calif, profile was unmodified(straight sand), one had 15 % porous 
ceramic and 3% humate mixed into the top 10 inches, the third Calif, profile had 15% zeolite in top 10 inches. The researchers concluded that, "These results indicate that these inorganic materials may be a superior replacement for peat as an amendment for sand-based putting greens." Ed. I don't doubt their conclusions but, this research still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. First, "all treatments had excellent cover." within 8 months of seeding. The only difference in percent bentgrass cover was taken 17 days after seeding. It had the st. sand Calif, profile with the greatest coverage, significantly higher than the other two Calif, profiles. It had somewhat more coverage than the USGA mix. The big advantage of the two modified Calif, profiles was nutrient retention. An Unconventional Approach to Product Testing on Golf Courses. By S.D. Davis, et al, the primary author is with Aventis Env. Sci. Div. The work was done at Tiger Point Golf Course, Gulf Breeze, FL. The problem looking for a solution was poor quality 419 fairways. A lot of treatments were applied separately and in combination with others based upon the recommendations of many. There were eleven fertilizer trts., two growth regulators at multiple rates, two herbicides, 6 insecticides, Nemacur, and the wetting agent Crusade. What was not done is test the soil for minor elements. A total of 1,080 plots were applied. After a summer of treatments the treatments that resulted in improved quality were a minor element package, Primo, gypsum and the insecticide Choice. The minor element package resulted in the biggest improvement. A final conclusion was "focus on agronomics not products." Criteria for Predicting Winterhardiness in Turf-Type Perennial Ryegrass. By L.C. Schleicher and A. Fennell of S.D. St. Univ. I summarized this poster with: they found minimal difference between 22 perennial ryegrass cultivars as to winter hardiness in last year's bitter cold winter. END of ASA Conference Ahh! At last back to a four page issue. Next issue OK Conf. and ? Happy Holidays