It seems as though the summer has flown by and fall is rapidly approaching. In the Great Lakes region, that means aerification. Most of the chapters in the region have limited, if any, chapter meetings during the month of September due to the amount of aeration that is going on and how busy the superintendents are during this time of the year. One other thing that late summer and fall brings are field days from our nearby universities. I try to attend as many field days as possible, due to the fact that I see superintendents that are unable to attend monthly meetings due to their schedule, so field days are a great way to make contact with members that I don't get to see very often. This year, I attended the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association and Ohio Turfgrass Foundation field days. There is a lot of great research being done by these two associations on turfgrass, but a couple of things stood out this year. At the WTA, Bruce Schweiger hosted a stop on "Calibrating Your Walking Speed" and at OTF they introduced us to the new Bermudagrass trials they will be conducting to see if any of four chosen varieties will do well enough in northern climates to be used in such places as football fields, soccer fields or driving range tees.
Schweiger's stop included comments about who calibrates their spreaders and sprayers. Did you know that being off by 1/2 mile per hour will make a 16.7 percent change in the rate, and being off by 1 mile per hour will make a 33.3 percent change in the rate? In lawn care this can be substantial to the bottom line but in golf it can be the difference between control of an insect population or damage to the turf, properly fertilized healthy turf or lean, hungry and unhealthy turf. It is easy to calibrate knowing that three miles per hour is equivalent to 4.4 feet per second or 44 feet in 10 seconds. Just set up an area where you have 44 feet, put weight in the spreader to equal the weight of the product, and have your applicator walk the 44 feet while being timed. It should take them 10 seconds if they are walking three miles per hour.
At field days you can also learn about new products coming to the market and how they are preforming. There are also updates on niches in the industry such as pigments, the effects of brushing and rolling and new ways of controlling pests. Also this year, at the OTF field day, there was a presentation on "Pesticide Safety Near Pollinators" that touched on one of this year's hot topics and was very well covered. It is information like this that makes the field days so valuable to superintendents.
Hopefully you saw the last post on my blog about the First Green. I am happy to report that the First Green will be coming to the Chicago area with Medinah Country Club and Superintendent Curtis Tyrell hosting this fall. Since a presentation at the August meeting of the MAGCS, others have also committed to hosting a First Green event at their golf courses. Once the events have taken place I will report back through the blog and give everyone highlights. If you and your golf course would like to host a First Green event please contact me and I will help you get it arranged. I hope that aeration goes well for everyone and that you have a great fall!
