Research

A new index for sodicity risk assessment of irrigation water

May 22, 2018 By Qiyu Zhou, Douglas Soldat, Ph.D. and William Bleam, Ph.D.

Golf courses with poor quality irrigation water must worry about sodium accumulation in soil. Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) is the primary criterion of estimating sodium hazard of irrigation waters. However, SAR has been shown to underestimate the risk of sodium ...

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Winter bermudagrass overseeding: Does it hurt or help?

May 14, 2018 By Cale A. Bigelow, Ph.D., Gregg Munshaw, Ph.D., Mike Richardson, Ph.D., Xunzhong Zhang, Ph.D., Mike Goatley, Ph.D. and Kevin Jackson

Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is the choice for golf course fairways and tees in the South and in the Transition Zone because it tolerates close mowing (less than 3/4 inch) and forms a dense, durable and persistent turf. One of the ...

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Predicting dollar spot just got easier

April 12, 2018 By Allison Anthony, Jim Kerns, Ph.D., Paul Koch, Ph.D and Damon Smith, Ph.D.

As spring approaches, some especially devastating diseases once again rear their ugly heads. Argued to be the costliest disease of turfgrass worldwide, dollar spot will be on a lot of minds and in a lot of budgets. With warmer temperatures, ...

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Photos by: Mark newton (1,2), Syngenta (3), Bruce Martin, Ph.d. (4, 5), Derek Settle, Ph.D. (6)

Invisible intruders

March 26, 2018 By Clark Throssell, Ph.D.

In the summer of 2015, Mark Newton, CGCS at Canyon Farms Golf Club in Lenexa, Kan., was worried he might lose his job. He and his two assistant superintendents were spot-watering greens up to five times a day. His greens ...

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Hydrocarbon machine fluid injury on greens: What do we know?

March 26, 2018 By Lee Berndt, Ph.D.

Motorized turfgrass management equipment uses hydrocarbon-based machine fluids, including fuels, lubricants and hydraulic oils. Leaks of these machine fluids injure turf, especially on greens (Photo 1). The most pronounced visual symptom of machine-fluid injury is an area of turf exhibiting ...

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Spring bulbs add color to dormant warm-season turf

March 26, 2018 By Michelle Wisdom and Mike Richardson, Ph.D.

Warm-season turfgrasses in the Transition Zone can go dormant for up to six months of the year. Early-spring bulbs add color to dormant lawns, yet their persistence in the turfgrass environment largely is unknown. In addition to aesthetics, flowering bulbs ...

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