Peaks and Prairies fall educational meeting

Peaks and Prairies GCSA members had the good fortune to listen to Brian Horgan, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, speak at their fall meeting. Horgan started the day with a presentation about heat stress on cool-season turfgrasses and ways to proactively manage to reduce heat stress. The key message for me was that managing for heat stress is a year-round endeavor with emphasis on fall maintenance practices to enhance recovery from any heat stress damage suffered during the summer and to build a healthy plant for the next growing season.

Horgan also spoke in the afternoon on a new look at fall and late-fall nitrogen fertilization and a potential new soil test for nitrogen. He got it cranked up in the afternoon. Peaks and Prairies members were treated to a scientist and presenter at his most passionate.

There was great interaction between Horgan and the audience as he presented a new approach to fall and late-fall nitrogen fertilization. New research by Horgan and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison has changed the way we all should look at fall and late-fall nitrogen fertilization of cool-season grasses in northern states.

Doug Soldat, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, collaborated with Horgan on the research, and Soldat’s article in the December issue of Golfdom will explain the new approach to fall and late-fall nitrogen fertilization of cool-season grasses.

Nothing beats a cold beer after a hard day’s work…or more specifically after Brian Horgan, Ph.D., spoke to Peaks and Prairies GCSA members at their fall meeting. Left to right is Horgan, Clark Throssell, Ph.D. (Golfdom Research Editor), and David Phipps (GCSAA Field Staff).