Posts Tagged ‘Turfhead’

I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.
Baruch Spinoza (Dutch Philosopher of the 1600′s referring to the Tulip Breeding of the time)

Often spring comes and with it a good deal of Turfhead confusion about fertility. It may seem a simple reaction to whatever weather is or is not happening at the time. And certainly, warm or cool season climates have interesting spring weather and interesting challenges. That’s nothing new. So why all the questions, consternation, hand waving and intimate part length measuring that seems to go on every spring? I’ve tried to figure out what causes this and have a few answers.

(by the way, if you haven’t read Frank Rossi’s latest piece on not giving in and being true, I suggest you do that ASAP. Here is the link: Rossi’s True Piece)

Think you maybe remember those late season apps last year, but haven’t really done the math as to how much nutrient really went out? Buzzzzt. Wrong Answer.

1. Turfhead Can’t Or Won’t Remember Last Year (Or Years): I get it. Last summer or any number of memorable summers before it was, on some level, so bad that all you really want to do is forget. But the truth is there have to be some details that you must find a way through the pain and access now. In your efforts to keep your job via your spray rig, what actually went in (or didn’t go in) the spray tank? What went (or again, didn’t) go out in the spreader last fall whilst you were hooked to IV Jack Daniels in your office? Is this Spring’s weather really that different from Springs of the past? Yes, everyone says its different, but is it really and if so, how? I get your brain is fried. But there are and should be records for these kinds of things and its a good idea to do some work with them. Think you maybe remember those late season apps last year, but haven’t really done the math as to how much nutrient really went out? Buzzzzt. Wrong Answer. Don’t know if you have carryover N from last season? Bzzzzt. Wrong Again.

The need to get out there and do something if you’ve been locked in all winter is a strong force akin to getting salmon to swim upstream.

2. Turfhead Listens to Historical Gabbing Rather Than Flying By The Numbers: In making decisions about agronomy, timing has nearly everything to do with success. From our agricultural roots, when to plant and when to harvest are key decisions. But the farmers I know (or turfheads) who really get it, will listen to the tales of “never seeing it this cold” or “never seeing it this warm” at the coffee shop and head to their specific place of business to look at the real indicators. A soil thermometer doesn’t lie. You can package it any way you want into technology, but at the end of the day, that little soil thermometer, if it actually makes it out of the cupholder of your cart more than once a week, can tell you tons about what the real agronomic trend really is. Yes, the calendar is really nice for the planning of the 9-hole Couples Club’s Post Easter Ozzfest, but it won’t tell you if the greens may need some extra incentive to heal when you aerify 2 weeks prior to the event. Close your ears and open your eyes (and again) records. Most of what people say is just plain not accurate, just fueled with excitement or whatever.

3. Turfhead Just Can’t Stand It and Gives In To Performance Art: I get it. Painting tee markers and grinding reels and all that winter stuff just gets old. The need to get out there and do something if you’ve been locked in all winter is a strong force akin to getting salmon to swim upstream. And hey, you are tired of the sales monkey showing up all the time complaining about how slow it has been, so why not pick up that fertilizer a little early and get him out of your office and get yourself into a place of sanity on spreader or sprayer. That sort of thinking usually earns me a phone call or a dozen, wherein we figure out what to do as it snows on the 1/2 pound of N you just put out. There just isn’t any reason to rush into primo grade fertility. I guess this move right here is why I’m such a big advocate of some kind of dormant feeding and in most cases doing it with some carbon in the works. Because nature has this amazing trick of giving us what we need and not always what we want.

Let’s be all Zen and live in the now and what better way to show the world than to simply want more for all your grass children.

4. Turfhead Just Has To Change The Program: Doesn’t seem to matter is last year was complete boon or bust, a lot of us just want to change for the sake of change itself. I mean, gee Wally, you went to all those meetings and trade shows and seminars and they all had cool new stuff to talk about and so, why not try that new product you’ve never even seen before for your first applications. Oh and why trial with it, everyone else is using it, just rock the roll. Makes perfect sense to me. Of course that same thinking runs ships into icebergs, but hey, it’s only grass, right?

5. Turfhead Want More: Hulk Smash! This I get as well. Whatever success you had last year is last year. This is this year and this year is by Gopod gonna be better! Let’s be all Zen and live in the now and what better way to show the world than to simply want more for all your grass children. I get it. I do. This is typical “Type A” behavior. And there are so many of us out there. But the point is that this kind of agression, while being hard on shirts with nice logos when you turn all green and stuff, often makes for numbers 1-4 above to combine in a can of mental spinach that has you pushing for radical May conditions and opening yourself up to a radical summer of no love. There isn’t any reason to go to hard. We can and often we do, but that peaking too early thing has real disadvantages. When the Turfhead combines the Zen of being in the moment and the Tantra of holding back a bit, it’s usually a great combination.

Ok, so what’s the agronomy of this? The practical is pretty simple:

1. Go back into your records and make sure that you have accounted for every 100th oz. of fertility that went out last year, or didn’t (which is usually the case) and think about making some adjustments. Missing the key Potash app. Not so good.

2. Look at the historical weather as it applies to the weather you are having now and make honest assessment. What you will learn is that there are differences and if you can access exactly what they are, you can plan the key applications needed for the times they need them.

3. Soil Temperature doesn’t lie. A few hot days, a few cold days, but what are the soil temps doing? What’s the trend? Invaluable info.

4. Rushing things with Nitrogen rarely works. At the same time, not having any carryover can be a dark hole. Don’t know? Test.

5. Sorry, but spring isn’t the time to be trying something new wholesale large scale. Trials are good. But if you don’t have any experience with it, your spring temptation may lead to summertime disaster.

6. Observe. Things like clipping yield can tell you a ton about timing. Tie this observation into soil temps and historical info and you just might become Amish enough to not believe the hype.

I received this today in my email from a source that shall go unnamed because she/he/it is dumb enough to use the word Doctor around my name. Kind of like using the word Beautiful around Susan Boyle. She can sing, however. I can’t.

“Dear Dr. Wilber

In a post in the TurfNet Turf Blog Aggregator this week, Sean McCue of Castle Pines said, “While driving around today I noticed an interesting phenomenon from applications of iron and other biostimulants to some of our trees. We have been treating a handful of weakened trees as a result of using effluent water for irrigation purposes on the golf course. We have been applying this special mixture every two weeks to help buffer the salts found in the water and soil that is harming the trees. and saw…”

I don’t understand how iron and biostimulants can help buffer salts.  I thought that was a calcium thing. Or were they just present in the complex applied and happened to cause the green-up he saw?  Please explain.

Thank you.

From one of the thousands of turfies eager to suck knowledge from your brain.”

Ok so…first off, If you don’t know Sean, you should. He’s an amazing guy and hats off to him. He’s like all those guys in Colorado, not much to do this time of year (kidding) (sorta).

When I read his whole post, it really is talking about a greening turf effect and not really the whole of his tree salt management program, so time to be general. The real keyword here is buffer.

In a lot of cases when we see Sodium and it’s redneck cousin Bicarbonate (read: hard water) working trees over from irrigation water, we simply test the tree well and treat accordingly.

To buffer basically means to resist change. When we talk about the Buffering Capacity or a Buffering Solution in science, we are finding ways to understand a limitation in change. So Sean is saying here that he has a brew of Iron and some BioStim stuff and he makes apps every couple of weeks to help the trees at his place resist the changes that may come from the use of effluent water and the additional salts that come with said water.

It really isn’t always just a calcium thing as far as application goes. One, the iron he is applying may make some of the natural soil Calcium Carbonate, that is usually very tightly held (read: highly buffered) release a bit (read: create Free Lime). The carbon from his biological also helps sequester salts and keep them from being plant available. So the combo of the two makes for some good results. Water doesn’t affect the tree as much. Some green-up of turf happens, which may lead him to work with this technique on a larger acreage basis. Pretty good things.

In a lot of cases when we see Sodium and it’s redneck cousin Bicarbonate (read: hard water) working trees over from irrigation water, we simply test the tree well and treat accordingly. This can mean some addition of Gypsum or Lime or perhaps the addition of something like Iron Sulfate to help release what we have there. A good water test and a good soil test and someone who actually knows how to read both can do the trick.

Thanks to Sean for being a good thinker and “my wishes to be anonymous” question writer who had a good question despite being a chicken.

This is the time of year when people find reasons to list what they are thankful for.

I’ve never been much for doing what everyone does. And I’m not real big on lists either. The creative types and Perez Hiltons of the world are apt to take the opportunity to list what they aren’t thankful for. Some of them don’t seem to be thankful for much of anything.

In further evolution of the species, a lot of people seem to be thankful for is the ability to miss the annual family show down. The option is to stand in line at Wal-mart all day Thursday for the Black Friday deals.

I’ve got something left over in my brain from Mad Magazine or something like that wherein I often think of things as Hot and Not . You know, kind of an ongoing brew of what’s really happening and what is to dislike.

Here it is in list form, because this blog won’t Vulcan Mind Meld as of yet:

Hot:

1. Apple Products. You can’t deny the innovation.
2. Foster The People. Great band, great guys, including my friend Sean Cimino on guitar.
3. Mini Cooper. If there’s ever a car for the future, the Mini has made a statement.
4. Phosphites. Nothing has made more of a difference in more spray programs.
5. Organic Fertilizers. Never a better time for choices and cost-effectiveness.

Not So Hot:

1. Professional Sports. Yes, you all don’t make enough money—so stop playing and go work in the chosen profession of your college major.
2. The Irrigation Industry. Control Systems=FAIL. (see #1 above for an option). Cost=FAIL (if we are ever gonna build golf again it has to be different).
3. Hybrid Cars. Sorry Prius and Voltheads, but #3 above and the TDI and small turbo engines from VW, BMW and Ford are winners without 900 pounds of battery cells to worry about.
4. General Managers. That’s right, ask for your Super to save the club another hundred grand.
5. Trade Shows. I’ve never really understood them, but even the big ones are on life suppport. Ever meet a vendor that likes a good trade show?

I’m pretty sure that neither one of those lists covers it. But it is a fun exercise to put your mind around. For most people the cold list is much easier than the hot list.

Personally, I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot that needs to change. Isn’t that always the case? Most of all, I’m thankful for the friends and clients that I’m close with. Those people who have embraced Turfheadism, not as a disease to be hidden from our “non Green” friends and unturfheadlike families are unique and wonderful. Who couldn’t be thankful for them and those like them (us)?

I’m a huge fan of rolling and it’s time, you monkey, to roll!

And I think that this time the art of doing something that a lot of us have said was good is actually going to be backed by the Science. At the Sierra Pacific Spring Symposium 2011 (where Herr Maestro Mac was the Keynote Speaker), Oregon State’s Dr. Rob Golembiewski (aka G11) talked about his work with rolling. Yes, Frank, we have Turf Schools out west with running water and indoor plumbing and everything!

You can see a presentation a lot like the one he gave to use that day, here at the OSU field day. And for the most part, I was on the edge of my seat, because for years, I’ve known that rolling is good and that we just mow too much sometimes.

Ok so, first off, a lot of you reading this don’t have a roller. Step One…get one. They are out there in all kinds of flavors and prices and ways to make it work. It’s essential gear right up there with cup cutters and food for the goose dog. Seriously, the modern golf course needs a roller or two. Simple.

Oh, and did I mention that you might actually be able to raise your HoC and keep some speed for the Ladies 9-hole championship in August? You actually might.

Step Two (which might be Step One for some of you) use the thing(s). I don’t get why dust collection is OK for rollers. Use them. Dr. G11 and some others are saying every other day rolling and mowing, especially during stress periods is a good thing. So train up more than one guy on the crew to run the thing, change the oil and get it out of the back corner of the shop. It deserves a better spot, right up near the Bar-B-Que Grill (or Brisket Smoker if you are in Texas).

Step Three, park the mowers. Like Lemonaide with Ice Tea, we tend to think that we can’t have one without the other. That’s just not true. Especially with greens under good growth regulation or some other form of management that has the baskets on the greensmowers less full than ever. You really can lay off the mowing when you aren’t growing much grass.

That’s it. Three easy steps to a much easier time this summer. Oh, and did I mention that you might actually be able to raise your HoC and keep some speed for the ladies 9-hole championship in August? You actually might. But don’t believe me. Do the work with the stimp meter and roll some balls and see for yourself. I think you’ll find out what a lot of us have known for a while now. Especially since rolling equipment has gotten so good.

Derby Time! Time for a little Stress Management.

Prologue

This next series of Turfgrass Zealot posts is going to be a challenge for me. As much as I really didn’t want to become a “blogger” in the first place, I REALLY don’t want to tackle a series. Especially this series. But I polled some people who I call friends and they put me up to saying I would do this. Of course, they are probably the same “friends” who would let me drink SeviMol, just to see me do “The Worm”. Yet, though, I still listen.

Turfheads are a magical breed. They don’t think like regular people and they really aren’t aliens. But there are things that they do, universally, that often just make no sense. Call it culture. Call it “The Biz”. Call it just being a monkey; it just plain happens. And it’s not just some regional thing where you can blame the air or the type of grass that gets grown or the existence of a particular Veruca Salt-like gadfly overseeding us all with their ideas on how to grow grass. In my travels, I have seen these things as universal misunderstood truths. Turfhead Mysteries.

I’m going to change a lot of names to protect the innocent and the morons here. I’m also going to give some examples to illustrate points. By no means does that mean I am targeting anyone. I can’t do this and water it down to the point that it has no teeth.

Part 1.1

In Which the Turfhead Complains Endlessly About A Bedfellow and Still Sleeps With Them Anyway.

In every geographical area I have ever visited, there is a regional company, distributor or even salesperson that everyone talks about as being the absolute worst at what they do. It’s not a now and again thing, it is a constant. I’ve seen it as a Super, as a Consultant, as an Advisor, as a Sales Rep and even as an expert witness. I’ve even seen it on vacation. Start a conversation about products and services with a Golf Course Superintendent about who they do business with and you will hear about the company that usually does everything right and the company that always does everything wrong.

The conversation about the company or rep or whomever always getting it right is usually brief and to the point. It’s their job. It’s what they are supposed to do. End of story.

The conversation about the distribution version of the Village Idiot is always the long one. It is a yarn spun of the stupid stuff said company or individual does. The story is often spiced with myriad examples of crossing the line of just plain stupidity. Bad service. Obscene prices. Wrong deliveries. General cluelessness. The stories are always flavored with the resulting hassles that occurred, the lost hours and the overall frustration of not getting what you want, when you want it and how you want it.

The story is often filled with all kinds of examples of crossing the line of just plain stupidity. Bad service. Obscene prices. Wrong deliveries. General cluelessness.

When I was growing grass, I thought often that is was just me: I must be too hard on them… I must have expectations that are just too grand, much like lots of my members… I need to chill. So before you go thinking that I don’t know what I’m talking about, let me express my guilt right here. Cuff me. I’m a Turfhead. I’ve bought from the idiots too, complained about them, fought with them and still thrown the bones.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for you to share your mid-day eating habits. In some form or another, every turfhead has a method for feeding itself.

And of course Stories of Your Habits in the comment section are warmly welcomed. Because after all, this is one of those important topics that only True Turfheads would really understand.

 Loading ...

Ok gang….it’s time to initiate the first in a series of Polls designed for two things.

One….show off the amazing technology that Peter gives me to use.

Two…test your mettle and see if indeed you are a True Turfhead.

Of course Turfheadedness is Open_Source, so it may be that via your answer trends can change.

It’s just like American Idol. Vote!

 Loading ...