Pruning is an essential horticultural task in all grounds management operations. We prune to control growth, promote flowering, improve aesthetics, and remove dead/dying plant parts, etc. Pruning on a small scale is relatively easy and will not usually be disruptive to the overall maintenance operation. But what happens when you are on a 1000+ acre campus and the magnitude of pruning exceeds the labor resources you can throw at it?
Poor plant selection and years of poor pruning
When I was just starting my grounds career at George Mason University, I decided to pursue a certificate in turf maintenance. The first required class was Turfgrass Management. Our assigned text bore the same name and was written by AJ Turgeon. I imagine many of you have studied the same text. The first thing I learned was the characteristics influencing turf quality. The title of this blog is an acronym of those characteristics. Size, texture, rigidity, elasticity, density, growth rate, yield,