Check your skin!

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May is national skin cancer month so we wanted to remind all of you who daily work out in the sun — be careful!

When you read tips on preventing skink cancer, they always suggest staying in the shade during the heated hours of the day. We know that’s not possible for you. So the best thing to do is wear sunscreen daily, with a high SPF. Make sure you re-apply too!

And perhaps use skin cancer month as a good time to get your annual check up with a dermatologist. Any suspicious spots or moles, they’ll check out. You should also regularly check yourself for anything that looks unusual. Here’s what some skin cancers look like.

Today is melanoma Monday. In 1980, the lifetime risk of developing melanoma was 1 in 250, according to according to Mayo Clinic. Today it is 1 in 50. Learn more.

Read up on more tips on being careful in the sun.

Drought Update

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drought monitor

With the seemingly endless supply of moisture falling in Iowa over the last three weeks, it’s hard to believe the drought of 2012 could still be in effect. Rivers are fuller than they’ve been in at least two years and waterlogged soil is everywhere. So, why hasn’t this recent rash of rain brought the drought discussion to an end?

While the problem isn’t solved completely, the rains have eased the situation substantially. Our state climatologist, Harry Hillaker, noted the heaviest days of rain resulted in the wettest week of weather in terms of average statewide precipitation since June 2010.

When the extremely wet weather started in late March/early April, frozen soils in the northern part of the state were not able to take in all of the moisture—although soils have thawed and were able to start taking in rain last week—and as a result, most ran off into the rivers, causing flash flooding in some locations. Further south, where the soil had thawed, more moisture was taken in; however, with such large amounts coming at once, the soil could only hold so much before runoff occurred, much like a saturated sponge.

Regardless, a wide-ranging ‘one category’ improvement was implemented for most of our state, and the northeast part of the state received a ‘two category’ improvement. As a reminder, the drought categories range from D0 (abnormally dry) to D4 (drought – exceptional). The eastern third of Iowa is no longer in any drought category. Most of the middle third of the state is now classified as D0 or D1, with most of the western third as D1 or D2, with a very small area in the northwest part of the state at D3.

While the situation has improved since last fall and winter, we still need more rain before we are completely out of the woods. Hopefully it will come as less frequent, less total rainfall events that will allow the soil to properly absorb and maintain a moisture status that will benefit all of Iowa’s growers.

Growing golf – hope springs eternal

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Depending on whom you ask, the official arrival of spring begins either on March 1 (meteorological spring), March 21 (astronomical spring) or Monday to kick off the start of Masters week (golfers’ spring).

There is no tradition like the Masters Golf Tournament and if you are in the golf business you know what I mean. The membership at Augusta National Golf Club hosts the greatest event in all of sport, in my humble opinion. They do some unique things such as referring to ticket holders as “patrons,” price the concessions so inexpensive that the first time you visit The Masters as a patron you have to ask are you sure the price is right? A classic Coke cost $1.50 and a pimento cheese or ham sandwich costs only $1.50. Parking is FREE, and the grounds are manicured to perfection, leaving no stone unturned, no blade of grass out of place. It is a very spiritual place.

During yesterday’s Chairman’s Press Conference, Billy Payne, Masters Chairman, was asked about a rule in golf. He simply deferred answering the question by stating Augusta National is just a golf club that happens to host a well-known tournament, it wouldn’t be prudent to make golf policy decisions. In their own way, in an unassuming way, Augusta National and their leadership knows they are more than “just a golf club hosting a well-known tournament.” They are the most powerful golf body in the world. What Augusta National does, it is likely others will follow.

One of the tenets of the PGA of America is to grow the game of golf. As a PGA member for over 10 years I can tell you growing the game is the future of golf. While we, as PGA professionals, have always had strong initiatives to grow the game, the PGA of America, in my opinion, has fallen short.

What Payne announced Monday and re-iterated yesterday in his Chairman’s press conference was that if Augusta National wants to grow the game of golf and do it in an exciting way, they can do it. It was announced in partnership with the USGA and the PGA of America, Augusta National created a competition for junior golfers to introduce and inspire a new generation of golfers. The competition is the National Championship of the Drive, Pitch and Putt competition with the finals at Augusta National Golf Club on the Sunday before tournament week.

There have been a lot of growing the game initiatives, and they have been pretty successful, but if I know Augusta National like I think I do, this new competition is going to inspire, introduce and invigorate a new generation of golfers. Well done, Chairman Payne, well done!

World Cup on artificial turf?

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soccer on grassIn a press release from the World Cup last week, artificial turf took the spotlight away from natural grass in a sport that has been pro-natural grass made up of players that strongly prefer a natural surface an artificial one.

Although second generation artificial fields have distinct advantages over their ‘astro’ predecessors, many soccer players feel the ball doesn’t roll and bounce as they’ve come to expect it to on natural grass, which changes the game in a negative way. Also, there is a lot of sliding in soccer games and artificial fields don’t ‘give’ as much in that regard, which can be annoying to players trying to maintain a consistent style of play.

Abby Wambach, whose name is likely familiar and strongly associated with soccer in most of our minds, stepped into the spotlight to give her opinions on why she thinks playing the 2015 World Cup on artificial turf would be detrimental to the game. It’s worth a read.

Want to avoid nutrient runoff?

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Some interesting results have been compiled at the GCSAA TV website discussing an ongoing research project at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Brian Horgan at UMN has been involved in some great environmental concern-based research, and this study is one  I’ve heard about a few times and even had the pleasure of seeing the plots one time while visiting UMN.

The main take-home message from this research is that yes, excessive P inputs in your turf do lead to higher rates of runoff, however, properly fertilized turf will actually prevent erosion and nutrient runoff from the surface of your turf.  And unfertilized turf is actually more susceptible to nutrient runoff.  I’ll let Brian do the talking: http://www.gcsaa.tv/view.php?id=179

Interactive Turfgrass Morphology Tool

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For those who don’t know what morphology means, it is essentially the different parts of the turfgrass plant and those parts are how we distinguish one grass species from another. Parts like the inflorescence (flower head), leaf blade, root, collar, crown, sheath, auricle, vernation (veins in the leaf) usually have some sort of identifying characteristic that tells us, say, annual ryegrass from tall fescue—long, clasping auricles on the annual ryegrass, or a wider leaf blade on the tall fescue.

As I was surfing this morning, I found a cool website with a neat tool for learning more about turfgrass morphology that was put together by Drs. David Gardner and Karl Danneberger, both from Ohio State University. There are other nice parts of the website, I would recommend spending time there brushing up before the season starts again.

And, of course, if you have any questions about anything, please feel free to contact me.

 

 

Are we over-applying nutrients in turf?

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I came across an interesting article this morning on the turf diseases website that confirms something I’ve been a proponent of for many years.

In many areas of agriculture and horticulture, there is a tendency to apply whatever nutrients we think the plants need and not pay any attention to soil testing. It’s something I like to call ‘nutrient paranoia.’ Turf managers (and others) seem to think, for some reason, “the soil reports must be lying, because when I put down that extra two pounds of K last year, I thought I saw some sort of response.”

When you apply a surplus of nutrients, you could be having an antagonistic effect on other nutrients within the system. Think of applying nutrients as trying to achieve a balance of nutrients in soil, not just applying what you think should be there or what worked in the past.

Check out this link and see what researchers found when more potassium (K) was added to their putting greens before winter and the subsequent infections of snow mold.

Soil testing is a very important part of growing plants properly and should not be merely glanced at, then shoved aside so you can continue to do what you’ve done every year. Don’t spend money where it isn’t needed! If your soil report comes back telling you there are adequate levels of P and K in your soil, then you don’t need to apply them.

Goats on the course?

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goatMowing down unwanted vegetation…

I have been in the golf business for nearly 20 years. Most of the time superintendents turn to mechanical means to manicure their rough areas but in some locations superintendents go back to golf’s roots and employ goats.

Yes, you heard me, goats…check out how these two courses are using our four-legged friends to mow down some unwanted vegetation:

Pasatiempo Golf Club (Santa Cruz, Ca)

Hawks Tree Golf Club (Bismarck, ND)

Humates in turf

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by Andrew Hoiberg, Ph.D., Calcium Products research & development manager

We’ve been getting a lot of questions at trade shows about the benefits of humate additions to turfgrass systems. Following is a rundown of what humates are and how they can benefit plants.

Humates or humic substances are fully decomposed remains of plant or animal organic matter. They are the most chemically active compounds in soils with large cation and anion exchange capacities, far exceeding clays. In general, they are very long lasting in soil, but the more intensively a site is managed, the faster they breakdown. This is one reason to add humic substances to your soil: to replace humus depletion in agricultural and horticultural soils.

Most humic products are derived from a mineral called leonardite, whose origins are not entirely understood. It is either an oxidized form of lignite or an accumulation of humic acids leached from topsoil by alkaline water into deeper strata of soil. Leonardite was discovered in North Dakota in 1919 by Leonard Dave, a University of North Dakota faculty member. It is also found in Utah and New Mexico. Leonardite is normally found very close to the surface near lignite deposits.

There are a few terms often thrown around when discussing humic substances; let’s take a look at them to try and clear up any confusion. Leonardite contains three types of organic substances:

  1. Fulvic acid – the fraction that is soluble in water under all pH conditions
  2. Humin – the fraction not soluble in water at any pH value
  3. Humic acid – the fraction not soluble in water under acidic conditions but is soluble at higher pH values

So, how do humates help plants? Again, the mechanisms for how these substances work in plants and soil are poorly understood, but research is being conducted worldwide (including some work funded by Calcium Products) in an attempt to help us understand the how and why. It is assumed, however, that the chelating properties of these substances are most likely responsible for enhanced nutrient uptake and retention in soils, as are their large cation exchange capacity values.

Humates have shown the following benefits in turfgrass situations:

  • Improved germination
  • Improved seedling vigor
  • Enhanced nutrient uptake (N, P, K, Mg, Cu, Mn)
  • Increased microbial actibity
  • Increased root mass

It is important to note that much of the research done on turf has shown that humic substances, particularly leonardite, realize the greatest benefits when applied to sandy soils low in organic matter and CEC. Also, incorporation of these products into the soil further improved the beneficial aspects of humic substances. This means sand-based turf systems (sand-based putting greens, sand-based and sand-capped athletic fields and any turf system intensively topdressed with sand) can benefit from applications of humic substances. It would also be wise to time your applications with your aerification practices to help incorporate the product into the soil.

Calcium Product’s HumaCal, combines the benefits of humates, calcium and sulfur. The ingredients are combined through our proprietary manufacturing process before pelletizing to give you the benefits of easy application and immediate action in the soil.

Talk to your dealer about HumaCal and start on the road to healthy soil today!

Fun facts about the snow

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Post by Brian Milam
How's my turf look?

        How’s my turf look?

Now that Winter Storm Draco (yes, the National Weather Service has decided to name winter storms just like hurricanes) has moved out of the midwest and is headed to the northeast, (I’ve got quite a pile of white stuff here in Wisconsin and our marketing gal in Iowa has a foot of snow at her place!) I thought it might be fun to share some wacky facts about snow!

180 billion
molecules of water in the average snowflake.

15 inches
the width of the biggest snowflake ever recorded

430 inches
amount of snow Stampede Pass, WA receives annually

6 sides
how many all snowflakes have

23 feet
circumference of largest snowball ever made

95 feet
most snowfall recorded in one year at one location

76 inches
record amount of snowfall recorded in a 24 hr period, Silver Lake, CO in 1921

…. I found these facts in my son’s “Boy’s Life” magazine. Hope you all found them as cool as I did!