SILVER LAKES GOLF & CC
ready to ring in 25 years
Pg 10
Greg Strachan, superintendent
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COLUMNS
JIGGENS
By Mike Jiggens
A professional stand on Dad & Dandelions
It’s been about six months now since CBC-TV aired the episode called Dad and the Dandelions on its long-running show The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
Normally, for something that is already half a year behind us, the dust would have settled on it by now, but I’m still hearing discussion of this broadcast among industry professionals everywhere I go.
The only organization I’m aware of that has taken an official stand on this so far is the Western Canada Turfgrass Association. Its president, Peter Sorokovsky, said the television show portrayed golf courses as “toxic waste sites” and put the use of chemical pest control products in a negative light.
Since the show’s airing, the WCTA realized the program presented a fortuitous opportunity for industry to engage in dialogue with the public, media, environmental groups, government and other stakeholders to promote the benefits of turfgrass and green spaces, emphasizing that golf superintendents and other professional turfgrass managers are stewards of the land and don’t use pesticides in a reckless manner.
The title of the episode was somewhat misleading. As a rule, golf courses don’t use a lot of herbicides, yet the word “dandelions” figured prominently. Perhaps since it’s the
most recognized weed found on turfgrass, it was selected as a representative term for all targets of pesticide use.
I guess Dad and the Dandelions or Dad and Leatherjackets didn’t have the same ring to it, and would have been lost with viewers. The word “dandelions” was a reason for viewers to tune in, especially knowing that 2,4-D has been outlawed for nearly 10 years for use on home lawns and municipal parks and playing fields in Ontario and other provinces.
The WCTA’s reaction to the show was one based on cool headedness, logic and professionalism. There was no kneejerk reaction or any other type of response that might have cast the golf industry in a
The WCTA’s reaction to the show was one based on cool headedness and logic.
negative light. Instead, it worked with its membership to prepare the right responses to the public in the event that golf course superintendents and maintenance workers might be pressed for answers to tough questions.
Turfgrass professionals have been urged to flaunt their academic credentials, emphasizing the fact they are well versed in such areas as conservation and best management practices. They have also been encouraged to promote the game of golf and
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the fact that those who participate in the sport tend to live longer lives than the average population.
The argument is that if golf courses indeed were toxic waste sites, then golfers wouldn’t live longer than others and would suffer from cancer and other health issues.
The WCTA has also encouraged its members to stress to the public when pressed that pesticide products used on golf courses have been tested, re-evaluated and intensely regulated federally by Health Canada. The testing process not only assesses a product’s efficacy, but its impact on human health.
Cornell University’s Dr. Frank Rossi, a renowned turfgrass researcher, has gone on record as saying golfer contact with pesticides is virtually nil, according to scientific testing.
Superintendents and other turfgrass professionals have also been urged to respond to the critics by promoting green spaces such as golf courses as producers of fresh oxygen, capturers of carbon and urban pollutants, and reducers of the warming effects of such hard surfaces as concrete and asphalt.
The WCTA has handled the fallout of Dad and the Dandelions in a thoroughly professional manner and one with plenty of thought put into it. There will be more criticisms against golf course and turfgrass maintenance in the years to come, and this industry must continue to stand its guard with the facts as its main artillery.
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Demolition of Glen Abbey sought by owner ClubLink
ClubLink, owners of the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., plans to file an application to remove and demolish the golf course to make way for 3,000 new homes and parkland.
The intent to file comes after the city voted to designate the site a heritage property under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Glen Abbey has been the home to the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open for most of the past four decades.
Kananaskis ready for 2018 reopening
Kananaskis Country Golf Course in Alberta is ready to return after a devastating flood nearly wiped it out four years ago.
With only four of the property’s 36 holes left unscathed, efforts to return the golf course to its former glory have paid off, and golf is slated to return in the spring at Mount Lorette and next summer at Mount Kidd.
Gordie Howe complex receives anonymous $15 million donation
An anonymous donation of $15 million will help see the completion of Saskatoon’s Gordie Howe Sports Complex in 2019. The project includes a football field, track and field complex and training centre with a turf field.
The donation is seen as a “huge confidence booster” for the fundraising organization tackling the project.
The non-profit Friends of the Bowl Foundation has partnered with 10 sporting groups in the city to raise $50 million. The anonymous donation put efforts up to $35 million.
the number of full seasons Kananaskis Country Golf Course has been closed since flooding
Charlottetown landscaper wants green roofs downtown
ACharlottetown, P.E.I. landscape contractor hopes the city will pay greater attention to the potential of green roofs in the downtown area, especially as the city continues to grow in both the tourism and hospitality industries.
Shaman Ferraro, owner of Atlantic Green Contractors, said there are only four green roofs in Charlottetown. He argued that a benefit of green roofs is its water holding ability. In the event of a heavy rain, water runs off a non-green roof, making its way into the city’s storm sewer system. In a particularly heavy rain, the infrastructure has difficulty handling the abundance of water, resulting in flooding and an overflow of water at the treatment plant.
Charlottetown has a green roof bylaw, but it applies only to new buildings in the downtown area.
New structures must dedicate 25 per cent of their available roof space to green areas.
Ferraro said he would rather see a system of incentives be made to urge developers to install green roofs. He added more education is needed for both developers and the public to understand the value of green roofs.
The city currently has no plans to introduce incentives or education programs.
There are currently only four green roofs in Charlottetown. The need to be able to carry the additional weight of plants, soil and water must be factored into the design and construction of a building that might potentially have a green roof.
A bylaw was enacted in Toronto in 2009, stipulating that new buildings exceeding six storeys must include a green roof.
the number of Canadian Open tournaments played at Glen Abbey
An example of a downtown green roof in Chicago, Ill.
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Golf course to give way to new uses
City council in Kingston, Ont. has voted to shut down all golf operations at the nine-hole municipal Belle Park Fairways at the end of the current season. The city has opted to undertake a master plan to develop the property into various new uses. Among the forecast new uses are two rugby fields, 12 pickleball courts, hiking and cross-country ski trails and an indigenous heritage centre.
New dog park first in Edmonton with artificial turf
A new city park has opened in Edmonton, making it the city’s first off-leash dog park to have artificial turf.
Alex Decoteau Park stretches across five city lots and was paid for by the city.
The area also has a community garden, a concrete plaza with programmable fountain and an abstract sculpture.
Poor workmanship unnerves Newfoundland landscaping association
A Newfoundland landscaping association has sounded off on what it perceives as shoddy workmanship at a St. John’s park.
Landscape Newfoundland and Labrador has found plenty of fault in a redesign of the city’s Victoria Park.
Many of the deficiencies of the work raise safety concerns.
Vancouver groundskeeper named sports turf manager of the year
The head groundskeeper for the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest Baseball League has been named the league’s sports turf manager of the year.
The honour came as a surprise to 31-year-old Ross Baron.
Before he began work at Nat Bailey Stadium last February after working three years in Kelowna as a field manager.
Students rejoice new artificial fields at their school
New artificial turf soccer fields are among several additions to a Thunder Bay elementary school that was previously home to a rundown, hard patch of playground space.
Ogden Community School is now home to not only the soccer fields, but a re-paved basketball court, hopscotch and jump rope areas and a gazebo that offers shade on hot, sunny days.
Students have been praising the artificial turf fields that they say are much safer to play on.
Kitchener ball diamonds closed until 2019
Ball diamonds at Upper Canada Park in Kitchener, Ont. will see no play next season while $2 million in upgrades are made to the Southwest Optimist sports fields. The diamonds are deemed too small and underused and not up to current standards.
'Tranquil' Silver Lakes turning 25
Ontario course ranked fourth best valued in province
By Mike Jiggens
Tucked away at the end of a deadend road in East Gwillimbury, Ont., yet easily accessible to golfers in and around the Greater Toronto Area, is an 18-hole golf course ready to celebrate its 25th anniversary that is known, among other things, as a facility boasting an aquatic driving range.
The Silver Lakes Golf & Conference Centre, which dropped the “country club” moniker in 2011 in favour of the more marketable “conference centre,” more recently earned the accolade of being named by Score Golf magazine as the fourth best-valued golf course in Ontario.
Superintendent Greg Strachan said a number of improvements have been made to the golf course since his arrival there in 2008, contributing to both the quality of the property and the golfer experience. Silver Lakes’ drainage, for example, had always been good beforehand, but has since improved significantly and was put to the test this season during a much wetter-than-expected year.
“A dry year is a good year for this place,” he said. “A wet year is a challenging year.”
Parts of the golf course were under water last spring after the East Holland River flooded over. Excessive moisture contributes to disease pressure and other challenges.
Fairways are mainly crowned to promote better drainage, and cart paths on both sides of the fairways help alleviate the amount of vehicle traffic on the playing surface, especially when it’s wet.
Although Silver Lakes’ irrigation system is largely original other than having a mixture of old and newer
sprinkler heads, the golf course’s control system is only a few years old.
“It’s a system that provides good coverage, but the system is starting to show its weaknesses,” Strachan said. “We put our irrigation system to a pretty good test last year and it handled it pretty well in general. Last year’s drought showed the age of the system and some of the challenges that come with age.”
The story in 2017 has been the opposite. April, May and June were wet months, and no real drought had been experienced through August.
“We haven’t done a full water this year yet.”
At best, some spot watering has been done as necessary, but none of it has been significant.
Water management and dealing with moisture and disease remain a challenge, Strachan admitted, but added superior drainage helps keep such pressures to a minimum. Many of the course’s fairways, for example,
Greg Strachan has been superintendent at Silver Lakes Golf & Conference Centre since 2008.
drain into adjacent bushes, and sump pumps between holes pump water into the property’s ponds.
The ponds, or “silver lakes,” are named for the array of silver birch trees on the property. Water, in the form of the ponds and the river, comes into play on 12 holes and is protected through conservation efforts. The ponds were artificially constructed, and Strachan said the largest among them is indeed a lake and not a pond.
What sets Silver Lakes apart from most other golf courses in Canada is its aqua driving range. Having an inadequate of amount of land for a traditional driving range, a decision was made to double the use of its largest pond to serve both as an irrigation storage reservoir and a driving range. Golfers can warm up before a round by hitting balls that float on the water, always ensuring an easily retrievable supply. The range balls, which are a little lighter than traditional golf balls and don’t travel as far, drift toward shore with the breeze and can be easily collected for ongoing use. Strachan said the balls are hand picked, making their
retrieval somewhat more labour intensive than on traditional ranges, but the water is clean and the balls are highly visible. He said the aqua range concept is the perfect solution for any course that has limited space for a traditional range yet has a sizeable body of water available.
Other than Silver Lakes, Strachan said the only other aqua driving ranges he knows about are located in the Carolinas and perhaps Florida.
The perimeters of Silver Lakes’ ponds have become naturalized areas, reducing the number of fertilizer inputs and the amount of labour involved when mowing was formerly done. Buffer zones have become more of a trend on golf courses and are usually established in areas deemed out of play. The club has a dedicated gardener on staff whom has planted these areas to wildflowers to serve as new pollinating grounds.
Like several golf courses situated in heavily wooded areas, Silver Lakes is prone to inadequate sunlight in some spots. An assortment of maple, cherry, birch and ash trees surround every hole. Although many of the holes are fairly open to desirable amounts of sunlight, excessive shade remains an issue in some areas. Strachan credited his predecessor Jim Nicholls for “doing a good job” opening up a number of troubled areas to receive proper amounts of sunlight.
Mother Nature lent a hand a few years ago in a roundabout way to clear some problem trees. About 300 trees were lost on the golf course in a microburst, including about 40 alone in one area. The reduced canopy flooded a former problem tee with sunlight, significantly improving its turf health.
Strachan said only trees that are dying are purposely being removed, and ash trees affected by the emerald ash borer are being dealt with accordingly.
“We have some greens that have shade issues. Shade is a problem here for sure.”
In spite of the challenges Silver Lakes’ trees provide, they greatly add to the character of the golf course, Strachan said.
“Very few holes you can see from another hole.”
He said the mature tree-lined fairways set Silver Lakes apart from other courses in the area and promote a sense of isolation and tranquility among golfers.
During the winter months, the golf course might not be as isolated as club officials would like. Strachan said a problem with snowmobilers trespassing onto the property has become apparent over the years, and some significant damage to the course has been the result.
“We have a big problem with snowmobile damage in this area.”
During the polar vortex winter of a few years ago, a combination of snowmobile and ice damage was
SNOWMOBILES have accounted for much of the winter damage incurred at Silver Lakes.
realized on the second, third and seventh greens, prompting the erection of fencing on some of the alleyways snowmobilers chose to use.
“It helped, but didn’t eliminate it,” Strachan said, adding every green has since been roped off during the winter.
Most greens on the course possess high populations of bentgrass, but a few are a mix of both bentgrass and annual bluegrass.
Silver Lakes typically opens for the season in mid-April, but usually doesn’t close until the middle of November. In 2016, the golf course remained open for play until Dec. 4.
“We stay open pretty late for this area.”
Strachan mows his greens at about .120 inches and incorporates frequent rolling into his regime.
“We roll quite a bit and cut and roll some days. I don’t hear any complaints about the green speeds. They’re all pretty happy with the consistency. Having consistent greens is just as important or more important.”
On some days, greens are rolled only to give the putting surfaces a break from cutting. On Fridays, however, greens are cut and rolled for the golfers in Silver Lakes’ men’s league.
Strachan said his greens don’t face many disease pressures in spite of their shade and moisture issues. Dollar spot is more of a problem on his fairways, leaving
anthracnose as the biggest challenge he faces on his greens.
Staying on top of the amount of moisture left behind on his greens due to heavy shade is “a fairly significant issue to keep on top of.”
One of his strategies is to topdress his greens monthly and spike them every two to four weeks.
In recent years, the buckets have been removed from the fairway mowers to allow nutrients from the clippings to be returned to the soil.
“In my opinion, it (removing the buckets) has helped reduce the thatch in our fairways (combined with verticutting).”
Fairway mowing on Mondays, Wednes-
days and Fridays used to take about six hours to accomplish with the collection buckets intact. With the buckets removed, two fairway units can get the job done in 4½ to five hours.
Once the fairways have been mowed, the clippings are blown to scatter them about.
“It just gets rid of the clumps and disperses them.”
Silver Lakes, which was designed by R.F. Moote and Associates, is home to 45 bunkers that are raked four days a week by “Bunker Billy,” a retired man in his 80s who possesses a deep passion for keeping the hazards in tiptop shape. The bunkers are fairly small in size, allowing their upkeep to be adequately handled.
Bunker Billy is one of a number of older maintenance staff members who work seasonally. Strachan said his older employees aren’t in it for the money as much as for the chance “to get out of the house.”
The cast of “over 75s” includes Fairway Willy, a fairway-mowing specialist; Pistol Pete, who cuts rough around greens and tees and helps cut fairways; and Chef Donato, who mows roughs. Along with Bunker Billy, each has been with the club for at least 15 years.
In all, his staff numbers 15 at peak season, including an assistant and mechanic.
Although it is located just outside the Greater Toronto Area and a short drive from Newmarket, Silver Lakes projects a tranquil setting for its golfers.
“Quality, not quantity, is better than having a bunch who don’t care. You (otherwise) spend more time babysitting than doing anything else.”
Silver Lakes is Strachan’s first post as a superintendent. He was previously assistant superintendent at Copper Creek Golf Club in Kleinburg from 2001 to 2008 and had worked at the National Golf Club of Canada in Woodbridge from 1996 to 2001.
He began at Silver Lakes in July of 2008, taking over for Nicholls who moved on to another position in the Niagara region.
“I kind of got thrown into the fire in mid-season.”
One of his career highlights was being involved in the growin process at Copper Creek.
“That was a good experience. It’s a challenging experience, but it’s a fun experience. It’s rewarding at the end.”
Strachan said the golf industry can be challenging, but added, “I think we’ve got a good product” at Silver Lakes. “We’re pretty aggressive (with marketing, etc.). You have to always be thinking of different ideas to make your money. The golf courses that are strictly golf have a tough time surviving anymore. You need weddings and banquets and things like that.”
The only Tall Fescue with true rhizomes, RTF quickly fills in damaged and bare spots in your turf with new shoots of grass. This results in less overseeding, fewer weed problems and no wideleafed ugly clumps of grass like other tall fescues can form. RTF’s extensive root system has the ability to draw moisture from a deep soil profile, which helps it use less water and makes it adaptable in a wide range of soils. It has excellent heat and drought tolerance, with less irrigation.
A unique feature at Silver Lakes is its aqua driving range. The body of water serves a dual purpose as an irrigation reservoir and a landing site for floating golf balls hit by golfers warming up for their round.
De-icing alternative gaining in popularity
Commercial contractors are tuning into the merits of liquid brine
By Michael Frank
The process of fighting winter’s wrath has changed a lot over the years. Though the basic goal of removing snow after it has fallen and ice after it has formed remain, it’s how this is accomplished that has become much more sophisticated.
Consider the application of liquid brine. What was once the sole practice of municipalities is now being implemented more and more by commercial and residential contractors alike. The reasons for this growing interest are many, but the main factor is that applying liquid brine simply can do things that other tactics can’t.
Anti-icing is a prime example. This is the proactive process of applying liquid brine to a road, sidewalk, parking lot or other trafficked surface before a winter weather event. Doing so before a storm creates a thin layer of salt between the snow and road surface, effectively preventing it from bonding together. So when one comes back to plow after the storm, the job of clearing the snow and achieving down-tothe-pavement results is much easier. And it requires a fraction of the salt compared with applying granular materials after a storm to achieve the same, or typically lesser, results. In fact, some have reported up to 75 per cent salt savings by anti-icing before an event rather than de-icing with granular materials after.
Then there’s the practice of pre-wetting granular salt with brine. Pre-wetting
lowers material bounce from a spreader when de-icing after a winter event, which conserves material and keeps it where it can be most effective. Also, it jump starts the brining process, accelerating the performance of the granular product, as a solid de-icer must first convert into a liquid to counter the ice. Pre-wetting salt has been shown to reduce needed application rates by 20 to 30 per cent.
As is usually the case with any new practices, implementation takes time. That continues to be evident with the use of brine, but contractor interest is booming, and more are adopting the practice each year. Manufacturers have answered, in kind, by developing equipment that simplifies the application of brine for a wide variety of jobs, from walkways and sidewalks to parking lots and arterial roads.
But application equipment isn’t the only development for contractors. Brine
makers that are geared specifically for the contractor market are beginning to appear. And given the many advantages that making one’s own brine can deliver, it’s an equipment addition anyone serious about brine application should consider.
Control supply
One major challenge for some to get into applying liquid brine is sourcing the brine itself. The advantages of using liquid brine have been touted to the contractor market for the past decade, and there are many who are convinced it needs to be added to their winter maintenance repertoire. But when materials aren’t readily available, it doesn’t matter how great the process works, it’s just not an option.
As the practice has become more popular, availability has increased. Now many equipment dealers and/or granular salt suppliers are beginning to offer liquid
A contractor applies liquid brine to a paved surface.
Michael Frank is senior product manager for SnowEx.
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brine as well. Still, there is hesitancy about material availability. For any contractor, the key to success is being able to service customers when needed. They just can’t tolerate a lack of materials.
By adding a brine maker to an operation, contractors don’t need to worry about sourcing a supply. Brine makers work with standard rock salt to create the solution, so as long as a contractor has access to salt and water, he or she can make brine.
Furthermore, it’s easy to store. Contractors can make batches well in advance of a weather event to be ready when needed.
Control costs
Another reason to make one’s own brine is to lower material costs. The practice of applying brine already offers a cost savings as it can reduce salt usage. But, of course, when you make your own materials, you forgo any margin an outside vendor will naturally add to the purchase price.
One ton of rock salt, at $60 per ton, can produce 870 gallons of brine. And the cost of
Contractors can make batches well in advance.
necessary water for that batch is relatively negligible, with the top rate in the U.S. at about $4 per thousand gallons. That comes to about seven cents per gallon to make brine.
Comparatively, the cost to purchase bulk liquid brine through a vendor ranges between 60 cents to $1 per gallon. Taking this a step further, it would take about $2.10 per acre to pretreat with made brine compared to $18 per acre with purchased brine. Assuming one pre-treated 150 acres per storm, that’s a difference in material expenses of $2,400 per event.
Establish a new profit centre
Reducing costs is one way to increase profits, but adding another product/service to sell is even better. As already mentioned, a primary reason for making brine in-house is the difficulty in finding a reliable
supply of materials. So why not flip this new ability to become part of the supply solution, selling brine to other contractors for profit?
One of the attractive qualities of today’s brine makers is that they don’t require a lot of hands-on activity to operate. Once the machine inputs are set (water and salt), it works on its own to mix and produce the finished brine. And again, brine can be effectively stored for later use. So there’s not a lot of labour that would go into producing brine to sell, and if one creates more brine than the outside demand, there is no waste as the product doesn’t expire.
Furthermore, knowing the margins typically built into the finished product, becoming a supplier not only adds a fair amount to the bottom line, but it can vastly accelerate the return on investment on a new machine.
It’s relatively simple
Everyone loves the idea of improving effectiveness, reducing costs and increasing profits, but any new process creates added sophistication. And making brine is certainly not without its challenges.
Bear in mind that brine making is chemistry. The ideal salinity for maximum brine effectiveness is 23.3 per cent. Without a controlled process, it would require a lot of knowledge and skill to make it properly.
Fortunately, manufacturers have developed brine makers to take much of the thought out of the process. Today, contractors don’t need to know chemistry to make brine. They just need to make sure the inputs of water and salt are constant and the machine-integrated computer does the rest, ensuring that the equipment is churning out brine at the proper mix ratio.
Also, the process of making one batch or continuously producing brine is relatively simple. A few settings adjustments and hooking the machine up to a separate storage tank lets brine be produced continuously until the storage is full.
Learn the signs, symptoms of lawn problems
Lawn care professionals must gather as much data as possible to know what they’re facing.
By Mike Jiggens
When turfgrass experiences a problem, it typically turns a shade of yellow, tan or brown, no matter if the culprit is a disease or insect, making it difficult to accurately diagnose. Lawn care professionals must therefore gather as much information as possible to determine the exact cause of the problem, former turfgrass extension specialist Pam Charbonneau said.
Speaking in August at a Nutrite-sponsored customer appreciation day for lawn care professionals at Guelph’s Springfield Golf Course, she said the professional needs to know everything possible to get to the bottom of the lawn problem, including asking pertinent questions of the homeowner.
Two types of injury can be attributed to home lawn problems: abiotic and biotic. Charbonneau, who now consults for DCS & Associates after retiring from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in 2015, said it is important to be able to distinguish between the two.
Abiotic causes of turfgrass problems can include watering too much or too little, mowing at improper heights, excessive drought, ample shade, too much thatch or excessive compaction. Biotic causes include disease, weeds, moss, algae and those brought on by insects.
Improper mowing, especially scalping, is one of the most common abiotic causes of problems on lawns. A scalped lawn opens up the canopy to let more light in, allowing crabgrass and other weeds to move in.
“You’re really just asking for trouble,” Charbonneau
said. “It’s hard to train all homeowners to learn to mow properly.”
By the same token, waiting too long between mowing events will result in a “hayfield” with large clumps of clippings laying on the surface. Once the excessive clippings begin to decompose, the grass can smother and lead to problems with the turf.
Homeowners can also be blamed for not knowing how to properly spread fertilizer if nutrition is not part of their lawn care program.
“You need the right amount of fertilizer to get a good response from turf.”
Many turf problems are related to inadequate moisture or an overabundance of it. If a lawn is irrigated, there may be poor overlap or coverage. A drought year will allow deficiencies in an irrigation system easy to ascertain. An over-irrigated lawn can pave the way for annual bluegrass to enter the stand. It isn’t the most desired species of lawn cover due to its susceptibility to winter injury, disease and drying out.
Excessive shade will result in thin stands of turf, allowing moss and algae to move in.
Compacted soils inhibit air and water movement. Additionally, soils compacted beyond 250 pounds per square inch make it impossible for roots to grow.
Pink snow mould damage is evident on a lawn.
“The good thing about compaction is that you can actually measure it.”
The presence of weeds on a lawn “tells a story,” Charbonneau said.
“If you have low fertility, if you’re mowing too short and you’ve got excessive moisture, you’ll get an invasion of annual bluegrass.”
There are many things that can cause damage in turf that have nothing to do with living organisms, she added.
Typical lawn diseases include pink snow mould, grey snow mould, red thread, leaf spot, dollar spot, necrotic ring spot, powdery mildew and rust. Insects to be concerned about include European chafer, Japanese beetle, crane fly, billbugs, chinch bugs and sod webworm.
Signs and symptoms of disease
“Each of those causes very distinct damage,” Charbonneau said, adding the signs and symptoms of a disease are two different things.
“With insects we often have evidence of the insect. That’s when you see something other than the insect itself. In that case we’re usually talking about what the insect leaves behind when it feeds (frass or excrement).”
Insects are also larger than disease spores and can usually be seen by the naked eye, allowing visual confirmation of the symptoms and damage they have caused.
In distinguishing between the sign and symptom of
a disease, Charbonneau said rust pustules would be the sign of a disease while yellowing turf would be the symptom. For an insect-related problem, the sign would be frass while the symptom would be dead turf.
Before a disease can occur, a pathogen is needed as well as a susceptible host.
“Not every disease attacks every species of grass. If you don’t have a susceptible host but you have the pathogen, then you’re not going to see the disease.”
A disease must also have a favourable environment in which to thrive.
“Diseases usually start within a single infection site. A spore will land and start growing within a single site. Then it will usually colonize a bit and it can either form a spot, it can form a ring or it can form a patch. Sometimes diseases can coalesce. It starts as one spot and then another and, as both spots grow, they grow together and look less regular looking.”
Signs of the disease can be seen at different points in their lifecycle, she said.
“So you may see mycelium, you may see lesions or you may see pustules.”
Lesions, for example, are irregularities on leaf blades, often seen as an hourglass shape with two borders, as in dollar spot on Kentucky bluegrass, or a black margin with a water-soaked centre, as in leaf spot on Kentucky bluegrass.
Many of these diseases can be cured through good nutrition, Charbonneau said.
Disease symptoms can differ, depending on the turf species. On higher cut grass, pink snow mould doesn’t have as much of a distinct patch as it does on lower cut grass. When observing the leaf blades, grey snow mould has sclerotia not found on pink snow mould.
“If you apply a lot of nitrogen in the fall, you’ll get more snow mould. If you get lots of snow cover, you’ll get more snow mould. Where you see it really badly is where you pile your snow up when you’re shoveling your driveway.”
She said a home lawn with abundant creeping bentgrass in it is more susceptible to snow mould than one that is mostly Kentucky bluegrass. Snow mould may be seen in patches of creeping bentgrass while the surrounding Kentucky bluegrass remains unaffected.
Having the right species of turfgrass with the right type and amount of fertilizer is helpful, Charbonneau said. A little bit of nitrogen fertility will help with red thread which is purely a superficial disease that affects only the grass blades without killing the plant.
Leaf spot and melting out appears as yellowing grass in clumps and can be confused with chinch bug damage or a variety of other things, she said. Upon closer examination, however, lesions are readily visible. Melting out
Weeds on a lawn tell a story about its deficiencies.
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occurs when the lesions usually found on the leaf blades form on the stem and crown of the grass plant. They will eat through the crown, resulting in some death to the grass. Leaf spot and melting out usually occurs during the transition period from spring to summer or from cool and wet conditions to hot and dry settings.
If a lawn is grown to Kentucky bluegrass, it will have the ability to outgrow that by putting out rhizomes and repairing itself, Charbonneau said.
A high shot of readily available nitrogen in the spring will render a lawn more susceptible to leaf spot and melting out, she said, but added it’s less of a problem with the controlled-release fertilizers most lawn care professionals use.
Dollar spot is a prevalent disease on golf course putting greens, but can also occur on home lawns in Kentucky bluegrass. Charbonneau said dollar spot looks different in a golf setting than it does on a lawn, and “a shot of nitrogen” will help its prevention.
Acidifying fertilizers will usually help control necrotic ring spot in addition to watering deeply and infrequently and overseeding with perennial ryegrass.
Powdery mildew is a problem associated with shade. The sign is a powdery mycelium that grows on the surface of leaf blades. Kentucky bluegrass is susceptible if excessive shade is present. One way around powdery mildew, Charbonneau said, is to plant shaded areas with more shade-tolerant grasses such as fine fescue.
A yellow tinge throughout the turf is a sign of rust pustules on Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. Rust, which will cover shoes when walked upon, can be dealt with through fertility.
“A well fertilized stand of grass will have much less rust than a poorly fertilized stand.”
Although both are susceptible to rust, perennial ryegrass is more prone than Kentucky bluegrass.
Charbonneau advised lawn care professionals to take a closer look to detect the signs of a disease to know specifically what is being diagnosed, adding the symptoms of many diseases are similar. Understanding the time of year associated with various diseases will also help in the diagnosis.
Insect damage
Leatherjackets, or the larvae of crane flies, are detected each year at about Mother’s Day when homeowners are raking their yards for the first time or digging in their gardens.
“They (leatherjackets) do a fairly good job of chomping the grass blades down to almost nothing when there’s a heavy population of them.”
Leatherjackets like low-lying wet areas. Adult crane flies, which resemble large mosquitoes, lay their eggs around the middle two weeks of September. The eggs hatch by mid to late October. Nematodes are an ideal mechanism for the biological control of grubs, but Charbonneau said she has had bad luck with that approach with leatherjackets. Nematodes kill grubs from the inside by getting into their bodies through the mouth, anus and other orifices, but leatherjackets have no openings other than the mouth and anus.
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Crane fly leatherjackets feed occasionally at the surface, leaving bare soil, and at night tend to feed on roots, producing dead patches of grass. They are a favourite food source for birds, particularly when they are in large populations.
“If you see excessive bird feeding on a lawn, definitely get up and investigate that because there’s likely extra protein on the lawn that the birds are after.”
Moving further along into the season, the next insect pest to be encountered is the bluegrass billbug. Members of the weevil family, their damage is done from mid-July to mid-August. The evidence of billbug presence is a sawdust-like frass left behind by the larvae. The larvae are small and legless with a brown head capsule and white body, about a half-centimetre in length.
The billbug larvae tend to feed in the thatch at the crown and will attack individual plants one at a time.
“If you see a clump of dead grass and you pull it and it comes right up – we call that the tug test – you probably have billbug damage.”
Charbonneau said that by digging a little closer, the larvae or telltale frass may be found.
To know whether leatherjackets or billbug larvae are present in turf, a simple test can be conducted. She said to take a plug of turf and place it in a salt solution by supersaturating water with salt. If the insects are present, they will float to the top.
Chinch bug damage occurs about the
same time as that of billbugs. Chinch bug damage is similar with patches of tanbrown grass. Unlike diseases, they are not distinct spots. Damage from chinch bugs are associated with wider areas and produce less of a pattern.
Where they have overwintered is where the damage can be seen. Individual grass blades are sunken as the result of chinch bugs’ handiwork. The insects suck the juices out of each individual grass blade. Devoid of water, the grass collapses, leading to sunken patches.
Employing the same salt solution test used to detect the presence of leatherjackets and billbugs will fail with chinch bugs. They are feeding on only the blades and not the roots or crowns, leaving the dead grass still firmly rooted.
Taking a closer look
Charbonneau suggested that if a visual approach is preferred by a lawn care professional willing to get down on his hands and knees, the insects likely won’t be found within the dead patch because they will already have moved on. An area surrounding the patches is the better place to look.
She said a means to monitor chinch bugs is to take a plug and place it in plain water. The insects will float to the top.
If other insect damage is noticed about mid-September, a close-up look should be made for a green, soft, pellet-like frass produced by sod webworm feeding, Charbonneau suggested. Adults are seen
flitting about all summer at dusk and webworm damage will occur by about mid-September. She said it will resemble typical grub damage and the frass and caterpillars will be visible, but what makes it distinctive is that feeding occurs in the thatch that peels away right in the middle. If it were grub damage, it would peel away at the soil-root interface. It can still be pulled up like a carpet, but in the thatch layer and not in the soil.
Unlike leatherjackets, sod webworms can effectively be controlled by nematodes, Charbonneau said.
An effective means of monitoring for webworms, she said, is to use a soap flush to bring the pests to the surface. Mixing two to four tablespoons of dishwashing liquid into a four-litre container of water and pouring the contents onto the turf will bring any webworms and cutworms present to the surface. Although it’s primarily only a monitoring technique, she said birds tend to swoop in and make a meal out of the flushed up worms.
European chafer adults fly about from mid-June to mid-July, peaking around Canada Day, and lay their eggs in the turf. Tiny grubs will then feed until “the snow flies.” Damage is visible by the end of September or beginning of October, appearing as the result of drought or damage by other insects. Once the damage has reached advanced stages, the dead turf can be pulled up like a carpet, separating at the thatch-soil level. At this stage, skunks and raccoons forage for the grubs,
compounding the damage to greater levels.
The Japanese beetle can still be found in early August and is readily visible in its adult stage, feeding on various ornamental species. It is characterized by its bronze colouring with white tufts of hair on either side of its abdomen. Unlike the European chafer that comes out at dusk, the Japanese beetle is present during the daytime. Turf damage is visible about the end of September or beginning of October. Grubs feed throughout the fall and again in the spring.
Nematodes are effective with both European chafer and Japanese beetle grubs, Charbonneau said, adding an ideal window for their introduction is the end of August or beginning of September. Nematodes travel in the soil moisture stream, making it easier for them to migrate in a wetter-than-normal year than a dry year.
When attempting to correctly identify
a lawn problem, it’s best to learn what species is being attacked, she said. Many diseases will attack only certain species of grasses. If the problem is seen in only one species, it’s likely a disease whereas if it affects various species on a lawn, the culprit is probably an insect, she added.
Abiotic problems are not confined to one species, either.
Charbonneau said lawn care professionals must make note of a number of things when trying to get to the bottom of a lawn problem. They must identify the part of the plant that is affected, whether or not the problem is above or below the surface (diseases are often just above ground with the exception of necrotic ring spot), whether the problem is in the open or a predominantly shaded area, the amount of thatch present and anything unusual about the soil.
Homeowners must also be asked about
their frequency of mowing, the amounts and timing of their fertilizer applications, and how often and in what amounts the lawn is irrigated. She said it is also important to note what the weather was like before the problem first occurred and whether or not weather conditions are hindering or helping a problem.
Sometimes a problem might be the result of a chemical spill or a fertilizer contaminated by a pesticide or other agent. If a lawn care professional thinks the problem might be caused by something other than a disease or insect, a sample should be taken from an infected area as well as another from a non-infected area nearby and sent in for analysis, Charbonneau advised. She suggested if the suspected problem is a disease in dead grass that a sample should be taken from the affected area as well as another from healthy grass near the edge.
Transform your UTV to battle snow
Key attachments and accessories can give UTVs winter use.
By Greg Lawrence
The first snowfall of the season will be here before we know it. When preparing for the frigid months ahead, grounds and equipment managers can save on equipment costs by converting their existing utility vehicles (UTVs) into snow-fighting machines with the simple addition of key attachments and accessories.
With advancements in equipment technology from some of the leading manufacturers, gone are the days when UTVs could only transport people, tools and materials throughout the warmer months. Thanks to more powerful engines, cold-weather packages, and a variety of snow removal attachments, UTVs are extremely versatile and can adapt to the changing weather conditions year round.
For example, Toro’s heavy-duty Workman® HDX Auto is simple to outfit for winter use. With the simple addition of winter accessories, they can pull double duty – clearing snow and spreading salt and sand, or used as a de-icer in the harshest winter conditions.
Such vehicles have made it easy for operators to not only accommodate a number of different attachments, but also switch attachments quickly and effectively for a multitude of snow management tasks. Grounds and equipment managers can consider the following list of the top 10 attachments and accessories to help transform their UTVs into an efficient machine for snow and ice removal:
10. Mirror kits: Between blowing snow and shorter days, winter has a way of bringing low visibility. For this reason, it is important for the operator to have complete awareness around the UTV for maximum safety. This can be accomplished with side mirror and rear-view mirror kits for cabs.
9. Light kits: Light kits can include a beacon, a work light and a turn signal. For operators working early or late shifts, equipping the UTV with light kits are not only good for effectively identifying obstacles in the dark, but also makes the UTV more noticeable to drivers and pedestrians.
8. Angle brooms: During and after light snowfall events, angle brooms are ideal for a quick sweep of driveways, sidewalks, parking lots and more. Additionally, sweeping helps keep the snow from turning into a layer of ice or slush. Angle brooms are also incredibly useful attachments for properties that require zero snow accumulation for safety and liability purposes. An added bonus with this attachment is that angle brooms can be utilized year-round for dethatching and clearing debris and dirt from turfgrass, sidewalks and parking lots.
7. Snow tires: When utilizing a UTV for
Outfitting a UTV with four-wheel drive helps the vehicle to better manoeuvre in deep snow.
Greg Lawrence is the senior product marketing manager at Toro.
“More powerful engines, cold-weather packages and snow removal attachments make UTVs more versatile”
snow removal applications, equipment managers shouldn’t skimp on high-performance or aggressive tread tires. Snow tires have superior tread patters designed specifically for traction on ice and snow and may use soft rubber compounds to enhance grip on slippery terrain. Snow tires are a stark contrast to turf tires, where the tread is much less aggressive and designed to minimize damage to turfgrass. It’s extremely important to upgrade to snow tires when operating the UTV on snow or ice.
6. Spreader: BOSS offers a spreader that is designed specifically for Toro UTVs. When a spreader is coupled with an angle blade attachment, it quickly transforms the UTV into both a proactive and reactive snow removal machine. While the front of the UTV can clear sidewalks with the help of the blade, the spreader at the rear of the machine can distribute salt or sand, immediately treating the area after clearing. The poly hopper is made of corrosion-resistant material and fits easily in the bed of the UTV.
5. Blower: For snow removal jobs that require more than a snow blade, there are a number of blower options designed to attach to UTVs. Blowers are ideal for clearing snow off parking lots, sidewalks and driveways. These attachments also provide the operator with more control of where the snow is deposited.
4. Heater kit: During winter months, operators can be required to work long hours, so equipment managers should do their best to provide a comfortable and safe environment. Equipment managers should look for a heater kit that has a defroster for the windshield to ensure proper visibility. Any operator can attest to the fact that sub-zero temperatures can make for a long day without a heater.
3. Snow blade: Companies such as BOSS offer full-size plows which are available in both straight-blade and V-plow options. Mid-size plow attachments are ideal for UTVs and many offer a high-performance hydraulic package to protect the plow from the elements, preventing corrosion and hydraulic freeze-up. The attachments are fully hydraulic, so there’s minimal manual adjustment for chains, winches or pulleys, and they can be quickly attached to UTVs such as the Workman.
2. Hard enclosed cab: This is especially crucial during the bitter-cold months to help operators stay warm and keep blowing snow out of the cab. Windshield wipers are also important on windy days and keep snow and moisture from collecting and reducing the operator’s visibility.
1. Four-wheel drive: This option provides the UTV with better acceleration in inclement weather. Similar to snow tires, there is simply better traction with four-wheel drive, which helps increase operator productivity and safety. Rear-wheel drive can also perform well in the snow as long as the UTV is outfitted with snow tires. However, rear-wheel-drive UTVs have a higher risk of fishtailing than their four-wheel drive counterparts. When you break it all down, purchasing winter accessories and attachments for a UTV helps equipment managers instantly add year-round versatility to their UTV fleet. For tasks that have traditionally required three or four dedicated pieces of equipment, a winter-ready UTV can accomplish the same tasks with only a handful of attachments and accessories. This not only contributes to a healthy bottom line, but also maximizes return on the initial UTV investment.
Winterizing EFI engines pays off in spring
Process will help owners better realize reliability, performance and fuel savings. By Tom Billigen
Winterizing carbureted engines is a quick and simple process done year after year to avoid the nuisance of a gummed up carburetor in the spring. However, as electronic fuel injection (EFI) gains traction in a number of market segments, including commercial turf and construction, each year more equipment owners find themselves winterizing EFI engines for the first time.
While the process is similar, understanding the importance of this annual routine as it pertains to EFI can help owners better realize the reliability, performance and fuel savings possible with EFI.
Stale fuel resistance
Comparing apples to apples – similar horsepower models from the same engine family – EFI and carbureted engines typically use the same fuel, oil and air filters. While it’s important to keep up with these service intervals, the most important item
to address ahead of seasonal storage is the fuel system. Engines with EFI are actually less susceptible to stale fuel damage compared to carbureted engines because the fuel has significantly less exposure to air while equipment sits in storage.
Not only are EFI engines less susceptible to fuel degradation, they are also more capable of burning degraded gasoline. By atomizing fuel through a high-pressure injector, EFI systems create an air-fuel mixture much closer to a vapor state compared to the mixture created by a carburetor. This increases the likelihood that low-volatility fuel will ignite. As a general rule, however, both EFI and carbureted engines should be treated with a fuel stabilizer if equipment will sit for 30 days or longer. Doing so prevents fuel from becoming stale and developing a gummy residue or harmful varnish inside the engine.
Stabilize for storage
Since fuel stabilizers are chemically formulated to slow the harmful effects that
oxygen and moisture have on fuel, properly treated fuel can remain useable for as long as three years. Stabilizers work by changing the chemical composition of the fuel to make it resistant to oxidation, corrosion and other forces that degrade fuel and damage the engine.
To accomplish this, stabilizers contain antioxidants, corrosion inhibitors and chemicals that absorb moisture and keep water molecules suspended in the fuel. Without stabilizers, fuel and water separate, leaving the engine susceptible to corrosion. The antioxidants prevent fuel from gumming by introducing free electrons that slow the process of fuel oxidation, decreasing the potential for residue buildup and clogging that can damage the fuel system.
The old saying, “if a little is good, a lot is better” does not apply to fuel stabilizers. Since fuel stabilizers are heavier than gasoline, adding too much will thicken the fuel. For both EFI and carbureted engines, always be sure to follow label instructions and choose a product
Adding a fuel stabilizer changes the fuel’s chemical composition to make it resistant to oxidation, corrosion and other negative forces.
Tom Billigen is the customer education training manager for Briggs & Stratton
covered by the engine’s warranty.
Additionally, be sure to run the engine for a short period of time after adding a fuel stabilizer to ensure that the treated fuel makes its way through the entire system, contacting all surfaces that encounter fuel.
Importance of stabilizers
While the process of treating an engine with fuel stabilizer is the same whether it has a carburetor or EFI, the consequences of skipping this simple procedure are not. During storage, the pump module containing the EFI system’s high-pressure pump is submersed in fuel. This module has an air pathway for venting called the EVAP emissions vent port, or evaporative emission control system. When the engine is running, the EVAP prevents fumes from entering the atmosphere. When the engine is off, the system lets these vapors escape and be replaced by outside air, allowing the fuel degradation process to begin. Because the module is not serviceable, if ruined, it has to be replaced, which could cost about $250.
Injector spray tips, another component specific to EFI engines, remain damp with fuel after the engine is shut off. If given time to oxidize, this fuel can gum up and create a varnish over the tiny holes of the
injector tips, altering the spray pattern or plugging them entirely. Similar to the pump module, the injector tips need to be replaced if compromised.
The need to replace these fuel system components contrasts with the comparable components of a carburetor, which can be disassembled and cleaned. However, when properly treated with a fuel stabilizer, both EFI and carbureted engines can sit in storage through the offseason without risk of damage.
Fuel better
One of the most important things to be mindful of as the seasons change is the type of fuel going into the engine. Because refineries gear their products toward the automotive industry, the levels of chemical additives are increased and decreased seasonally to improve volatility in different conditions, making it important to only purchase enough fuel to last through a season.
Winter blends are the most problematic for outdoor power equipment. These blends are formulated to be more volatile and improve starting and overall fuel combustion in cold weather. This also results in gasoline that has a shorter shelf life because the lighter ends of the blend – the more flammable portion intended
to improve cold weather performance –evaporate quickly.
This issue is most prevalent in late fall when many refineries switch to winter blends as equipment owners still operate zero-turn-radius mowers for leaf collection and other machines late into the year. If winter blend fuel is left untreated, it will quickly become unusable. Even leaving equipment with untreated winter blend fuel for a couple of weeks while waiting to complete a more comprehensive end-of-season check can be enough time for fuel to go stale. And, if left until spring, operators can find themselves needing expensive repairs.
Another fuel to be mindful of is ethanol-blended gasoline since ethanol attracts moisture at a higher rate than pure gasoline. This speeds up oxidation, corrosion and gumming of fuel. Avoiding ethanol blends when possible and only using fuel intended for that particular season will greatly decrease the risk of damage.
Store wisely
Finally, always store equipment in a cool, dry environment, as fuel degradation occurs at a drastically faster rate as temperatures rise. When possible, avoid storing outdoor power equipment in places susceptible to dramatic temperature swings.
Fraze mowing helps rid turf of its thatch
Aggressive de-thatching technique takes on organic layer and helps even sports fields
By Mike Jiggens
When a sports field needs a season-ending overhaul, a number of things can be done to have it ready for play the following spring. It can be aerated to relieve compaction, overseeded to re-establish turf in worn areas or even sodded in such high-traffic areas as goalmouths and the field’s centre.
If thatch is excessive or if the field has become uneven, sports turf managers may want to consider another option: fraze mowing.
Fraze (sometimes spelled fraise or fraize) mowing is an aggressive renovation process geared toward the removal of excessive thatch.
“What we’re trying to do is get rid of that organic layer that’s in some of our fields,” Greenhorizons Sod Farms’ Steve Schiedel said in a presentation to sports turf managers attending Sports Turf Canada’s annual field day in September.
Thatch is a blend of grass clippings, roots, rhizomes and other organic matter that has built up over time, creating a thick layer above the surface. A sufficient amount of thatch is beneficial to turfgrass. It protects the crowns of the plant and provides a cushiony surface that promotes player safety.
“A healthy thatch layer is important in our sports fields, but too much is a problem,” Schiedel told the gathering at the Richmond Green Sports Centre and Park in Richmond Hill, Ont. “There are a lot of negatives to excessive thatch.”
He said when the thatch layer is allowed to build up,
roots and rhizomes want to grow into it. It can also dry out quickly, he added, but it also gets wet and harbours disease and insects, and turf becomes more shallow rooted and has more difficulty handling drought.
Core aerifying, verticutting and fraze mowing are effective ways to control thatch. When coring, organic matter is pulled out of the ground to help decompose thatch. Topdressing sports fields helps to control thatch by mixing sand in with the organic matter.
FRAZE MOWING
targets the excessive organic layer on a sports field.
“The physical movement of that sand within the thatch layer can actually grind the thatch into smaller pieces, and it keeps air in there and helps thatch decompose a little bit better.”
Fraze mowing is the physical process of removing heavy organic matter.
“Be aware that this is an aggressive process,” Schiedel said. “It’s not just a simple ‘I’m going to do this and solve all my problems.’ It needs to be part of a complete strategy whether you’re going to overseed, topdress, core aerify, slit seed or sod. It’s a tool or piece in a larger process. It’s not just a solution on its own.”
While the objective of fraze mowing is to cut only to
Attendees at the Sports Turf Canada field day observe the various depths of fraze mowing into the turf
a depth that allows the rhizomes and stolons to remain behind, an even more aggressive form of fraze mowing is known as terra-planing in which a greater depth is pursued that removes most of the rhizomes and stolons as well as the thatch.
Schiedel was involved in a recent fraze mowing project on a couple of fields at Hamilton’s Mohawk Sports Park. A video of the mowing process was presented, showing the machinery going down into the thatch about an inch and a half or an inch and a quarter. Shallower depths were realized on the outer edges of the fields where only the organic matter was taken out.
Fraze mowing originated in Europe, Schiedel said, adding it is believed a group of high-end soccer field groundskeepers got together with an equipment manufacturer and some local university academicians to come up with a concept to remove organic matter from playing fields and establish how the process could improve the renovation of a number of high-end soccer pitches.
The process not only removes organic matter, but annual bluegrass and its seeds that tend to harbour in the thatch layer. Both seeds and weeds can be removed through the process.
“In a perfect world, fraze mowing would want to leave the rhizomes and stolons of your field intact so that they can regrow along with some possible topdressing, overseeding and an aggressive nutrition campaign.”
Among the manufacturers of fraze mowing machinery are Toro, Blec and Stec. The machines use either a straight bar tool, a carbide-tipped tool or a 90-degree tiller-type blade. The decision to fraze mow light, medium or heavy depends on individual field conditions and how level the playing surface is.
“If it’s uneven, you’re not going to be able to do a really nice fraze mowing job.”
A shallow setting will reach only about 20 per cent of a field’s turf, leaving the remainder untouched. Going deeper to get at more of the turf will result in all of it being removed from high spots on the field.
“A lot of planning needs to go into it. Consultation needs to be done (with someone experienced in fraze mowing).”
Schiedel said if a field in uneven, a sports turf manager will either have to go deep or elect to go with sod or an aggres-
sive seeding campaign. A fraze mowing program will have to be planned carefully to deal with such scenarios, he said.
Even a light fraze mowing will remove a lot of organic material that must be contained accordingly. While the turf is
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being mowed, a collection trailer hauled by a truck must move alongside the mower to catch the cuttings. From there the collected materials will have to be carted to a nearby dumpsite where it can be composted. Fraze mowing multiplies the amount of material that is generated through verticutting by about 10.
“There’s a lot of material to deal with, so you need to plan on that.
“If your field is perfectly level and smooth as a billiards table, you can use this process and just take off a skim. Most of our fields are not that table top level and smooth.”
Uneven fields will need to be mowed more aggressively, setting them back with time needed for their recovery.
“This needs to be talked about before you decide to use this process.”
Fraze mowing will remove small divots and undulations, but if it’s uneven it must be terra-planed, Schiedel said. Terra-planing removes all organic matter and gets right down to the soil, creating a smooth surface by leveling out divots and undulations. If a terra-planed field is sodded, it can be ready for play in three to four weeks. If it is seeded, it may take half or three-quarters of a year.
Whether a field is fraze mowed or terra-planed, its irrigation system must be working well, he said. If a water system isn’t ready or if it has already been winterized, the process will likely fail because water is needed immediately after mowing, Schiedel said.
A photograph of a field that had been fraze mowed was presented, showing that terra-planing, or aggressive fraze mowing, had been done down the field’s centre while the outside areas had been fraze mowed less aggressively. The outer areas had rhizomes and stolons remaining to regrow. For the middle area, where there were few rhizomes and stolons left behind, an aggressive overseeding campaign was required.
With light fraze mowing, topdressing and grooming are recommended practices, Schiedel said.
“Cover those stolons and crowns with a well draining sand and that will help improve drainage.”
He suggested an eighth or a quarter-inch of sand be used to help create a healthy growing environment, and it should be done as soon as fraze mowing is complete.
If seeding is chosen, seed must get into the soil. Putting seed into organic matter or thatch will only work if 14 days of three-quarters of an inch of rain falls, allowing good germination. Seed-to-soil contact is imperative.
“If you fraze mow and left some organic matter, rhizomes and stolons, and are planning on overseeding, make sure you’ve got a tool that’s going to get that seed through the leftover organic matter, rhizomes and stolons and into the soil.”
‘What we’re trying to do is get rid of that organic layer that’s in some of our fields’
If terra-planing to remove all the organic matter is the desired strategy, a more traditional seeder will work if there is open or bare soil. The field can also be core aerified four or five times in different configurations to relieve compaction and dragged.
The field can then be Brillion seeded, fertilized and irrigated.
“You’re going to be rockin’ Within three to five months, you should be good to go.”
Early September is generally considered a good time to fraze
mow.
Steve Schiedel of Greenhorizons Sod Farms watches as a baseball outfield is fraze mowed during the Sports Turf Canada field day in Richmond Hill, Ont.
“Hopefully you can leave your water on until the third week or end of October.”
A roller in the front and another in the back perfectly shave off between the two rollers at a detailed depth that can be adjusted.
If a sports turf manager’s plan is to sod a field, Schiedel said he recommends terra-planing to enable the sod to come into direct contact with the soil instead of being laid atop organic matter.
“If you’re overseeding, be aware that you’re not going to have any recovery from your rhizomes and stolons. If you did terra-plane and remove them all, you’re going to need to give yourself more time for that seed to establish.”
If a sports turf manager is able to fraze mow a field that is sufficiently level, he will realize some grow-back which Schiedel said is the initial concept of the dethatching process.
For fields requiring terra-planing, he suggested mowing the centre of the playing surface where there is most wear, sodding that area and then fraze mowing
MOWED MATERIAL
makes an excellent compost that can be used in the spring for topdressing and overseeding.
the outer areas before topdressing and overseeding the perimeter. Within a month to six weeks, “you’ll have a really, really, really high quality field ready to go.”
Taking away the terra-planed and fraze mowed material to be turned into compost is important, Schiedel said.
“It’s an excellent compost that can be mixed with some sand to next year do some topdressing and overseeding.”
Schiedel said the material composts quickly due to its nutrition content. When it’s periodically turned over the course of a couple months, an “excellent product” will be available the following spring.
He suggested municipalities with budgetary issues that might ordinarily quick-fix goalmouth and worn centre areas of a sports field, wait a year and renovate the entire field through fraze mowing.
Schiedel cautioned, however, that fraze mowing must be part of a master rejuvenation plan, and that doing it on its own with nothing else will not solve most field challenges.
Fungicide resistance & dollar spot on turf
Turf academy leader suggests keeping a step ahead of dollar spot
By Mike Jiggens
Dollar spot is typically the No. 1 disease facing golf course superintendents each year, and it’s one that was misunderstood for decades. “For about 30 years, folks were trying to figure out what this fungus was,” Richard Buckley, director of the plant diagnostics lab at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said in July.
“And now in the modern era, with all the genetic mapping, they can make family trees, and what they found is it’s not sclerotinia like we used to think and there’s more than one variant of the fungus in the group,” he said. “The point is everyone’s dollar spot is going to be slightly different genetically so it’s going to respond slightly different to the treatments.”
Buckley shared his remarks with a group of about 20 golf superintendents attending the final leg of a four-stop turf academy series at London, Ont.’s Westminster Trails Golf Club. Sponsored by BrettYoung, the turf academy also made visits during the same week to the Camelot Golf Club in Ottawa, the Carrying Place Golf Club in King Township and the Toronto Golf Club in Mississauga.
Buckley said it was Michigan State University pathologist Dr. Joe Vargas who first observed that dollar spot wasn’t a
sclerotinia, adding dollar spot is said to be a low nitrogen disease and that increasing nitrogen inputs “is always a good thing to do. That’s a good place to start.”
Dollar spot is a moisture-driven disease. Its mycelium likes morning moisture, making dew removal imperative. Dew can be removed through such measures as dragging a hose atop turf or by mowing.
“No matter what you do, if you knock the dew down you get less dollar spot. It’s a clear advantage.”
Buckley said Ohio State University’s Dr. Karl Danneberger suggests knocking dew back twice daily, by perhaps mowing and then rolling when it reforms. Tackling it
twice is more labour intensive, but it helps, he said.
“The more you roll in the morning, the better it is.”
The practice will be dictated by budget parameters, but knocking dew down any way possible is effective, Buckley said.
“There’s a documented science behind it.”
Questioning whether IPM (integrated pest management) can be practised with dollar spot, Buckley said if dollar spot is permitted to start in New Jersey, “the whole thing will be pock marked in a couple of days, no matter what you do.”
The question then is, “Where is the threshold for the amount of damage you
Richard Buckley, right, director of the plant diagnostics lab at Rutgers University, shares a lighter moment with golf superintendents attending July’s BrettYoung-sponsored turf academy at London’s Westminster Trails Golf Club.
can take before you have to spray?”
With older grasses, spray applications must be made quickly once the spots are apparent, he said. With newer varieties, on the other hand, they can be allowed to come in “and be nipped in the bud” because the genetic resistance is there. In trials, the threshold base observation is used as well as a growing degree-day model to decide when spraying should be done for the first time. It has been suggested that a dollar spot program get underway following the season’s second true cut.
“We think that’s not a good piece of advice and that you’re starting too early.”
Following the degree-day models, research shows it can be the middle of May before any indication of the disease can be seen.
In New Jersey, if the first spray application is made at the start of the second true cut, about 10 applications will have to be made in a single season. Buckley said that by waiting for the growing degree-day, one or two applications could be avoided. If the Smith-Kerns dollar spot probability model from the University of Wisconsin is adopted, a couple more spray applications can be eliminated. If a more resistant turfgrass variety from a new seed type is also used, the number of spray applications required in a season can perhaps be pared down to one or two.
“More than anything else, it depends on what kind of grass you’re using. Genetics matter more than anything else we can talk about.”
Buckley said DMI (demethylation inhibitor) fungicides work as well as some of the new SDHIs (succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor) and new generation strobilurins.
“The key is resistance management.”
He said consistent spraying of Banner, for example, would ultimately result in it not working.
“It’s probably not a good idea to use the same product repeatedly.”
Dollar spot has built up a resistance to virtually every product aimed at dollar spot control, Buckley said.
“You keep putting pressure on it with any specific chemical, then you’re going to have some sort of issue. You can mitigate
that by rotating and tank mixing (with other products such as Daconil).”
Chlorothalonil, the active ingredient in Daconil, has never reported resistance issues, but the fungicide will soon be lost to the market even though it is sprayed on
almost anything a human being eats, Buckley said.
“It’s the most widely used fungicide in the world.”
Another type of contact material will have to be found to replace it, he added.
“The more rotation you get, the better off you’re going to be. Dollar spot is the one we’re most worried about.”
If a spring outbreak can be nipped, the peak in the fall is smaller but is worse when there is more dew in the canopy, Buckley said.
“More than anything else, that’s what’s driving it.”
Buckley said he doesn’t recommend superintendents use up older, discontinued chemistries because they’re never coming back. Superintendents can choose to go off Banner for a couple of years and then bring it back.
“It’s easier to use it sparingly and mix it up than to burn something and never be able to use it again.”
A superintendent in attendance asked Buckley whose advice should be heeded when one researcher suggests one thing while someone else might post a message on Twitter suggesting something else entirely. Buckley said advice posted on Twitter should be taken with “a grain of salt,” noting that solid data is derived over a period of years.
3Anthracnose control
Figuring out how to control anthracnose took about 10 years of research, he said, adding any graduate student requires at least three years of data before his findings get into a peer-reviewed journal. Reputable results are required. If researchers at Michigan State, the University of Kentucky and Rutgers are all “singing the same song,” that is when one can begin to feel comfortable about what is being said.
Anthracnose, Buckley said, was originally thought to be a stress-induced disease. Fungicides control it “pretty well,” and almost every chemical class has some efficacy for anthracnose control. He added that three pounds of nitrogen is required on poa annua greens to keep the disease from coming in.
“Three is a critical number.”
He said research has changed over the years to suggest that one pound of granular fertilizer be put down in the spring and then the three-pound application be completed by spoon feeding throughout the remainder of the season. He said it was found the
• Pest & Disease Management • Stump Grinding
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is the critical number of pounds of nitrogen required to stave off disease.
spring application improved the turf quality better than a fall catch-up.
The pH floor for annual bluegrass is five.
“You’ve got to be above five or it’s going to start to thin and yellow and get anthracnose.”
Light, frequent topdressing and raising the height of cut helps with anthracnose control, Buckley said, adding that if a golf course has problems with chronic anthracnose, fungicide applications should begin about mid-May in 14-day intervals throughout the season.
“If you’re coming out of the winter and you’ve got yellow spots, you’re going to have a big problem in the middle of the summer.”
Moving onto another area of the golf course at Westminster Trails during the walkabout tour, Buckley addressed the merits of aeration, liking both coring and the use of solid tines. Any technique used on sand is good, he added. Employing different techniques and different depths are beneficial.
Core a couple of times a year and then use solid tines,
he recommended.
Buckley said he has been accused of being a “corporate shill” by garden club members because of his support for pesticides, but he responded by taking photographs of the ingredient labels of such commonly-used products as athlete’s foot medication and yeast infection remedies to demonstrate to his critics that the same chemicals used in those treatments are also used on plants. He suggested to them that they’ll use a particular chemical on their bodies to treat an ailment, but won’t eat an apple sprayed with the same chemical.
“When you put it on a person, it’s a medicine but when you put it on a plant it’s a pesticide.”
He said using such an approach to respond to the public who might give “blowback” about chemical use is an effective way to let them think more carefully about pesticide use. He added the public might also wish to know that the same chemistry used to treat heartworm in dogs is injected into ash trees to help stave off the destruction caused by the emerald ash borer.
Health & Safety
By the CCOHS
Be extra careful how you use your hands
At one time or another you have probably used the heel of your hand as a tool to push, grind or even hammer something solid. Repetitive trauma to the fleshy part of the hand can lead to a serious condition called hypothenar hammer syndrome. A wide variety of activities can expose your hand to this type of harm. Whether you are at work or tackling projects at home, or getting back into outdoor sports activities, learn to recognize the causes and symptoms and how to prevent harming yourself.
Hypothenar hammer syndrome is a condition of the hand in which the blood flow to the fingers is reduced. Hypothenar refers to the group of muscles that control the movement of the little finger. Some of these muscles make up the fleshy edge of the palm (hypothenar eminence).
It occurs when workers repeatedly use the palm of the hand (especially the hypothenar eminence) as a hammer to
hammer syndrome typically occurs in men with an average age of 40 years.
grind, push, and twist hard objects in either work or recreational activities. These activities can damage certain blood vessels of the hand, especially the ulnar artery. This artery goes through the fleshy area of the palm and supplies blood to the fingers. When the ulnar artery is damaged there is a reduction in the flow of blood to the fingers. Sometimes a single significant episode can cause the syndrome.
Workers at risk
Hypothenar hammer syndrome typically occurs in men with an average age of 40 years. Workers at risk include landscapers, bricklayers, auto mechanics, metal workers, lathe operators, miners, and machinists. Workers who use vibrating tools are also at risk.
This syndrome can also be caused from sports activities such as karate, basketball,
baseball, mountain biking, golf, tennis, hockey, handball, volleyball, badminton, breakdancing, drumming, and weight lifting.
Symptoms
The symptoms of hypothenar hammer syndrome are a pain at the hypothenar eminence and ring finger, pins and needles (paresthesia), loss of feeling, and difficulty holding heavy objects in the affected hand. The fingers become sensitive to cold and change colour.
Because this syndrome is relatively uncommon and unrecognized, the diagnosis is often missed or delayed. The diagnosis is based on symptoms, medical history and job history, and then confirmed with tests showing the obstruction of the blood vessels.
Treatment and prevention
Treating hypothenar hammer syndrome begins by avoiding those activities that caused the syndrome in the first place. Other treatments may include smoking cessation (smoking negatively affects blood circulation), the use of padded protective gloves, and avoiding the cold. Certain drugs will help to restore the blood flow. For some cases surgery may be necessary.
Be aware of the causes and symptoms of this syndrome. Some steps you can take to prevent hypothenar hammer syndrome are:
• Focus on improving work practices.
• Avoid using the palm of the hand as a hammer to pound, push or twist hard objects.
• Don’t grip tools such as impact wrenches, pliers, scissors and even vehicle gearshifts too tightly.
• Switch tasks regularly or rest your hands.
• Use padded protective gloves to avoid the excessive trauma to the heel of the hand while working or participating in activities that put pressure on the palm.
Sod growers inch closer to new marketing board letter to the editor
The Nursery Sod Growers Association of Ontario (NSGAO) has received confirmation that the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission will proceed with an expression-of-opinion vote to gauge support for the proposal and establishment of the Turfgrass Farmers of Ontario Marketing Board.
The NSGA presented its proposal to the commission in August, backed by the support of its members and industry stakeholders.
The main purpose of the proposed organization is to promote the production and marketing of turfgrass sod in Ontario and to advocate, promote and conduct research for the turfgrass industry.
In recent years, Ontario sod producers have seen little to no growth in the marketplace as well as declining sales. Lower housing starts and smaller lot sizes are affecting new home installation sales. The province’s pesticide ban and watering restrictions have negatively influenced sod purchases.
Dodson article was a walk down memory lane
Re: Scott Dodson
Hi, Mike:
I just finished reading the latest edition of your July/August edition of Turf & Rec magazine featuring Scott Dodson. I thoroughly enjoyed the article. For me, it was a walk down memory lane as Scott and I started out in the golf business at roughly the same time.
Scott, his dad, and his brothers certainly helped raise the profile of golf superintendents in Ontario. Whenever anyone spoke of the Dodsons being involved in a golf course project you knew the construction and/or the renovation would be first class. I don’t get a chance to see former superintendents much anymore except for the annual hockey challenge in Niagara Falls each year. Scott and Johnny Taylor are the organizers of this fun event. Please continue to profile working or retired superintendents. It’s a pleasure to read your publication.
Thanks.
Bob Kennedy, St. Catharines, Ont.
When lightning is near, think safety
Sports field managers must know how to safely evacuate people.
By Brad Nelson
When a thunderstorm hits and lightning is near, venue managers of outdoor events, including sports field managers, must make critical safety decisions in a short amount of time. Having the right information and knowing the dangers of severe weather is essential for keeping spectators and players at outdoor events safe.
Lightning is the severe weather incident that poses the biggest threat to outdoor venues, especially during the summer months. More than 94 per cent of lightning-related deaths since 1986 in Canada have occurred between June and August. Having a plan for severe weather events could mean the difference between preventing fatalities and injuries, or a disaster. Part of what makes a thunderstorm so dangerous is the inability to know where or when lightning will strike. A lightning strike averages two to three miles in
length and can travel 10 to 25 miles from the storm that produces it. This makes it very challenging to know when an outdoor event is at risk. Failing to act in time could have severe consequences. Each year in Canada, lightning strikes kill up to 10 people and seriously injure 164 others. Of these lightning-related fatalities, 64 per cent are attributed to leisure activities with 34 per cent coming from sports alone.
Outdoor events can vary greatly in size, making it hard to know when and how they should be evacuated. Some large venues, such as professional sports stadiums, take a substantial amount of time to evacuate. Since lightning can travel several miles from the storm that produces it, venue managers need to act quickly and decisively when a storm is approaching. Some events, such as golf tournaments where venue and crowd sizes are large, can take longer than 30 minutes to evacuate.
One: be prepared for the storm to hit Storm behaviour is difficult to predict, but venue managers can take steps to be ready to protect players and spectators at their events. The first step is developing a lightning-specific safety plan. This plan should be customizable based on venue location, time of year, size of crowd, type of event and time needed to evacuate.
It is important to pre-determine which staff will fill designated roles, and how safety and evacuation communication will be facilitated to patrons when evacuation is underway. If the forecast predicts thunderstorms, it is important that patrons know this information before the event starts or during the event. No place outside is safe during a thunderstorm, so safe structures need to be identified. Predetermine the nearest enclosed building and the time needed to evacuate event attendees to that location.
There should be signs placed around the venue informing attendees and players
Lightning kills up to 10 people annually in Canada.
Brad Nelson is the sports and recreation on-site meteorologist and safety markets team lead for DTN Weather.
of the closest safe buildings. If no substantial building is near, completely enclosed vehicles are the next best option. Vehicles that are not completely enclosed with metal, such as convertibles, or that are not suitably grounded, such as golf carts, are not sufficient protection from a lightning strike. These types of vehicles will not be able to translate the electric current from a lightning strike through the body of the vehicle and into the ground effectively.
“Golf carts do not protect against lightning.”
After the event, designated weather monitors should remain on duty until post-event operations conclude. Evaluation is an important aspect of your venue’s lightning safety plan. Through this, venue managers can review how the weather impacted event operations, determine the effectiveness of the safety plan and make adjustments, if necessary. Some venues, such as schools or professional sports stadiums, go as far as practising lightning safety drills. This allows venue staff to calculate how much time is needed to clear out an event before a real thunderstorm evacuation occurs.
Two: have a plan for weather monitoring
Designate a weather monitor to stay alert to severe weather watches, warnings and advisories. This person will be responsible for disseminating the information to the proper authorities who will make the decision to evacuate, or will hold the responsibility of the evacuation decision themselves. This person should not be assigned to other event-related tasks that could take their focus away from keeping on top of changing weather conditions. If the monitor can time 30 seconds between a flash of lightning and the sound
of thunder, or if the storm is within six miles of the venue, all patrons should be within a lightning safe building or vehicle. This role may be filled by an on site meteorologist who can provide counsel and expert information to venue officials.
Having a meteorologist take on this role can allow venue managers to focus on hosting a successful event. This person should review the lightning safety plan and become familiar with the script for announcements to visitors and any warning
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and clear-all signals to be used.
Monitor weather reports daily leading up to events. This way, venue staff can be well prepared to implement the lightning safety plan or make changes to the plan based on these reports. There are several ways to find information on local weather. Resources such as lightning detection apps, television news coverage, cable and satellite news programming or alerts and watches from Environment Canada or the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) are all great sources for information.
Weather providers such as DTN also offer services that deliver real-time, location specific forecasts, lightning display, and thunderstorm information. This service can monitor the weather for your event and provide timely alerts to help you make the decision to evacuate.
Three: know the warning signs
Most importantly, remember that lightning awareness begins at the first signs of lightning threat, no matter how far away the storm appears. Dark skies, thunder rumbles or lightning flashes, storm alerts and even rain all indicate that lightning may be near. In some instances, lightning can strike far from a thunderstorm, perceivably from blue sky and without rainfall. As soon as thunder is heard, it is recommended that staff prepare for evacuation.
Lightning awareness begins at first sign of threat.
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By Rod Perry
My recent experience at a ‘redneck’ sports event
Irecently attended my firstever NASCAR event, thanks to some free tickets I managed to snare.
Motor sports are not my cup of tea, and I must confess the only reason I went was because the price was right. I have always considered NASCAR and other forms of motor sports to be “redneck” sports. I’ve never been able to sit through any more than a minute or two of these events on television because, frankly, I find cars going round and round a track to be painfully dull.
Motor sports have a strong following for reasons I’m unable to fathom. Maybe it’s the anticipation of a violent collision involving two or more cars in which one of the vehicles becomes ablaze and the shaken up driver escapes from the cockpit window in the nick of time before the car explodes.
I appreciate purity in sport. The skill and finesse of baseball, hockey and golf are what makes those three my personal favourites. When a hockey game goes off the track with a fight or two, I lose interest fairly quickly. The same goes with a bench-clearing brawl in baseball when a pitcher beans a batter.
I’m just not a bloodthirsty guy, and I don’t want to see a racecar driver risk life or limb for the sake of providing the “thrill” of a spectacular crash. If there are no crashes in motor sports, what’s left? You’ve got cars going round and round a track. Maybe someone will explain to me one day why that’s supposed to be exciting.
So why do I consider motor sports as redneck sports? Any fan of the genre I’ve ever met has struck me as being somewhat redneck-ish. Of
course I’ve met only a handful, but what they seem to have in common is tattooed-up forearms, a love of country music, a seeming disregard for the Queen’s English and the ability to use rope as dental floss.
Maybe I’m stereotyping a little bit here based on my own preconceptions of what constitutes a redneck. So, I wondered, what should I wear to this NASCAR event? Should I be attired in clothing I would normally wear to watch a baseball game or golf tournament? Or should I throw on a “wife beater” and a pair of cowboy boots and position a ball cap backwards on my head?
I opted for a middle-of-the-road approach: jeans, running shoes, golf shirt and hat with the brim facing forward. My real concern was the possibility of bumping into a rabid NASCAR fan whom might have asked me whose chance of winning I thought was most likely, to which I would have been left standing there looking like a slack-jawed yokel. Come to think of it, my look would have fit right in, I figured.
OK, OK. I’m getting carried away with all the redneck references, I admit, or at least my own personal interpretation of a redneck.
So now I’ve arrived at the track, wondering if my preconception of a NASCAR fan matches the reality of one. My first thought was, “Wow! There must be several thousand cars parked here.” Yes, cars and not broken-down pickup trucks, and with hubcaps to boot!
Walking through the grounds amongst the countless thousands of race fans, I also took note that few were tattooed, almost all had full sets of teeth, country music wasn’t blaring over the sound system, and… well… everyone looked
Rod Perry, aka Duffer, is a Niagara-based freelance writer.
fairly… normal.
The most blatant observation I made involved many of the fans’ attire, but it wasn’t cowboy boots or hats worn backward or even those sleeveless shirts that have somehow been christened as wife beaters. They were jackets or tee shirts emblazoned with the logos of automobile manufacturers, fuel companies, motor oil products, tire brands and other auto-related businesses or products. At least a dozen or so of these logos seemingly covered every square inch of fabric.
There were vendors situated in the infield selling these shirts and jackets. For about 80 bucks a jacket, one could be a walking billboard to promote these various brands. I don’t get it. The jackets should be given away free while the companies whose logos are sewn all over the place should be paying you to wear them and promote their products. Instead, these companies are laughing all the way to the bank, knowing a bunch of saps are going to be flogging their brands for free.
I suppose the owners of these jackets likely think it’s “cool” to wear them at motor sports events, but let’s face it. They’re about as garish as it gets, and you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb if you wear these things outside of a motor sports venue.
Personally, I found the action on the infield was more exciting than that taking place on the track. I was summoned over to a promotional booth where I was coerced into an archery competition, but, instead of firing an arrow at a target, I loaded the bow with what looked like a small toilet bowl plunger. I hit the edge of the bull’s eye three consecutive times and won a $10 Canadian Tire card for my efforts.
In spite of the freebies, and learning that NASCAR fans aren’t really rednecks, I have no desire to attend another event anytime soon.
I find cars going round and round a track painfully dull
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