Turf Talk
By Mike Goatley Jr., Ph.D., Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist, Virginia Tech
H
ave you ever thought of yourself as an agronomist? If not, you should. I used this title for a presentation at the inaugural Deep South Turf Expo (in Biloxi, MS) in 2015 because it seems that the older I get, the more I see the value of returning to the basics in turfgrass management. I always make it a point to tell students to let people know they are an agronomist because that sets up the opportunity to tell people what it is that they do. When I was a new Ph.D. in Starkville, MS, back in the late 1980s, all of the secretaries were worried about how I could be 27 years old and not be married yet. In their concern for me, still being single at such an advanced age, I would be invited regularly to church bingo and fish fries so that I could just
“by chance” meet some of their lady friends. One of the young ladies I met asked what I did, and I said, “I am an agronomist.” She then went on to tell me that was cool and that while she was somewhat embarrassed to admit it, “I read my horoscope every day, and I’m a Pisces.” Hmm… I think we had a failure to communicate! Unfortunately, the term agronomy has fallen out of use over the years because of the confusion as to what it means. The two departments that I have worked for at Mississippi State and Virginia Tech both moved away from being Agronomy Departments many years ago. However, the basis of being an agronomist still applies to each of us who manages grass because it is essentially talking about someone who manages plants AND soils. In this
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management, your agronomic skills also include the principles of biology, chemistry, genetics, biochemistry and mathematics. See how smart you must be? And all along you thought you were just a professional grass cutter! When you get caught up in the daily grind and challenges of delivering on your job, you often forget just all the expertise that you have and that you deliver. Sometimes it helps for a refresher course on the basics in agronomy so that you can return to utilizing all the high-tech equipment and strategies that make you so great at your job. So, get ready to be refreshed.
It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature I don’t think there are any more