Dr. Kevin W. Frank
Assoc. Professor & Extension Turf Specialist
The Michigan Turfgrass Field Day will be held August 14 at
the Hancock Turfgrass Research Center on the campus of MSU. Preregistration is available until August 9th.
Schedule:
7:45-8:45 Registration
8:45-9:00 Opening
Comments
9:00-11:00 Research
Tour
11:00-12:30 Lunch
(included with registration)
12:30-2:30 Afternoon Workshops & Tours
There will be two research tours for attendees to select
from: Golf and Lawn/Athletic Fields.
Golf Turf Research
Tour
1.
Mower studies – impact of bed knife placement on
green quality.
2.
Bacterial etiolation on creeping bentgrass
putting greens
3.
Effects of drought and traffic stresses on physiological
responses and water use characteristics of creeping bentgrass and Poa annua.
4.
Managing summer stress on Poa annua and creeping bentgrass greens and fairways
5.
A combination of lightweight rolling and sand
topdressing programs to decrease pesticide inputs and enhance fairway turfgrass
quality
6.
Anthracnose control on greens and fairways
7.
Poa annua control on putting greens
8.
The new
Schwartzkopf Field Laboratory and phytohormone responses to Primo application
Lawns and Athletic
Fields Research Tour
1.
Spray nozzle dynamics and selection for optimal
pesticide efficacy
2.
Nutrient runoff following fertilizer
applications
3.
Necrotic Ring Spot cultural and fungicide management
programs
4.
National Turfgrass Evaluation Program Kentucky
bluegrass athletic field wear test
5.
Rolling athletic fields for improved performance
and player safety
6.
New herbicide technology for goosegrass,
crabgrass, and nimblewill control in cool-season turf
7.
Postemergence crabgrass control
8.
Insecticide and cultural recommendations for
minimizing grub injury
Afternoon Workshops
(12:30-2:30 pm)
1. Disease Walk
The MSU Turf Pathology research team will lead this
diagnostic tour for pathogens at the turf center. If you have difficulty distinguishing
between Laetisaria fuciformis and Limnomyces roseipellis on your golf
course you definitely need to attend this workshop. Participants will learn:
1)
How to identify the common turfgrass diseases
using both in-field techniques and microscopes
2)
Management options for common diseases
including: dollar spot, brown patch, crown-rotting anthracnose, red thread, and
pythium blight and root-rot.
3) How
to recognize the symptoms of summer decline of both bentgrass and Poa annua
2. Weed Walk
As the weed walk enters it’s lucky 13th year, the
summer of 2012 left some tremendous voids in the turf where weeds were more
than happy to fill in. You’ll tour the
turf center and learn identification characteristics of the common turf weeds
and the best control practices. Tour
will include discussion of best management practices both with and without
herbicides to ensure high turfgrass quality and most importantly customer
satisfaction.
3. MSU Athletic Field
Tour (on Campus)
The athletic field tour will visit three sites on the MSU
campus to learn about new field establishment and compare two synthetic turf
fields. The field at the DeMartin Soccer
Complex was killed following the conclusion of the fall 2012 season and seeded
to Kentucky bluegrass on May 13, 2013.
The previous field was contaminated with Poa supina and the desire to
have a uniform turf stand capable of withstanding all season use was the
primary goal. Establishment practices
for a summer seeding will be discussed including mowing, irrigation, and pest
management.
Following the visit to the DeMartin Soccer Complex the tour
will stop by the football practice field which is in the process of installing
a new infill synthetic practice field, scheduled to be completed about a week
before field day. The construction and maintenance of the infill synthetic
field will be discussed.
