PEER-TO-PEER: BETTER TURF THROUGH NETWORKING

www.milorganite.com

MGCSA Superintendents were asked: Considering the oddities ofwinter, what were your spring

observations and will you change your program this winter?

One observation: After having had damage from nuisance Voles the past few winters, I sprayed "Liquid Fence" on our par 3, #6 fairway which was always the worst Vole damaged fairway and I had absolutely no Vole damage on that fairway but consid-erable damage in other areas. So it appears that this material could work in areas where you have heavy Vole damage. I merely added it to the PCNB in the spray tank. - Dan Hanson, St.Cloud CC

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Although the turf on fairways and tees showed only a few signs of snow mold early this year, more showed up as the weath-er warmed up. We didn't spray it because we thought it to be superficial. Won't make that mistake next time. That superficial stuff turned out to be super problematic and took until August to fully recover. - Roger Stewart CGCS, TPC - Twin Cities

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We used the Regreen paint last fall on our greens and will do it again. We sprayed it like an indicator dye (2oz/1,000) in our split snow mold applications. The greens looked great in the fall and golfers didn't realize that they were painted-just nice and green. In the spring the greens came out of winter green and broke dor-mancy early from the darker painted surface. I was surprised because we used 1/3 the recommended rate (4oz compared to 12oz). We also experimented with the dark green Civitas in a cou-ple of fairways. We used the light rate that provided some protec-tion (25% better than check) from snow mold. I am not sure if the color masked the amount of snow mold or just that the treated area looked better and definitely greened up earlier. I only have two permeable covers that I used on greens and these were the only greens that I had any damage. I will not install these this winter and wait until spring to use them-if weather dictates it. I will definitely use the two covers in the spring on my driving range tee. I will rotate these weekly from side to side to increase the speed the turf comes out of dormancy and speed the germina-tion rate of the divot mix. This worked great last spring and used through May. The paint worked well last year; however, I am con-cerned about an early snow melt and greens breaking dormancy in a warm weather February/March. The paint speeds up the process of greens breaking dormancy and I would much rather have the greens remain dormant until April. - Brian Brown, Chisago Lakes GC * * * *

We won't change anything, but I will continue to do our fall/winter heavy greens topdressing with black dyed topdressing sand. I believe that the darker color sped up the growth of our turf in the spring. This would especially help if we have a cooler spring than the last. - Eric Counselman, Somerby GC

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For so many years it seemed the ground froze in the fall, we got snow cover, and then it melted in the spring. The unknown was how much snow mold you might have. Now, the variable is the winter weather -not if you can control snow mold. We will be using our snowmold control program that normally works -PCNB, Chlorothalonil, and Iprodione. Last year we used the Greenjacket with the foam on one of our greens and had a great deal of snow mold when we removed the cover. According to the TDL in Madison, the spores probably remained alive in the moist enviroment of the foam when rolled up. We will try and figure something out for drying the foam completely before we put it down. - Tom Johnson, New Richmond GC

Contact your local Milorgariite distributor for special bulk pricing

this fall, or contact Jaime at 1-800-287-9645

T e s s m a n 1 1

Twin Cities (763) 503-0200 Rochester (507) 292-0677

For Better Results. ^ Naturally. ^

Milorganite

Northern Green Expo Set Jan. 5-7, 2011 At Minneapolis Convention Center

The north central region's largest green industry event, the Northern Green Expo, will be January 5-7, 2010 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The three-day event features more than 900 booths and over 80 educational seminars to fit all green industry professionals. Several sessions will focus on the needs of golf course professionals including, but not limited to:

• Maximizing Disease Control with Modern Turfgrass Fungicides, Dr. Lane Tredway, North Carolina State University

• New Recommendations in Creeping Bentgrass Management, Sam Bauer, University of Minnesota

• Small Engine Maintenance, Steve Hagen, Stihl • Ant Control on Fine Turf, Vera Krischik, University of

Minnesota • Integrated Water Quality (Pond) Management Strategies,

Bud Laidlaw, Otterbine • Golf and the Environment: What a Long Strange Trip It's

Been, Pat Jones, GolfCourse Industry Magazine

• Reinventing Yourself and Your Facility, Pat Jones, GolfCourse Industry Magazine

• Design by Maintenance: The Role of Superintendents in Preserving and

Enhancing Golf Course Architecture, Bradley Klein, Goljweek

• Pesticide Use on Golf Courses: Implications for Superintendents and Golf Facilities, Clark Throssel, GCSAA

• Managing Dollar Spot, Fairy Ring or Patch Disease, Eric

Watkins, University of Minnesota • Effective Application of Fertilizers

and Plant - Protectants, Luke Dant, Syngenta Professional Products

• Growth Regulators Can Reduce Nitrogen Requirements for Putting Greens, Doug Soldat, University

of Wisconsin - Madison • Research Results to Improve Your Golf Course, Clark

Throssel, GCSAA Plus many more great seminars and speakers! To view the

entire preliminary schedule-at-a-glance, visit www.northern-greenexpo.com.

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