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New England Blade – Meta Levin

“Everyone has different learning styles,” says Aaron J. Patton, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Agronomy at Purdue University. “We all communicate in different ways.” Smart phones have allowed us to access and share information across any number of platforms, customizing it for whatever works for us and for our colleagues and customers. Apps are a crucial part of that and there’s an app or a website for nearly everything.

Turf MD (.99)

Published by the American Phytopathological Society Interactive. Identifies and provides information so that turf professionals can identify and manage turf diseases. It was designed for golf course superintendents, sports turf managers, turf scientists, extension professionals and anyone else responsible for turfgrass health. It includes images, diagnostic keys, decision support tools and recommendations.

Turfpath (Free)

Allows users to track, identify and manage turf grass pests from an app on a smart phone. Database of diseases, insects and weeds. Users can share information and it is integrated with social media.

ID Weeds (Free)

University of Missouri Extension. Created by weed scientist, it features different crops and will contain a lot of non-relevant information for turfgrass professionals. Allows users to search for weeds by their common and Latin names, view lists of weeds and identify them based on several different characteristics. Includes photographs.

Turfgrass Management Calculator ($8.49)

University of Georgia. This app can help calculate fuel, mowing area and number of other calculations specific to the agriculture industry. This includes fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides and calibration. For instance, it will help determine spray volume or mixture amounts of various fertilizers. Patton warns that it has not been updated recently.

Plant Sample Submission (Free)

McCullouch Consulting LLC. This is a sample submission app that allows turfgrass professionals, farmers, gardeners, landscape professionals, arborists, and others to submit digital photo samples to a university plant diagnostic lab for identification or diagnosis. Some of these labs may charge a fee, so it is important to check before submitting.

Purdue Turf Doctor ($1.99)

Purdue University. Developed by Patton and other experts from Purdue University, it is designed to help land managers address turfgrass problems caused by weeds, insects, diseases, nuisance animals and abiotic stress, among other things. Turfgrass management professionals and garden center personnel can also use this app to improve communication with customers. The information in this app is targeted to those in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

There are also a number of websites that Patton believes are useful for turf management professionals. They include:

• Purdue Turf Tips: Weed of the Month Series:  turf.purdue.edu/weedofthemonth.html
• Michigan State University: msuturfweeds.net
• Growing Degree Day Tracker: gddtrcker.net/
• Soil Temperature Maps: greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature
• Mobile Weed Manual: mobileweedmanual.com

Patton also suggests some textbooks:

• Fundamentals of Turfgrass Management: ISBN 9781119204633
• Turfgrass Weed Control for Professionals: ISBN 9781593980207
• Weeds of the Northeast: ISBN 0801483344
• Color Atlas of Turfgrass Weeds, 2^nd edition, ISBN 0470189517
• Weed Control of Turf and Ornamentals: ISBN 0131591223

This article is based on a presentation by Dr. Patton at the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association’s Turf Education Day and originally appeared in the December 2018 edition of The Landscape Contractor magazine.  It is reprinted with permission.