Virginia Turfgrass Council | January/February 2023
This issue features research updates from Virginia Tech. Also covers legislative news and how a new generation carries the torch in defense of lawns.
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President’s MessageDirector’s CornerVirginia Tech Turf TeamVTF ReportTurfgrass Calendar
Mark your calendar for the Virginia Turfgrass Council’s Annual Conference / M.A.T.E on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 in Glen Allen, VA.
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Virginia Turfgrass Council’s Environmental Institute (VTC-EI) recently had the opportunity to participate in The Giveback, a community event in Southside Richmond.
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In early December, forty-seven Green Industry professionals devoted three full days and attended the Landscape/Lawn Short Course.
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Authors: Xunzhang Zhang, Mike Goatley, Isabel Brown, Kelly Kosiarski, and Rose Harvey | School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
The objective of this study was to investigate if foliar application of Bacillus Subtillis-containing EarthMax at three different rates affects physiological fitness and quality of creeping bentgrass under salt stress conditions.
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Authors: Xunzhang Zhang, Rose Harvey, Ben Goddard, Mike Goatley, Travis Roberson, Isabel Brown, and Kelly Kosiarski | School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Heat and drought stress greatly reduce quality of creeping bentgrass putting greens during the summer months in U.S. transition zone.
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Authors: Kevin Hensler, David McCall, Caleb Henderson, Wendell Hutchens, and Mike Goatley |
Our objective is to determine whether blue grama is a viable utility grass alternative in the mid-Atlantic transition zone under minimal establishment inputs.
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Authors: Xunzhong Zhang, Mike Goatley, Isabel Brown and Kelly Kosiarski – School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA | Zachary Taylor – Helena Agri-Enterprises LLC, Greenville, NC
Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stoloniferia) experiences quality decline during summer stress. Various bioproducts have been used to improve creeping bentgrass performance during summer in the United States transition zone.
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Authors: Caleb Henderson, Will Poncy, and David McCall |
In this study, we collected drone imagery from 16 golf course fairways at 3 locations across Virginia in the spring of 2021.
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Authors: Aaron Tucker, Caleb Henderson, David McCall, Jon Eisenback, and David Haak |
The goal of this research is to evaluate if using a qPCR approach to identify and quantify lance nematodes can be equivalent to the standard methods of nematode counting and more time efficient with bulk sampling.
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Authors: Travis Roberson, David McCall | Chase Straw – Texas A&M
The use of drones equipped with special sensors is expanding rapidly and may aid in soil moisture monitoring.
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Authors: Alejandro Del-Pozo, Ph.D. and Tom Kuhar, Ph.D. |
The Entomology team at Virginia Tech continued to work on providing more information for annual bluegrass weevil detection and control tactics during 2022.
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On November 14, 2022, in conjunction with 330 other industry organizations, VTC and VTC-EI signed the following letter addressed to congressional leaders in Washington in reference to policy relating to the regulation and labeling of pesticide products.
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Austin Zeigler, an 11th grade student, chose to address inaccurate claims about the green industry in an essay assignment. His report is a great encouragement to the “old guard” of turfgrass professionals.
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