A memorial celebration of Dr. Kurtz's life will be held on Saturday, April 1, 4-7 p.m., in the main dining room at Kellogg West Conference Center, Cal Poly Pomona, CA. 

California GCSA President, Pat Finlen, CGCS invites the California Superintendents Associations Presidents to the April 29, 2006 board of directors meeting.

GCSAA President, Sean Hoolehan, CGCS, invited the California GCSA, GCSA of Nothern California, GCSA of Central California & Sierra Nevada GCSA, Presidents & Association Mangers to attend the spring GCSAA Board of Directors meeting in San Francisco, CA.

GCSAA Class Renewals; 
as of March 5, 2006

GCSAA Class A members who were assigned to the initial 3-year renewal cycle in conjunction with the implementation of the Professional Development Initiative, have until June 30, 2006 to accumulate a total of 3 points, of which 1.2 must be education points, and must provide proof of possession of a pesticide license or pass GCSAA IPM exam.  In order to maintain their Class A status. 

With 3 months remaining and with 1,853 Class A members in the initial 3-year renewal cycle, we currently stand with 726 or 39.18% who have
completed all the requirements.  In addition, 731 or 39.45% appear to be working towards meeting all the requirements.  That leaves 396 or 21.37% who have done nothing in terms of meeting the requirements.

To review a full list of education and service point opportunities, as well as information on how to record education and service points and post pesticide license information, visit the “My Member Central” tab at www.gcsaa.org or request information and affidavits by calling GCSAA’s Fax-on-Demand line at (888) 838-4419. 

For more information about maintaining your membership, contact R. Scott Woodhead, senior manager of governance and member standards, at 
(800) 472-7878, ext. 4418. 

Member price: $30

Education points: 0.2

04/03/06   ID, Biology and Current Control of Poa trivialis 12:00:00 PM 
04/13/06   Boost Your Resume Power! 12:00:00 PM 
04/18/06   Green Speed and the Law of Diminishing Returns! 12:00:00 PM 
04/26/06   Managing Anthracnose Basal Rot with Improved Cultural and Chemical Control Strategies 2:00:00 PM 

For Details; visit the GCSAA Web Address: http://www.gcsaa.org/education/webcast/webcast.aspx
Or call Kyle Kreighbaum 800-472-7878 x5167
 

Read the summary of PACE’s research on Proxy for more detailed information. 

PRODUCT LABELS 
Proxy label 
Primo Maxx label 

Dr. Frank Wong of the University of California, Riverside, has been conducting evaluations of gray leaf spot tolerance among perennial ryegrass varieties, and has some good news to report. 

As summarized in a the August, 2003 PACE Insights, it has been known since the 1980s that perennial ryegrass is one of the most wimpy turf types when it comes to gray leaf spot. However, there are significant differences among ryegrass varieties in their ability to stave off gray leaf spot attack. For example, The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program's 2000-2003 studies, evaluated over 100 perennial ryegrass varieties in three different locations around the country, and identified many varieties that did a better of surviving gray leaf spot. 

Dr. Wong's California research shows similar trends, with the variety Paragon performing particularly well. Although varieties such as Paragon are not completely resistant to gray leaf spot, their tolerance to the disease can play an important role in IPM programs for perennial ryegrass. Dr. Wong will present more of his data on ryegrass tolerance to gray leaf spot, new fungicide research on gray leaf spot and fascinating genetic analyses of gray leaf spot isolates at the April 7 PACE Turfgrass Research Seminar. 

Turf is at the greatest risk from salinity damage during hot and dry periods when salts from irrigation water accumulate in the soil and are not leached out by rainfall. If soil salts are a concern at your location, you should be monitoring salinity on a regular basis. 
If soil salts reach threatening levels for your turf type, you will need to schedule a leaching event. But you need to know how much water is needed to do the trick (depressing statistic: it's usually much more water than anyone imagines). 
The general rule of thumb is this: to cut soil salinity values in half, you will need to apply six inches of water. For a 5,000 sq ft green, this translates into roughly 20,000 gallons of water.

Example: If your irrigation system precipitation rate is 0.8 inches/hour, you will need to irrigate for 7.5 hours (6 inches/0.8 inches = 7.5) to reduce soil salinity by 50%. To reduce salinity by 25%, you will only need to irrigate for 3.75 hours (7.5/2). The trick is, all of that water needs to go directly into the soil -- water that sheets off the surface doesn't do you any good. For this reason, a cycle/soak approach may be necessary if your soil infiltration rates are slower than your irrigation precipitation rates (this is the case for most greens). The cycle/soak approach avoids run-off by periodically interrupting the application of water, thus allowing water to infiltrate into the soil before the next glug is applied. 

To keep track of both the beneficial and injurious nutrients that are delivered through your irrigation water, it should be tested at least annually by an analytical laboratory. You can then compare it against PACE's water guidelines so that you can identify any potential problems. 

Using the data from your report, it is also relatively easy to calculate how many pounds of each nutrient are being delivered each year to your golf course. The procedure is the same for any nutrient, but we will use total dissolved salts (TDS) below as an example. 

On your water report, locate the total dissolved salts analysis. It will probably be reported either in ppm (parts per million) or milligrams per liter (mg/liter). These two measurements are equivalent. 
Multiply the ppm or mg/l value by 2.72. The value you obtain is the pounds of total dissolved salts per acre foot of water. A value of 500 ppm TDS on a water report (this is a fairly low number that results in very few problems with soil salinity) will therefore translate into 1,360 pounds (2.72 X 500) total dissolved salts per acre foot of water. 
To determine how many pounds of total dissolved salts are delivered per year to the golf course, multiply the 1,360 pounds value by the number of acre feet of water that you use on the golf course per year per acre. In this example, suppose that the course used 3 acre feet of water per acre last year. This would translate into 4,080 lbs of salts (3 X 1,360) per acre delivered to the golf course per year. This is equivalent to 94 lbs/1000 sq ft of salts. Obviously, as the volume of water used for irrigation increases, the pounds of salts dumped onto the golf course will also escalate.

Article source: PACE Turfgrass Research Institute 

Jason Hill, founder and developer of the Turf Guard Wireless Monitoring System, is confident that this technology will be a necessary addition to golf courses across the country.  “Our product is a vital tool for superintendents to make intelligent and informative decisions on how best to manage their courses,” he says. “Turf Guard enables superintendents to increase a course's speed and playability by drying out the grounds without risking turf quality” Hill stated. 
Moisture, salt and temperature monitoring is vital to the management of any well maintained golf course; and now with the introduction of Turf Guard ™ Wireless Monitoring System, that data is being transmitted in real-time to superintendent’s fingertips.
 Using wireless mesh networking technology, Turf Guard collects data from sensors strategically placed beneath greens, tee boxes and fairways.  Information on a course’s salinity, moisture and temperature levels are sent continuously to a central control system and displayed on the Golf Vision secure user interface, which can be accessed from the superintendent's office, home or anywhere on the internet. 
 

For more information: Jason Hill, CEO JLH Labs LLC Phone: (949) 388-1644, FAX:  (949) 218-1369 
E-mail: jhill@jlhlabs.com 
www.turfguard.net
Sales Info: (888) TURF-GUARD (887-3482)