WINTER 2022
The Mississippi Turfgrass Association Magazine
Industry Leaders Partner with Refuge Lawn to Help Guide Research and Extension Outreach
Using Results from the
NATIONAL TURFGRASS EVALUATION PROGRAM (NTEP)
Turfgrasses for the 21st Century
Our goal is to produce the highest quality, innovative turfgrass on the market today while providing the best customer service. Our affiliation with several research and development professionals gives us access to some of the best varieties of turf available for difficult applications. We are also a grower of Tennessee Crop Improvement Association Certified Turfgrass.
www.WinsteadTurfFarms.com
901.867.8116 • 1.800.624.TURF (8873) 22860 Highway 196 • Arlington, TN 38002
WINTER
2022
CONTENTS • The Mississippi Turfgrass Association Magazine
FEATURES
8 Cover Story —
Industry Leaders Partner with Refuge Lawn to Help Guide Research and Extension Outreach
12 Feature —
16 Recent Event —
8
Using Results from the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP)
Deep South Turf Expo
DEPARTMENTS
6 From the MTA President
7 Index of Advertisers
18 Calendar of Events
20 News from MTA
12
FIND THIS ISSUE, PODCASTS, EVENTS AND MORE:
THETURFZONE.COM
16 4 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
FROM THE MTA PRESIDENT
TAKE TIME TO FOCUS ON YOURSELF T
his season reminds us to pay attention to ourselves and our families! For the next 2–3 months, use this time of slowed turf growth to get some well-deserved rest. We all run full speed on projects and maintenance at our respective properties from early spring to late fall. Now’s the time to recover and get healthy. Take a minute to delegate some tasks to your staff so you can enjoy the product that they have helped you accomplish. Most staff members will appreciate these challenges to stretch and strengthen their capabilities. Allow them to complete tasks this fall and winter with only inspection and feedback from you. This will build a stronger team and maybe, just maybe, your growing season next year will be a bit easier because of the off-season efforts. I would like to thank Keair Edwards for his efforts while serving as the president of the MTA. COVID made his time of service challenging. It was a season of limited meetings and lots of virtual management of the association. Well done, my friend! With that being said, it has been a while since some of us could attend events such as the Yard Dawg Classic and the research Field Day. We want to welcome you back during 2022. I was able to attend and thoroughly enjoyed the education and collaboration with my peers. I’m looking forward to the education and networking opportunities in 2022. Keep an eye on the events calendar. We’ve got a lot to offer you and your staff. Returning to the theme of focusing on yourself: I challenge you professionally to attend as many of the MTA events as possible next year and use them as a way to stretch your capabilities and grow in new ways. Enjoy this fall and holiday season See you all soon at the MTA events.
Alan Sullivan 2022 MTA President
Mississippi Turfgrass Association Box 9555 MS State, MS 39762 Office: (662) 325-0517 Fax: (662) 325-2705 www.msturfassociation.org Published by: Leading Edge Communications, LLC 206 Bridge Street Franklin, TN 37064 Office: (615) 790-3718 Fax: (615) 794-4524 info@leadingedgecommunications.com MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS EDITOR James D. McCurdy, Ph.D. MTA OFFICERS PRESIDENT Allan Sullivan Grand Bear Golf Course (228) 860-8740 VICE-PRESIDENT / PRESIDENT ELECT Will Arnett EMCC – Lion Hills (662) 418-1939 SECRETARY-TREASURER Dr. Barry Stewart Mississippi State University (662) 325-2725 IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Keair Edwards City of Gulfport (228) 861-5641 ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY Linda Wells Mississippi State University Box 9555 MS State, MS 39762 Office: (662) 325-0517 Cell: (662) 769-7558 lmw218@pss.msstate.edu DIRECTORS Chris Hussey / Sod Hussey Sod Farm (662) 231-3203 Jimmy McPherson / Golf MSU Golf Course (662) 610-3260 Todd McCullough / Grounds / Lawn Maintenance City of Louisville (601) 416-3292 Corey Garrison / Central Country Club of Jackson (901) 490-4547
Mississippi Turfgrass is the Mississippi Turfgrass Association magazine. Subscriptions are complimentary to MTA members. The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the association, its staff, its board of directors, Mississippi Turfgrass, or its editors. Likewise, the appearance of advertisers, or their identification as MTA members, does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services featured in any issue of Mississippi Turfgrass. Copyright ©2022 by the Mississippi Turfgrass Association. Mississippi Turfgrass is published quarterly. Subscriptions are complimentary to members of MTA. Presorted standard postage is paid at Jefferson City, MO. Printed in the U.S.A. Reprints and Submissions: MTA allows reprinting of material published here. Permission requests should be directed to MTA. We are not responsible for unsolicited freelance manuscripts and photographs. Contact the managing editor for contribution information. Advertising: For display and classified advertising rates and insertions, please contact Leading Edge Communications, LLC, 206 Bridge Street, Suite 200, Franklin, TN 37064, (615) 790-3718, Fax (615) 794-4524.
6 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
Elvin Ulmer / South City of Laurel (601) 319-6170 Seth King / Industry Ben Nelson Golf and Outdoor (601) 672-4796 FACULTY ADVISOR Dr. Jay McCurdy Mississippi State University (662) 325-2331
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS Bayou Bend Turfgrass...........................19 www.bayoubendturfgrass.com
ChemTrade Turf, LLC.............................11 www.chemtradeturf.com
Dave’s Sale and Service........................19 www.turfeagle.com
Harrell’s LLC........................... Back Cover www.harrells.com
Jackson Sand........................................22 www.jacksonsand.com
Jerry Pate Turf & Irrigation...................23 www.jerrypate.com
Modern Turf, Inc....................................17 www.modernturf.com
Progressive Turf Equipment Inc...........17 www.progressiveturfequip.com
Regal Chemical Company.......................3 www.regalchem.com
Riebeling Farms, Inc.............................19
Sod Solutions..........................................5 www.sodsolutions.com
Sur-Line Turf, Inc....................................7 www.surlineturf.com
The Turf Zone..................................19, 21 www.theturfzone.com
TO DISCUSS ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES CONTACT LEADING EDGE COMMUNICATIONS:
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Winstead Turf..............Inside Front Cover www.winsteadturffarms.com THE MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE • 7
COVER STORY
INDUSTRY LEADERS PARTNER WITH REFUGE LAWN to Help Guide Research and Extension Outreach By Drs. Edicarlos de Castro and Jay McCurdy, Mississippi State University
T
urfgrass occupies an estimated 40 to 50 million acres in the United States, approximately 40% of which is maintained lawn around homes, places of business, and institutions. There are numerous environmental and societal benefits of turfgrass in the human built environment, and the turfgrass industry contributes billions of dollars to the country’s economy each year. However, maintained turfgrass often lacks species richness to support insect pollinators, and residential properties offer poor nesting and habitat sites that are highly segmented. An interdisciplinary group of turfgrass scientists has partnered on the Pollinator Friendly Lawns in the Southeastern United States project ($493,000), funded by the United States Department of Agriculture–National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA– NIFA). This project seeks to enhance lawn attractiveness and function for pollinating and other beneficial insects through the inclusion of flowering plant species and development of best management practices (BMPs). Principle investigators met with industry advisers on October 8, 2021 to discuss scientific and Extension viewpoints regarding pollinator-friendly lawns and stakeholder acceptance.
8 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
Spotlight on two interesting species: Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a spring flowering native capable of thriving in a typical lawn. It regenerates and spreads by an underground corm. This flower blankets warm-season lawns of the southeast during the later-winter and early spring.
INVESTIGATORS • Jay McCurdy, Mississippi State University • Edicarlos de Castro, Mississippi State University • David Held, Auburn University • Gerald Henry, University of Georgia
ADVISORS IN ATTENDANCE • Tim Ray, Extension Agent II, Harrison County, Mississippi State University • Felder Rushing, Radio Host and Meadow Lawn Advocate, Mississippi • Danesha Seth Carley, Associate Professor, Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University, and Director of the NC State NSF Center for Integrated Pest Management • Jim Crockett, Nufarm US Turf and Ornamental, Regional Sales Manager
The Refuge Lawn concept isn’t new. How can a “flowering-lawn” provide benefits to local ecology in southern lawns? A key objective of our project is convincing home and property owners to set aside islands or buffer-strips each year for flower production and natural regeneration. These areas would be mown less frequently when flowers are present but may still be maintained as usable lawn. A clean hardscape or maintained turf border may be the best way to strike a balance between maintained and refuge landscape.
MEETING NOTES “It is important to slowly change the mindset of American lawn people from preferring a high-maintenance horticultural lawn to lawn that includes pretty flowers and pollinators in different seasons,” says Felder Rushing who is a renowned speaker, writer, urban horticulturist, and FlowerLawn advocate. He believes that, to succeed, the project must focus on biodiverse turfgrassforb systems that work well in our region (the Southeast) and can be easily replicated throughout the country. Felder and others raise an interesting point: stakeholders may be slow to accept conversions of their entire lawn, so the focus has to start with the conversion of “pockets” or just the side or back lawn. Jim Crockett, who provides technical training for lawncare professionals, calls this a “lawn with a purpose.” Jim’s expertise and connection to the professional lawn care industry will be helpful in developing long-term strategies for lawn diversity in the green industry. “We can use small areas of lawns and make them diverse, maybe starting with buffer strips or areas along fences, so we will create a less fragmented suburban environment and increase
pollinator habits,” says Jay McCurdy. According to Jim Crockett, Refuge Lawn must help create a structured landscape, perhaps with maintained monoculture turfgrass, alongside a biodiverse flower lawn in the transition between turfgrass and ornamentals or property borders. “Much like a golf course rough,” says Danesha Seth Carley, who advised Pinehurst during their renovations to restore native habitats. “The concept of a fairway, intermediate rough, and tall-grass rough is analogous,” says Gerald Henry. David Held raises an important question: “How do we change the diversity of lawn settings and add value in these scenarios?” According to David, “we must create an ecosystem that produces quality forage and habitats for bees, not just pretty flowers. We must ensure that the plants and the new management strategy we are promoting will benefit pollinators, homeowners, and the green industry.” This requires a shift in societal goals within the built environment. Defining this new aesthetic will require stakeholder input. Danesha believes that, to achieve these goals, “it’s necessary to evaluate the impact of turfgrass species and common cultural practices” on forb establishment, persistence, effects on pollinator visits, and maintenance costs.
THE MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE • 9
COVER STORY • Continued
Tim Ray, an Extension Agent at Mississippi University, says, “It’s necessary to understand the influence of age on how people maintain their lawns. Younger generations may be more interested in environmental issues than older generations.” For these reasons, understanding human behavior and attitudes towards biodiverse lawns will be an important factor impacting whether the BMPs developed by the project will achieve public acceptance. A significant yet largely unquantified percentage of home lawns are maintained by lawn care professionals. For this reason, it is also necessary to gauge the attitudes of the professionals and companies that make up this sector. As an expert in the green industry, Jim adds, “the theory and philosophy of lawn maintenance companies in terms of pesticide use are changing. They’re decreasing the amount of applied pesticides and improving product formulation to increase safety and efficacy, and companies have been working to develop natural products.” What role these products may play in a diversified, mixed stand of forb and turfgrass species is largely unstudied. Society is willing to change; for an example, we need look no further than developments in plant varieties and ornamental species added to home lawns. Jim points out, “in the past, plant breeders have bred plants and flowers for appearance: for their size, color, and so on. However, they have now returned to breeding for resource quality (pollen and forage).” Less than a year into this project, we have had numerous interactions with stakeholders interested in the project; most stakeholders have responded positively, but some, mainly professional lawn care operators, have questioned the project’s objectives. One asked, “So you’re telling LCOs [lawn care operators] not to spray preemergence herbicides and not to mow?” and pointed out that this contradicts standard recommendations for weed management within lawns. Another questioned whether the project objectives are an appropriate use of university and taxpayer resources. A challenging part of Extension- and university-led turfgrass research is the dichotomy separating stakeholder groups (e.g., homeowner vs. professional; monoculture vs. “mow-whatgrows”). This project seeks to bridge these gaps and help to maintain an economically viable professional industry while at the same time answering the need for biodiverse alternative lawns. Throughout the project, it will be important to gauge stakeholders’ receptiveness to alternative and biodiverse turfgrass systems. Gerald says, “We need to understand stakeholder motivation. If we can’t understand it, it will be impossible to approach stakeholders with changes.” To overcome this problem, the project will create demonstration sites (i.e., “species islands”) to measure stakeholder preference, where lawn care professionals and homeowners can choose between biodiverse and monoculture turfgrass and even among individual forb species. According to David, the investigators eventually hope to identify species that provide a “flowering sequence that can cover all seasons and [can be] established within warm-season grass systems.” Danesha’s experience in sustainable landscapes is key to understanding the needs of stakeholders and practitioners in this project. Along with her staff at the Southern Region Pest Management Center, she has offered to help develop surveys to address stakeholder preferences.
10 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
Yard Aster (Symphyotrichum divaricatum) thrives in moderate-to-low height of cut lawns. Specialist insect species are hosted by this flower when blooming in late-summer and early-fall.
On encouraging and promoting biodiverse turfgrass lawns, Felder is working on signage proclaiming “Flower Lawn of the Month” and advocates for a matching social media hashtag (e.g., #FlowerLawn). Among many other ideas, the investigators hope to incorporate BMPs into Master Gardener training, BMP documents, and on the project website: RefugeLawn.com. The project will also disseminate findings through an Extension program delivered by specialists and county agents throughout the Southeast. This Extension program will include field days, small-group trainings and webinars, publications, and other outreach activities (e.g., Master Gardener meetings, regional and national stakeholder meetings, etc.). Finally, a dominant theme of the discussion centered around stakeholder adoption of BMPs. Although the project is new, investigators and advisors are certain that flowering forbs can be included in maintained lawns. According to Jay McCurdy, the questions “What will that look like?” and “How will it integrate into the common lawn culture of the southeastern US?” remain. All present agreed on the ideas that BMPs must be easily adopted and practical across a highly diverse range of turfgrass landscapes. •
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FEATURE
USING RESULTS FROM THE
National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) By Dave Han, Ph.D., Auburn University and Alabama Extension
The
National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) is a fantastic source for information on newlyreleased and upcoming turfgrass varieties. Since 1983, NTEP has been evaluating turfgrass varieties and making data from those variety trials available for free to the public. A survey of turfgrass managers published in 2019 determined that 87% of the 306 respondents to the survey had heard of the NTEP program. At the same time, over half of the respondents (52%) said they visited the NTEP (www.ntep.org) website to look at trial results either never or less than once per year (Yue et al., 2019). Could NTEP be used more? I think so. I personally use their data many times per year, but along the way I have developed some tricks and tools to help me get the most out of what sometimes seems to be an overwhelming mountain of numbers. So let’s take a quick tour of NTEP, what it is and how it works, and how to find what you need from their data reports.
HOW NTEP WORKS NTEP is a non-profit cooperative effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state universities, and turfgrass industry groups. The variety trials that NTEP sponsors, cover the most commonly-used turfgrasses (both cool season and warm season, see Table 1) in the United States. Trials typically run for five years, and are called by the year they were established. For example, the 2013 National Bermudagrass Test was planted in 2013 and contains data from the 2013–2017 growing seasons. The currentlyrunning bermudagrass trial is the 2019 National Bermudagrass Test, which was established in 2019.
12 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
TABLE 1. NTEP tests data are available for these species COOL SEASON
WARM SEASON
Creeping bentgrass (putting greens)
Bermudagrass
Creeping bentgrass (fairways/tees)
Buffalograss
Fineleaf fescues
Zoysiagrass
Kentucky bluegrass
St. Augustinegrass
Perennial ryegrass
Seashore paspalum
Tall fescue
Tests are established at many sites throughout the regions where a particular species will grow. Typically, there are around 10 – 15 sites, though this varies with each test. The sites are usually associated with research universities – for example, at our main research facility in Auburn, Auburn University has the current bermudagrass and zoysiagrass NTEP trials. We also had the justfinished 2016 St. Augustinegrass trail and established a bentgrass trial this fall. In the past, we have also run NTEP tests at outlying research units, such as a tall fescue trial at the Sand Mountain Research and Extension Center in northeastern Alabama. Occasionally, NTEP will place tests on-site, especially for tests on putting greens. NTEP also ran a perennial ryegrass overseed trial, with locations on golf course fairways. For on-site tests, the golf
course maintains the tests day-to-day, and university researchers typically evaluate the tests the same way they do on-campus ones. Because NTEP places trials in as many places as it can where a species will grow, they are able to collect data from many different environments. This is good, but it can also trip up an end user. For example, the current bermudagrass NTEP has locations including Riverside, CA, Ft. Lauderdale FL, Wichita, KS, and West Lafayette, IN. While it is very helpful for a plant breeder at a university or a seed company to know how their new bermudagrass performs in environments as different as these, if you are a sod farmer, landscaper, sports field manager, or other end user, you probably are interested only in how the grass performs in your own environment. More on this later.
THE MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE • 13
FEATURE • Continued
WHAT ARE NTEP RATINGS? There is a lot of information available from NTEP tests, but the bread and butter is the visual quality rating. There have been attempts over the years to determine whether equipment such as handheld optical sensors can provide more consistent, better, or faster ratings, but a trained observer still functions as well as equipment and has the advantage of being cheaper and more universally available. Still, the fact that different people evaluate ratings at each site is important to remember when looking at the data. NTEP publishes guidelines on how to rate their tests on the web (https://ntep.org/pdf/ratings.pdf). Quality ratings are taken on a scale of 1 – 9, where 1 is the poorest possible rating (no turf at all) and 9 the best. A rating of 6 or above indicates acceptable turf quality. This means that a rating of “6” has a different meaning when evaluating a bentgrass putting green versus a tall fescue lawn. Quality ratings take into account the density, texture, color, and effects of pests or environmental stress on the turf. Often these individual factors are broken out and rated separately, too. Sometimes, a location will focus on a specific factor – for example, locations in arid environments often focus on rating drought or salinity tolerance. Sometimes, a particular site will put extra stress on a test – traffic being the main examples. Only some sites in any given test will do this. Finally, some sites may let disease or insect damage go to a certain point in order to see differences in varieties’ susceptibility – but not let plots die completely. Most sites control diseases and insects to ensure that the trial can run for the full five years. Many of the varieties in the tests have names already and are commercially available, but some are not. Often, companies and/ or universities will place varieties in the NTEP studies under their own internal code numbers, and the ones that do well will get names and be released in the future. NTEP tests also include standard varieties for comparison. These are well-established, popular varieties such as Tifway bermudagrass or Penn A-1 creeping bentgrass.
HOW DO I USE NTEP RATINGS? Figure 1 shows the final NTEP report for the entire five years of the 2013 bermudagrass test. The first thing I always do when looking at NTEP data is to skip the overall rating mean that NTEP provides in the rightmost column (highlighted in red). Why do this? That column is the average of ratings for each variety over the entire test. But, the entire test includes sites with radically different environments. Of course, everyone wants a variety that does well in all environments (that’s what the overall average or mean rating will tell you). I prefer to look at individual sites first and start with ones in environments similar to where I would grow the grass. For example, many readers of Mississippi Turfgrass might be more interested in how a variety performs in Auburn, AL, Griffin, GA and Starkville, MS (highlighted in green) than in Indiana or Missouri. But if I were interested in a grass for the transition zone, then sites like West Lafayette, IN or Columbia, MO would be much more interesting to me.
14 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
Sometimes there is a variety that does really well in one part of the country and not another. This may drag down its average rating, but in the environments where it is suited, it could be a real star. You also want to avoid varieties that may do well in most environments (so they have a good overall rating) but might be weak in your particular one. In recent years, NTEP has sorted out results by region for some tests, publishing separate data table for sites with similar environments. This is great. I hope that it continues with future tests. The other extremely important thing to know about NTEP data is the LSD value. LSD stands for Least Significant Difference, and it’s a measure of how likely results are to be true differences in variety performance, and not just random chance. Figure 2 shows an example of this from a bermudagrass test. Any difference between two varieties’ ratings that is smaller than the LSD value can’t really be attributed to an actual difference between the varieties. His means that there is usually a group of varieties at the top of the ratings that statistically all performed the same. It’s almost impossible to use NTEP data to find the “ONE TRUE BEST VARIETY!” But what NTEP does very well is give you a list of top-performing varieties you can choose from. It also tells which varieties did not perform as well as others. Future plans for NTEP are to provide data in graphical form, which should make it easier to read than tables of numbers. Online tables with ratings sortable by location would be on the top of my personal wishlist for new data presentation formats. But still, I think that the NTEP data are underused and many more people can benefit from all of the work that the researchers put into running the tests. •
REFERENCES Bell, G. E., Martin, D. L., Koh, K., & Han, H. R. (2009). Comparison of Turfgrass Visual Quality Ratings with Ratings Determined Using a Handheld Optical Sensor, HortTechnology 19: 309-316. Krans, J.V. and Morris, K. (2007), Determining a Profile of Protocols and Standards used in the Visual Field Assessment of Turfgrasses: A Survey of National Turfgrass Evaluation Program-Sponsored University Scientists. Applied Turfgrass Science, 4: 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1094/ATS-2007-1130-01-TT Morris, K.N. and Shearman, R.C. NTEP Turfgrass Evaluation Guidelines. (Undated) https://ntep.org/pdf/ratings.pdf Yue, C., Wang, J., Watkins, E., Xie, Y., Shekhar, S., Bonos, S. A., Patton, A., Morris, K., & Moncada, K. (2019). User Preferences for Accessing Publically Available Turfgrass Cultivar Performance Data, HortTechnology 29:, 599-610.
FIGURE 1. A sample NTEP summary table. Although the varieties are ranked by their mean (average) quality rating over all of the sites in the test (highlighted in red), it is advisable to begin by looking at ratings from individual sites with environments that most closely match the area where an individual will grow the grass. For example, in this bermudagrass test, data from sites with environments similar to that found in Birmingham, Alabama are highlighted in green. FIGURE 2. The LSD value given in the data table (highlighted in red) is critical for separating cultivar ratings. Any difference between ratings that is less than this value is not statistically significant. In this table, all of the varieties highlighted in yellow cannot be separated because the difference between them is less than the LSD of 0.3.
Ryegrass fairway overseed NTEP Test Eufaula CC Auburn University Turf Unit Zoysia NTEP
THE MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE • 15
SPORTING CLAY TOURNAMENT
RECENT EVENT
SNAPSHOTS FROM
The Deep South Turf Expo returned to an in-person event on November 1 – 4, 2021 at the Gulf Coast Convention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi. Attendees enjoyed the first-class education offerings this event has consistently provided, as well as many opportunities to network and trade stories of their successes and losses over the long two-year hiatus from in-person conferences.
MTA EAGERLY ANTICIPATES SEEING ALL OF OUR MEMBERS AS WE CONTINUE THE RETURN TO LIVE EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE COMING YEAR!
Overall Champion, William Smith with Kaelyn Knoche (left) and Maggie David (right), Corteva sponsors.
16 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
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THE MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE • 17
RECENT EVENT • Continued
SNAPSHOTS FROM
M ARK YOUR CALE NDA R A ND S AV E THE S E DATE S ! JANUARY 17 – 20, 2022
FEBRUARY 9, 2022
FEBRUARY 9 – 10, 2022
JULY 12, 2022
STMA Conference and Trade Show
GCSAA MSU Alumni / Chapter Hospitality Night
GCSAA Conference
Yard Dawg Classic Golf Tournament
Savannah, GA www.stma.org
18 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
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twitter.com/theturfzone THE MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE • 19
NEWS FROM MTA
MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL MEETING RECAP EMCC Scholarship winner Damien Carlisle with Danny Smith (left) and Will Arnett (right)
President Keair Edwards with Doug Crews, MSU Scholarship winner.
T
hankfully we were able to hold the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Turfgrass Association live! There was good representation at the meeting held in Biloxi during the Deep South Turf Expo on November 3rd. All regular business was held, scholarships were presented, new officers and board directors were elected, and awards given. As the MTA By-laws state, the Vice-President/President Elect automatically moves up to President. Therefore, Alan Sullivan, Superintendent at Grand Bear GC in Saucier, MS, is the new President. Will Arnett, CGCS, from East Mississippi Community College’s Lion Hills Center in Columbus, MS was elected VicePresident/President Elect. Dr. Barry Stewart (MSU) was re-elected as Secretary/Treasurer, New Directors are Elvin Ulmer, City of Laurel, MS; Todd McCullough, City of Louisville, MS; and Chris Hussey, Tupelo, MS. Continuing to serve the second year of their term as Director are Seth King, Ben Nelson Golf; Jimmy McPherson, MSU Golf Course; and Corey Garrison, Country Club of Jackson, MS. The recipient of the MTA Outstanding Turf Professional Award for 2021 is Danny Smith. Danny is an instructor in the Turf Management Program at EMCC. The recipient of the Bud Thigpen Distinguish Serve Award is Steve Kuyrkendall, Harrell’s, Inc. Pictured are the 2021 MTA Scholarship Winners. Each student was awarded a $1,000 scholarship. •
President Keair Edwards with Will Pace, MSU Scholarship winner
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
20 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
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B A S E D O N D ATA A S O F N OV E M B E R 2021.
NEWS FROM MTA • Continued
2 0 2 1 – 2 0 2 2 B O A R D O F DIRECTORS
DIRECTORS
VICE-PRESIDENT / PRESIDENT ELECT Will Arnett EMCC – Lion Hills 2331 Military Rd. Columbus, MS 39705 (662) 418-1939 warnett@eastms.edu
Chris Hussey / Sod Hussey Sod Farm 814 Road 1589 Tupelo, MS 38804 (662) 231-3203 husseysod@hughes.net
PRESIDENT Allan Sullivan Grand Bear Golf Course 12040 Grand Way Blvd Saucier, MS 39574 (228) 860-8740 ASullivan@viciproperties.com
SEC-TREASURER Dr. Barry Stewart Mississippi State University Box 9555 MS State, MS 39762 Office: (662) 325-2725 Cell: (662) 312-9335 bastewar@pss.msstate.edu
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Keair Edwards City of Gulfport 114 Reservation Drive Gulfport, MS 39503 (228) 861-5641 kedwards@gulfport-ms.gov
ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY Linda Wells Mississippi State University Box 9555 MS State, MS 39762 Office: (662) 325-0517 Cell: (662) 769-7558 lmw218@pss.msstate.edu
Jimmy McPherson / Golf MSU Golf Course Box 9673 MS State, MS 39762 (662) 610-3260 jhmcpherson@outlook.com Todd McCullough / Grounds / Lawn Maintenance City of Louisville P.O. Box 510 Louisville, MS 39339 (601) 416-3292 louisvillecoliseum@gmail.com Corey Garrison / Central Country Club of Jackson 216 Greenfield Ridge Rd. Brandon, MS 39042 (901) 490-4547 c.garrison22@gmail.com Elvin Ulmer / South City of Laurel 401 N. 5th Avenue Laurel, MS 39440 (601) 319-6170 elvinulmer@laurelms.com
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22 • MISSISSIPPI TURFGRASS • WINTER 2022
Seth King / Industry Ben Nelson Golf and Outdoor 243 Industrial Drive, North Madison, MS 39130 (601) 672-4796 sking@bennelson.com Ex-Officio Dr. Jay McCurdy / Faculty Advisor Mississippi State University Box 9555 Mississippi State, MS 39762 (662) 325-2331 (731) 514-1514 JMcCurdy@pss.msstate.edu
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Bullseye offers a full suite of natural and synthetic turf maintenance products for sports field managers as well as valuable solutions for golf course superintendents. Available exclusively at your Toro distributor.
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COLUMBUS 614-771-9995
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COMBINE AND SAVE TIME
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COMBINE YOUR FERTILIZER & PREEMERGENT INTO ONE APP Have you thought about combining your fertilizer and preemergent into one application? Let your fertilizer do the extra work so you don’t have to. Using our unique CustoMIX® software, we can customblend your next fertilizer order with the preemergent at the AI percentage of your choice. First choose your Nitrogen source and then choose your control solution and we’ll make your CustoMIX®. For more information visit www.harrells.com or contact your sales representative today!
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