Journal of the Virginia Turfgrass Council | July/August 2010
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15 15 Cover Story Wisely Watering the Lawn in Summer 20 A Look Back Fringe Benefits Revisited (Again)
23 DEPARTMENTS 6 President’s Message
from Melissa Reynolds
8 Director’s Corner
from Tom Tracy, Ph.D.
10 Editor’s Perspective
from Mark Vaughn, CGCS
12 VTF Report 23 News from the VTC Virginia Turfgrass Journal Goes Online!
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from Betty Parker
26 Turfgrass Calendar 26 Index of Advertisers
President’s Message
Membership…
A Springboard to Success By Melissa Reynolds, VTC President
C
onsider the word “membership” as defined in The American Heritage College Dictionary: “n. 1. The state of being a member. 2. The total number of members in a group.” Now, consider the word “member” (same source): “4. One that belongs to a group or an organization: a member of the VTC.” It is now summer. Last season, we moved our clocks up one hour, springing forward. We quickly saw green grass springing up along the roadways, as the snow piles melted, and now we see unruly clumps of crabgrass poking through the turf on places they should not poke. For the last few months, we’ve been in the forward mode in our activities, springing into action after a dreary, snow-laden winter and often-waterlogged spring. Many things are taken into consideration when gearing up for action in our industry. Greasing equipment, sharpening mower blades, replacing hoses, ordering supplies (chemicals and fertilizer — you know, that cheap stuff), energizing irrigation systems, and the list goes on. Action items for the remaining summer are made by way of “mental notes,” “sticky notes,” email reminders and scrawls on the back of the hand. An important asset of “belonging” and being a member of an organization, like the Virginia Turfgrass Council, is also an action item that should be taken into consideration and brings much value to those in our industry who join. The VTC Mission Statement reads: “Virginia Turfgrass Council (VTC) serves its members in the industry through education, promotion and representation.” The word “value” is not expressly implied in the Mission Statement, but the value of education, promotion and representation is translated into: • Free subscription to the Virginia Turfgrass Journal, with six annual informative issues. • Free annual VTC Membership Directory and Resource Guide. • Discounts to members attending VTC events. • $60.00 Annual Membership Fee (Sam’s Club annual membership fee is roughly $40.00 per person, and then you spend more money each visit!)
Education • Year-round assistance through educational seminars and two field days. • VTC Conference & Trade Show with educative programs and classes. • Pesticide Recertification classes — six were organized and scheduled by the VTC this year.
Promotion and representation The VTC is a member of the Virginia Agribusiness Council. Through this membership, our organization is afforded a voice in legislation, wherein we are represented through lobbying for favorable industry regulations and lobbying against unfavorable actions. The VTC Legislative Committee is very active in making contacts with our state legislators regarding issues that affect the industry and our environment. Membership representation in the VTC includes the lawncare operator companies, sod producers, golf course superintendents, industry vendors, municipal employees and sports turf managers. Networking in our industry is one-stop shopping (more value) via the Resource Guide published every summer and meeting at VTC-sponsored events. If you or someone you know is not sure how to “spring forward” into a membership of industry “belonging” (to ad lib a current iPhone ad), the VTC has an app for that! (www.vaturf.org)
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Virginia Turfgrass Journal is the official publication of The Virginia Turfgrass Council P.O. Box 5989 Virginia Beach, VA 23471 Office: (757) 464-1004 Fax: (757) 282-2693 vaturf@verizon.net PUBLISHED BY Leading Edge Communications, LLC 206 Bridge Street Franklin, Tennessee 37064 (615) 790-3718 Fax: (615) 794-4524 Email: info@leadingedgecommunications.com EDITOR Mark Vaughn, CGCS VTC OFFICERS President Melissa Reynolds Dura Turf Service Corp. (804) 233-4972 Vice President Frank Flannagan Belmont Golf Course (804) 501-5993 Treasurer Brian Vincel, CGCS Spring Creek Golf Club (434) 566-2580 Past President Rick Viancour, CGCS Golden Horseshoe Golf Club (757) 220-7489 VTC DIRECTORS Patrick Connelly Gil Grattan Vince Henderson Jeff Holliday, CGCS Rick Owens, CGCS Steve Slominski Steve Smith VTC ADVISORY MEMBERS OF THE BOARD Mike Goatley, Ph.D. (Chair) Shawn Askew, Ph.D. Jeffrey Derr, Ph.D. Erik Ervin, Ph.D. Rajandra Waghray, Ph.D. Rod Youngman, Ph.D. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/ DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS Tom Tracy, Ph.D. (757) 681-6065 VIRGINIA TURFGRASS FOUNDATION Betty Parker (757) 574-9061
Journal of the Virginia Turfgrass Council
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Director’s Corner
A New Benefit for VTC Members Tom Tracy, Ph.D. VTC Executive Director
The
Virginia Turfgrass Council is adding a new membership benefit — industry surveys. Our surveys are being designed to help industry leaders make better decisions. For instance, is knowledge about the compensation levels that companies pay for certified pesticide applicators of interest? Or, is the type of turfgrass on athletic fields across the state important? If so, then the surveys will be designed to get that information. Here is an additional bonus — survey results will be delivered FREE to VTC members. Surveys have three stages: (1) asking the right questions, (2) asking the right questions of the right people and (3) asking the right questions of the right people in the right way. All three stages are very important, and we will devote months to completing each one. We need to know what questions that industry leaders want answered. We need to know what information will help you make better decisions. Once we have identified questions to be asked, our next step is to identify persons who will be asked to complete the survey. We do not want to ask a lawncare operator to complete a survey designed for parks and recreation managers, and vice versa. We will spend several months identifying industry leaders within the surveyed segment. These are the persons whom we want to complete the survey. Mailing surveys, placing them on-line or asking questions over the phone are the most visible steps of the process. And, like the other two steps, it must be done properly. We do not want to rely on a survey placed on the web if industry people would rather fill in boxes on a sheet of paper rather than clicking with a mouse. Here is the timetable: 2010 Summer/Fall — We will determine the right questions to ask and identify the industry leaders within the segment to be surveyed. 2011 Winter — Surveys will be distributed to industry leaders. 2011 Spring/Summer — Results will be compiled, and the survey instrument will be fine-tuned for the next rotation. 2011 Fall — VTC members will receive the survey results free when they renew. Non-members will be able to purchase the results of each industry segment survey for $35. I am excited about offering this new membership benefit! The first industry segment to be surveyed will be the turfgrass professionals who work with municipal parks and recreation turfgrass. Once all major segments are surveyed (a process that will take about four years), then the cycle will begin again, and a new survey of the parks and recreation turfgrass professionals will be conducted.
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Editor’s Perspective
Recalculating through Life Mark Vaughn, CGCS Virginia Turfgrass Journal Editor
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eeeeecalculating. My Garmin Girl uttered the phrase many times on the vacation trip that we scheduled around the GCSAA conference (uh, excuse me the GOLF INDUSTRY SHOW) in San Diego this past February. Don’t you love/hate technology? Isn’t it nice to know you can pop that little box on the inside of the windshield and, whether you’re directionally challenged or not, wind up at your destination? Isn’t it a little creepy, though, to realize your every move is being tracked by government-provided satellites? Even down to where you played golf last Wednesday and what yardage you had to the twelfth green? You conspiracy theorists might want to pop in the movie Eagle Eye one night when your paranoia is strangling you. Anyway… RECALCULATING. Garmin Girl doesn’t like it when you stray from your preprogrammed route. Oh, she’s great when you need a drugstore during an emergency, like we did on our trip down the coast highway. Wonderful on giving you lastminute on-the-road dining options for lunch. She can even amaze you with breathtaking scenery when you enter Santa Barbara from the high mountains above, rather than along the freeway. But she doesn’t care much for surprises. If you catch a glimpse of the ocean or an off-the-wall diner out of the corner of your eye and make an unforeseen quick right turn, she can get downright ornery. On one of our journeys, I swear I heard her sigh like a parent whose pesky six-year-old has asked one too many questions. REE (sigh) CALCULATING. Where is that idiot going now? One day, when I couldn’t take her “recalculating, recalculating, RECALCULATING!!!” anymore, I disconnected her lifeline to the 12-volt jack in the rental car. “Who’s your daddy now?” I smirked. Take this for what it is worth, but I know I heard a “Thank God” right before her screen faded to black. Suffice to say, I won’t be throwing away all my old Gazetteers anytime soon. Besides, that thing can’t give me directions on the AT. So… recalculating. Been doing any of that lately? Recalculating income, recalculating expenses, recalculating where you spend your time, recalculating career goals, recalculating career choices, recalculating job security, recalculating years to retirement, recalculating relationships, recalculating how much house you need, recalculating supply and demand, recalculating what you really believe about this thing called life? Maybe you haven’t been. Maybe you’re one of those people who knew at age seven exactly where they were headed, and you’ve had your documents filed and all your papers alphabetized, stamped and issued in triplicate. God bless you. Heck, the only reason I’m even in this profession is because of a chance encounter with an old high school golf opponent when I was walking across the brickyard at N.C. State 36 years ago. Do you have a point, old boy? Not sure, but I think it is this. I don’t know how you get through life without constantly recalculating. Old friends leave us. The winds shift, and you are suddenly job-hunting. What was up is now down. This industry has certainly felt the brunt of the economic downturn more severely than some others. The successful people/businesses I see are always recalculating AHEAD of the curve. They’re not totally discarding the core values of what brought them to where they are, but neither are they afraid to reexamine and change where needed. Now, where is that power cord? Maybe I’ll change her language to Italian; at least I won’t know when she gets uppity with me.
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VTF Report
Fields Days Part I in Virginia Beach (Part II to Come in Blacksburg, August 31 – September 1) Betty Parker VTF Manager
The
VTC, along with Virginia Tech, is hosting Field Days again this year. There is nothing unusual about that, and we hope to see many of you on August 31–September 1 in Blacksburg, Virginia. You can access registration for this event via the VTC website: http://www.vaturf.org/. What IS unusual is that, this year, there are two field days hosted by the VTC and Virginia Tech, and the first one has already passed! On June 22, the VTC and Virginia Tech hosted a field day at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center. It was nearly 100º F that day, and the 100+ participants got a firsthand look at summer stress on cool-season grass, as well as the benefits of warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass and zoysiagrass.This is a wonderful way for turf managers in the eastern part of the state to partake in the knowledge and field trials that affect their part of state and that your VTF research dollars support. Below are a few pictures from our fun morning. If you missed out or just would like an encore to this event please consider coming to Blacksburg Sept 1. On a sad note, there will be one more thing very much unusual about this year’s field days in Blacksburg. John Shoulders won’t be there. We miss you, John. Below: Jeff Derr, Ph.D., a Virginia Tech turfgrass professor and scientist stationed at the Hampton Roads AREC, addresses attendees at the Field Day in Virginia Beach on June 22.
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Thanks to Quali-Pro, Our Lunch Sponsor!
Photos courtesy of Abigail Hall. Below: Center, Pete Schultz, Ph.D., head of the Hampton Roads AREC, welcomes participants to Field Day.
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Cover Story
SUMMER LAWN MANAGEMENT Watering the Lawn By Mike Goatley, Ph.D., Extension Turf Specialist, Virginia Tech
healthy grass plant is composed of 75% to 85% water, which is essential for seed germination, tissue formation, plant cooling, food manufacture and nutrient absorption and transport. A grass plant loses the most water under conditions of high light intensity, high temperature, low relative humidity and windy conditions. Without adequate water, the grass plant can’t cool itself and becomes susceptible to wilting, desiccation and death.
A
Are some grasses more drought tolerant? Yes, grasses differ in both their need for water and their drought tolerance. Some mature grasses develop deep roots and require less water. However, the most drought-tolerant grasses may not be suitable for all regions of Virginia. Consult your local Extension agent for specific information for your area. • Tall fescue, when properly maintained, develops a deep root system and can be very drought tolerant. However, this advantage is lost if the turf is grown on shallow or extremely compacted soils. • Kentucky bluegrass can survive extended drought periods by gradually slowing growth, turning straw colored and entering summer dormancy. Once water becomes available again, it can initiate new growth from the crown of each plant. Journal of the Virginia Turfgrass Council
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Cover Stor y continued
they can better withstand most drought conditions.
How can you tell if the lawn needs water? A “thirsty” lawn turns from the normal green color to a purple-bluish color. In these areas, the grass blades will not spring back if you walk across the lawn (your footprints will be visible.) This is the first sign of “wilt” and indicates a need for water.
Tips for better watering
• Perennial ryegrasses have little tolerance to dry conditions and usually do not persist well in non-irrigated areas. • Fine fescues — such as creeping red, chewings fescue and hard fescue — tolerate dry periods quite well due to their low water requirements. • Warm-season grasses — such as bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, St. Augustinegrass and centipedegrass — actually prefer warm conditions and can tolerate most drought conditions due to their deep and extensive root systems.
How much water does a lawn need? This varies somewhat depending on grass type. In general, when there is insufficient rainfall during summer drought, applying one inch of water per week is the recommendation. If nature provides water by rainfall, irrigation may not be needed. Nothing is more wasteful (and sure to attract attention for all the wrong reasons) than seeing an irrigation system running in the rain! Pay attention to current
weather conditions and forecasts in order to use water more responsibly.
What about too much or too little water? Over-watered lawns frequently lead to excess blade growth, summer fungal diseases and more frequent mowing. Excessive watering also wastes water and increases the risk of fertilizer and pesticide runoff from the lawn to paved surfaces. This could negatively impact local water quality. Lawns that receive little to no water from irrigation or rainfall during summer months will go dormant. Grass blade coloring will lighten. Most lawns will recover when water returns. During a severe drought, cool-season grasses (ryegrasses, fescues or bluegrasses) may die and require reseeding in the fall. This may be acceptable to those looking to conserve water during summer months, or it may be necessary because of wateruse restrictions during a drought. Again, where warm-season grasses are adapted within the state, consider using them because
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• Deep and infrequent watering maintains a healthy root system and reduces weed infestation (as opposed to light and frequent irrigation, which promotes shallow roots and germination of weed seeds). • Applying one inch of water is often difficult to achieve in a single watering, given the slow infiltration rate on most Virginia soils. Therefore, smaller amounts of water applied every three to four days may be required to allow water to enter the soil without causing runoff. • Water is best applied early in the day (5 a.m. to 10 a.m.), when evaporation loss is lowest. Afternoon watering is acceptable, but wind may affect uniformity. Night watering minimizes evaporation, but may increase fungal diseases. Numerous automatic sprinklers all running during periods of high household use (early morning) may place extreme demands on a community’s water system. • Water the lawn — not driveways, sidewalks or roads — by adjusting sprinkler heads. • Mow the grass at the right height during the summer. Longer grass blades increase the depth of the root system, shade the soil and help drought tolerance (see table on page 18). • If your current grass is not drought tolerant, consider replacing it with one that is. • Precondition a cool-season lawn for summer by applying fertilizer
Cover Stor y continued
in the late summer or early fall, avoiding large spring applications of nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Fall applications favor root growth and better drought tolerance. Lush, over-fertilized lawns require more water. • Remember that newly sodded or seeded lawns require more frequent watering (for the first three to four weeks) than do well-established lawns, those older than 12 months. • Keep your mower blade sharp.
• Annual core aeration can loosen compacted soil and allow water to infiltrate deeper into the ground.
Anything else you can do? Remember that what we do to our lawns and landscapes affects local water quality and that of the Chesapeake Bay. Contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office for more advice and information.
Mowing Heights in Inches for Grass to Improve Drought Tolerance in Virginia 1” to 1.5”
bermudagrass zoysiagrass
2” to 2.5”
2.5” to 3”
centipedegrass
tall fescue Kentucky bluegrass perennial ryegrass fineleaf fescues St. Augustinegrass
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A Look Back
Fringe Benefits Revisited (Again) By Jack McClenahan, VTC Past President
[Editor’s Note: This article has run in the Journal twice before, once in the late 1980s and then in 1998. We think it’s a timeless classic, though, so here it is once more.]
summer, I was standing near a golf course shop, marking time until someone from the crew came by. An old, battered station wagon pulled in and stopped. The driver’s door opened slowly, and a hand preceded a gimped-up leg out the door. A weary voice came next. It said to me, “Hey, Mac. How’s it going?” The face cracked a grin, but because of a stroke, it smiled only from the right. It was Artie. Artie, a long-time crewmember, retired, looking tired and looking old.
One
Lately, I’ve run into a lot of “Arties.” I’ll bet you know them, too. They’re the guys who worked on the golf course crews. They were the stayers, faceless to the members, even though a lot of them worked at the same courses all their working lives. Sometimes, they stayed on the same job, doing the job well and, well, mostly just staying. Over the years, I often wondered why they stayed in the low-paying, deadend jobs. After Artie gets out of the car, we start sharing “remember whens.” I wonder why he stayed as we talked. He talks of the days when he cut straight lines on dew-covered greens,
of early morning light and of the sun breaking through. He talks of the sun making rainbows through irrigation mist before it is folded into night. Sometimes, the Arties talk about the cycle of the day, sometimes about the cycle of the year, the overcoming of yesterday’s winter night by sun-stirred crocus. They always talk about the spring and the smell of new-mown grass. They talk about how this year’s battle will be won. They talk of summer drought, summer heat, sometimes summer defeats. They talk of summer twilight and fall and winter, one more spring. The cycle of the day and the
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cycle of the year are different than the cycle of life. Artie’s life is late December. He has no hope for another spring. Artie tells me, “You know, Mac, I really do miss the golf course. It’s tough now, but I loved it.” He grins, only from the right. We finish our fond remembering whens. I say to Artie, “It’s great to see you again. How’s life really treating you?” His grin is gone. He is quiet. He looks at me; I look at the ground and make a feeble effort to fill his emptiness with more remember whens, clichés and a touch of Irish wit. Artie rescues me at last from my monologue. He says, “Mac, would you give me a hand?” We walk over to the wagon and start taking empty gallon milk jugs from the back. We take them over to the water spigot and fill them, then load them back into his spent station wagon. He opens his door, gets in the car, pulls in his cane, rolls down the driver’s
window and says to me, “It’s been real tough, Mac. I can’t afford even to get my pump fixed at home. It’s been down for weeks. You know, though, I still miss the golf course.” He looks at me. I look back at the ground. Again, he rescues me; with a wave, he pulls off and drives down the road. I think I know why they stay at the job until the winter of their lives. They are bonded to the land. Bonded to cutting straight lines on dew-covered greens in the early morning light. I wonder if members remember Artie. I wonder if Artie remembers them while reading their postcards from sunny climes, while digging through the club trash for empty milk jugs and other small favors. I wonder if they remember that Artie was the one who cut straight lines on dew-covered greens and could see rainbows in irrigation mist at twilight. I would tell them he drags a leg and smiles only from the right. And he drinks water from their empty milk jugs at night… Journal of the Virginia Turfgrass Council
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Cover Stor y continued
News from the VTC
Virginia Turfgrass Journal
GOES ONLINE ave you ever regretted lending your copy of Virginia Turfgrass Journal to someone when he or she didn’t return it? Have you ever wanted to find a past article but had no idea how to find the right issue? Now, you can lend your print edition with abandon, and quickly find that elusive article, because it’s a new day for Virginia Turfgrass Journal — we’ve gone online! We’ll give you a quick walkthrough to get you started.
H
Navigating the online Virginia Turfgrass Journal To browse through the pages, click the top or bottom left or right corner of the “page.” You can also use the buttons at the bottom to navigate the pages of the magazine (Figure 1). • The small left and right arrows open the front and back of Virginia Turfgrass Journal, respectively.
• The large left and right arrows advance one page at time, backward and forward, respectively. • The box in the middle displays the current page numbers. Along the top, you’ll find a menu of navigation icons (Figure 2): Each icon opens a window superimposed over the current page. Some windows contain a scroll bar on the right side of the window.
Figure 1
Accessing the online Virginia Turfgrass Journal To access the current issue of Virginia Turfgrass Journal, go to www.vaturf.org, and click the flipping magazine icon on the home page. Virginia Turfgrass Journal opens in a new window or tab if you’re using a tabbed browser.
Figure 2
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News from the VTC Use the scroll bar to navigate to content that is currently out of view. To close the window and return to the previous page, click Close. Opens the Table of Contents. Click a title to view the feature or department. Opens a page of thumbnails. Click the page you want to view. Use the arrows on the left and right to view more thumbnails. Opens a print window. Click the thumbnail of the page(s) you want to print. To remove a page from the print queue, click the thumbnail(s) a second time. After selecting pages to print, click Print at the bottom of the window, or click Cancel to return to the previous page.
Opens an email box where you can email a link to the current issue of Virginia Turfgrass Journal or a link to the current page and include an optional message. The bookmark feature is under construction, but in the future, you will be able to bookmark portions of Virginia Turfgrass Journal that you would like to come back to visit.
Opens a window with a list of advertisers. Click an advertiser to go directly to their ad in that issue. Opens a control panel where you set viewing preferences for this session. Opens a search window where you can search through the current issue or all archived issues. Opens a help window.
Opens a download box, allowing you to download a PDF of the current issue. Opens a thumbnail list of archived Virginia Turfgrass Journal issues. Click the thumbnail of the issue that you wish to view.
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Index of Advertisers
Calendar of Events
Turf Industry Events July 20 Pesticide Recertification Fredericksburg, VA
July 26 – 30 TPI Summer Convention & Field Days (Turfgrass Producers International) Sheraton New York Hotel New York, NY
August 3
December 15 – 17
RPGMS Equipment Demo and Tradeshow University of Richmond Richmond, VA
Turfgrass Short Course Hampton Roads AREC Virginia Beach, VA
August 31 – September 1 Virginia Tech Turfgrass Field Days Blacksburg, VA
December 13 – 15 Turfgrass Short Course Charlottesville, VA
January 17 – 20, 2011 VTC 51st Annual Turf & Landscape Conference and Trade Show Fredericksburg, VA
A.R.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 www.armva.com Barenbrug USA . . . . . . . . . . . 19 www.barusa.com Bayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 www.bayerprocentral.com Camp Chemical Corp. . . . . . . 7 Dura Turf Service Corp. . . Inside Back Cover E & S Soil and Peat . . . . . . . . 11 www.eandssoil.com East Coast Sod & Seed . . . . . 13 www.eastcoastsod.com Egypt Farms, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 www.egyptfarms.com Gowan Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 www.gowanco.com Harmon Turf Service, Inc. . . . Inside Front Cover www.harmonturfservices.com Harrell’s Custom Fertilizer . . . . 22 www.harrells.com Luck Stone Specialty Products . . . . . . . . . 13 www.luckstone.com Mid-Atlantic Sports Turf . . . . . 7 Modern Turf, Inc. . . . . . . . . . 11 www.modernturf.com Oakland Plantation Turf Farm, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 18 www.ncturfgrass.com Oakwood Sod Farm, Inc. . . . 21 www.oakwoodsod.com Oldham Chemicals Co. . . . . . . 3 www.oldhamchem.com Quali-Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 www.quali-pro.com Texas Sod Leasing . . . . . . . . . 11 www.texassod.com The Turfgrass Group . . . . . 5, 17 www.theturfgrassgroup.com Wood Bay Turf Technologies . . . . 24, Back Cover www.woodbayturftech.com
Virginia Turfgrass Council (VTC) serves its members in the industry through education, promotion and representation. The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the association, its staff, or its board of directors, Virginia Turfgrass Journal, or its editors. Likewise, the appearance of advertisers, or VTC members, does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services featured in this, past or subsequent issues of this bimonthly publication. Copyright ©2010 by the Virginia Turfgrass Council. Virginia Turfgrass Journal is published bimonthly. Subscriptions are complimentary to members of VTC. POSTMASTER: Send change of address notification to VTC, P.O. Box 5989, Virginia Beach, VA 23471. Postage guaranteed. Third-class postage is paid at Nashville, TN. Printed in the U.S.A. Reprints and Submissions: Virginia Turfgrass Journal allows reprinting of material published here. Permission requests should be directed to VTC. 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, Franklin, TN 37068-0142, (615) 790-3718, Fax (615) 794-4524. Deadlines are the first of the month prior to the following month’s publication. (Example: August 1 for the September issue.)