Day 2 of ITF Workshop

Just wrapped up day two of the Illinois Turfgrass Foundation's Winter workshop.  Again it was a morning packed full of education with some closely relating topics to Briarwood and some future thoughts. 

As I've continued to discuss and point out issues that us along with other courses continue to battle with Poa Annua or most know as "Poa", science is again pushing to help with control.  This morning my past advisor from the University of Illinois, Dr. Bruce Branham did an education session on the develops he's found using a product called Velocity.  Velocity is a chemical classified as a herbicide, to battle Poa.  A large majority of his research has been on fairway type turfs as Velocity and he is seeing great success of conversion and eradication of Poa in these areas with small monthly applications throughout the season.  The small doseage helps reduce the amount of visual and playability negatives that reducing and removing the Poa may produce if used at higher rates.  This method is in the direction of using the Velocity more as a "Growth Regulator" and gradually reducing the vigor and growth properties of the Poa rather than doing aggressive measures and spraying a large quantity of chemical.  I forsee trying this in some test areas this upcoming season such as: golf center fairway, some par 3 fairways, and areas on fairway to see the amount of progress we make.  This product will also be a great tool after we regrass the greens with keeping them Poa free.

Another very interesting topic discussed was natural areas on golf courses and the benefits they have to not only the property but environment and community.  Briarwood has areas where they are "Natural" areas, although the problem is that they aren't really "Natural".  The areas classified as such are just areas that we stopped mowing and just let the turf grow.  My vision for the future would be to make these areas what they could be.  Native plants, flowers, etc... to be more of a visual appearance and enhance our wildlife habitat at Briarwood.  The company that presented at the workshop is Pizzo Ecological Restoration, you can see some of their work at http://pizzo.info/

I'm always amazed at the new developments and pushes in the industry over time.  Research and technology just continue pushing us to bigger and better and as an industry we continue to discover ways which we can aid in helping the environment.