It's just pretty...right?

"Turf is not an essential part of modern society. We can do without it."

I would venture to say that variations of the statement above have been heard by most turfgrass managers at some point in their career. Turfgrass is, after all, just a living carpet that children run around on in the backyards of the suburbs. It is, after all, just a shortcut across that empty expanse in front of the HUB-Robesen Center here at The Pennsylvania State University. Turfgrass is nothing more than eye-candy, and is far from a vital part of our infrastructure. Yes my fellow turf managers, the only place our skills are of use is in the realm of leisure. WRONG!

The role that turfgrass plays in our modern society is often overlooked. We all know that turf is the primary choice of playing surfaces for many of our outdoor recreational activities. However, sometimes other uses for turfgrass are more subtle and less likely to be appreciated. I would like you to consider for a moment that you are embarking on a business trip....

• You wake up early and after your morning routine, you hop in your car and begin your drive to the airport. On the way to your flight, you encounter morning traffic backed up on the highway.
  

This highway, like many, is elevated slightly above the surrounding terrain. Along the roadside banks grows a low-maintenance variety of fescue that is rooted well in the soil. This grass plant is not here to be a beautiful roadside decoration, but is here to grant stability to the road. The grass here is vital for preventing the erosion of the banks and of the road itself. In addition to this, the thousands of idling vehicles along this congested section of your morning commute are pumping out pollutants. A turfgrass stand is very capable as a natural air filter, and without turfgrass along roadsides, more pollutants enter the atmosphere.

• Thankfully, the traffic picks up and you catch your flight to California just in time.

• Now you are airborne, gaining altitude and heading west. As you near Los Angeles you are amazed at the amount of green patches in amongst the homes of this sprawling city.
  

Every one of these lawns is providing multiple benefits to the surrounding area. Similar to before, the grass acts as a filter for pollutants, but several other important things are happening as well. The temperature in Los Angeles can become unbearable in the summer months, and with so much blacktop and concrete, the heat is even more intense. However, every place where there is a patch of healthy turf, we are granted an escape from the unbearable heat. Not only does turf not become as hot as the surrounding roadways and sidewalks, it is also capable of a cooling process called transpiration. Transpiration is a physiological process that releases moisture, cooling the plant. This release of water vapor can significantly reduce the air temperature in the immediate vicinity of the turfgrass stand. In addition to the comfort that grass adds here, the contiguous ground cover also keeps dust suppressed and keeps mud from being tracked inside of the homes.

• As your plane slowly descends, the houses race by too fast to follow anymore, and you touch down gently on the runway. After touching down, your pilot taxis the plane toward your gate. Looking out the window, you observe a substantial amount of turf between the runways of LAX.
  

In this instance, the grass is providing all of the benefits discussed above, but one in particular is of extreme importance. The suppression of dust is vital to the smooth and safe operation of the modern aircraft. When planes take off and land, dusty runways raise the risk of foreign objects being sucked in to their engines. When foreign objects cause damage to an aircraft, the aviation industry calls it F.O.D (foreign object damage). When this happens, expensive parts may be required and expensive labor is needed to install them. In a worst case scenario, F.O.D. can cause an aircraft to crash with catastrophic results. Obviously, we want to avoid this, we want our planes safely in the sky, and turfgrass makes F.O.D. less of an issue at the interface of land and air.

• You have arrived safe in Los Angeles with turfgrass playing it's ever-present role in the background of modern society.

Considering these examples of turf being used outside of recreation, it is difficult to argue that it is strictly aesthetic. Turf plays a vital supporting role in the infrastructure of our towns, cities, and sprawling metropolises. Turf is here to stay, and as we advance as a society and as a civilization, it is hard to imagine us without the grass plant.

(photo obtained from www.mellowmonk.com)

It's more than just providing moisture...

"Grass needs water."

If you tried to pass this statement off as a little-known piece of valuable professional advice, someone would probably laugh at you. Yes, we all know that grass needs water. All plants need water. Even the least agronomically apt person can tell you that grass needs water. My point is not to outline the moisture requirements of grasses, but is instead to provide some information on water being used to encourage carbohydrate production and transpiration. In essence, this is about syringing practices.

In those climates where we manage cool season grasses, also known as "C3 grasses", we all know that "cool season" can be a misleading term. While, yes it is cool in the spring and fall, it can be sweltering in the summer months. Of course this does not ring true for every region which cool season grasses grow in. For the purpose of this post, let us focus on those regions where summer temperatures may exceed the comfort level of the cool season grass plant. The cool season grasses typically prefer a temperature range of 60-75F (or 16-24C). When temperatures exceed this range, negative effects on the plant begin show. As you can see by the picture on the right, when the temperature begins to rise, the growth of the plant slows drastically. This bi-modal growth pattern is almost entirely due to the way that cool season plants photosynthesize.

When the cool season grass plant is subjected to temperatures above its desired range, the way that the plant creates its food becomes less effective. The C3 grass receives its carbon molecules (which are used to make sugars and provide the plant with energy) by using an enzyme called "rubisco". This enzyme is most effective when operating between 60-75F, but when you ask it to work in the heat, it gets "sloppy". When it gets sloppy, it loses the ability to discern oxygen and carbon molecules. Imagine that a jar is filled with two types of marbles and you reach in and pull out a handful. The mixture of marbles in your hand is a way to visualize the way rubisco operates in high temperatures. Now the problem with oxygen is that is does not make a very viable sugar. If the plant tries to use oxygen in the place of carbon, it is pretty much "dry-firing," and is expending energy while gaining nothing. This process is termed "photorespiration" and is in no way beneficial for the plant!

The heat also affects the rate at which a plant transpires, or releases water molecules. This process is in some ways comparable to the way a human sweats to regulate temperature. When the plant finds itself getting too hot, it reduces its transpiration rate by closing pores in its leaves called "stomates". This closure is supposed to conserve the plant's moisture, but it leaves the plant with the inability to effectively cool itself. In the wild, this strategy for moisture conservation serves the plant well because it needs to be as thrifty with its H2O reserves as possible. However, in the intensely monitored growing conditions of a golf course, a deep and infrequent irrigation regime should ensure that the plant is able to access an adequate amount of H2O at any given time. The closure of stomates and subsequent halt in transpiration can lead to mortality of the grass plant if we do not find a way to get the plant to begin transpiring again.

The application of small amounts of H20 is known as "syringing."Syringing practices, when correctly employed, can be of huge importance to the quality of grass in high-end turf maintenance. As discussed earlier, heat can disrupt the ability of the plant to make food and can leave the plant vulnerable to desiccation. Syringing modifies the tissue temperature of the grass plant in an attempt to give it an edge when subjected to high heat. In this period immediately following the application of water (again, only a mist is needed) we see the plant begin to transpire once again, thereby cooling itself. Also, the effectiveness of rubisco is increased and the plant is able to generate food more efficiently. Anyone who has seen the effectiveness of an accurately timed syringing practice can attest to it's importance in the repertoire of skills a turf manager must possess to be successful in this industry.

(pictures obtained from sustland.umn.edu, mynewsletterbuilder.com, channel4.com)

Todays Reel Maintenance Class

Today's lecture by Mr. Dave Livingston in our reel maintenance class illustrated several key points regarding efficiency of cut and proper adjustment of the cutting units on reel mowers. Two topics covered that I was particularly interested in included bedknife orientation, and the effects of different grinding types and bedknife to reel contact on horsepower usage.

I understood how important it was to keep the cutting edges of the reel and the bedknife sharp, but I did not realize how important the orientation of the bedknife is in relation to the center-line of the reel. A bedknife with a forward placement in relation to the reel is acceptable, if not desirable, for higher cut turf. However, if the same set-up is used on lower cuts of turf, not only can the quality of cut be poor, but serious damage to the plant and cutting units can occur. With this set-up, the reel can not shear grass effectively due to the inability of the bedknife to stand the grass blades up. Also, a forward bedknife orientation leaves the majority of the bedknife to drag along the turf. This constant friction on the turf, and the consequent increase in pressure between the bedknife and the reel, will produce excess heat. With enough build-up of heat, rifling of the bedknife and reel can occur. Once this happens and the metal cools, gaps between the cutting edges will leave grass behind in obvious strips. This problem is now only remedied by re-grinding both reel and bedknife, which in busy seasons is even more of an inconvenience.

The statistics Mr. Livingston provided on horsepower usage were quite surprising to me. The comparison of relief-ground reels versus flat-ground reels, with varying contact, showed horsepower usage that differed substantially. With a slight gap (.002"-.005") between cutting surfaces, a usage of 0.75HP and 0.87HP per cutting unit was observed in relief-ground and flat-ground reels, respectively. While this difference in horsepower is only slight, when multiplied over five reels, the difference is 0.60 total horsepower. Even so, this alone may not be enough to convince a manager to adopt a relief grinding regiment due to the increase in grinding time per reel. However, the difference in horsepower usage between grinding types when a cutting unit is set to have contact between reel and bedknife is staggering. When a relief ground reel is set for contact, a usage of 0.88HP is measured. When a flat-ground reel is set for contact, a horsepower usage of 2.59HP per cutting unit is measured! Over a fairway mower with five reels, that is a difference of 8.55HP. On golf courses with undulating terrain, the difference in horsepower usage may mean the difference in being able to cut uphill or not being able to keep traction. In addition to this, the consumption of fuel is also something to be taken into consideration.

In the two lectures in this class so far, I have developed an increased awareness of the difference properly adjusted equipment makes in regards to efficiency and quality. I look forward to future lectures in this class and hope to come away with a better knowledge of the subtleties of golf course mowing equipment.

(photo obtained from http://toro.com)

A Personal Introduction

Hey all. So you have found your way to my blog because you are: A.) One of my fellow classmates, or B.) Because you Googled me. The latter raises concerns about what you may have found from my sordid past. At any rate, I am a current student in the Golf Course Turfgrass Management Program here at The Pennsylvania State University where I am being bombarded by cold weather and cold women. To tell you a little bit about myself let me begin by explaining the nature of my Canadianism. I was born in Seattle, Wa. in 1983 and went though the wailing of infancy here before moving to the smaller town of Savona, B.C. Canada (then population 420). Here is where I would acquire my status of "dual citizen" of USA and Canada. When I say I moved to Savona, I am actually referring to a random patch of pasture-land in the belly of a valley which sits 30 miles out of town, straight towards the Buddhist Center of the Universe. At the age of four I began attending Savona Elementary School where I plodded along with my 15 other same-age classmates before being dragged to highschool via 3.5hr daily busride! I took some time after my force-fed education to explore Australia for a few months. Fast forward to becoming a college drop-out with 1/3rd of a degree in psychology who then falls in love with cutting grass. Here is where I am introduced to the golf industry and where I begin my employment at Tobiano. I worked at Tobiano for four years and then decided I would like to formally educate myself in the industry. So $18,000 green American dollars later, here I sit at PSU, typing up my personal introduction. I will do my best to keep this up to date with relevant information which you may even enjoy.

Thanks for the visit,

-Ernie Bendzak

(photo obtained from Tobianogolf.ca)