The American Phytopathological Society is having their annual meeting in Providence, RI this week.  The conference covers all sorts of plants including turfgrass.  On Saturday some of the attendees took a field trip and visited LCC.



A short slideshow showing some of the early morning work of the crew before the Father/Daughter USTA Championship.  All pictures are between 5 and 6 am.

• Mowing the grass
• Taking down all the tennis nets and moving the net posts for mowing
• Watering the grass
• Marking the grass
• Trash
• Brush all the clay courts
• Water coolers
• Water clay courts

UMass Field Day

Andrew, Jeff and Mike attended the University of Massachusetts Turfgrass Field Day.  Some of the research projects that were discussed are seen below.

Dr DaCosta on water requirements of different bentgrasses.  In the background is an automated shelter that closes when rain begins - that way they can control all the water that is applied to the different types of grasses.

 Dr Ebdon on the testing of 88 new varieties of perennial ryegrass.  The unique part of this trial is that he is looking at both turf quality and wear tolerance.  The yellow weakened turf is where he has applied wear with a machine to simulate lots of traffic.  The varieties that can withstand wear are an important trait for grass used on tennis courts!

 Dr Bhomik explaining his trials on a new product that controls Poa annua.



A constructed wetland that is used for washing equipment.  The water is cleaned by native plants.

USGA Update

WSJ, August 3, 2012

Checking root depth on court18 (ryegrass) compared to the other courts (Poa annua).