wall street journal covers turfgrass

[Powell Arms]

Thought you might find the attached Wall Street Journal article of interest, as John Paul Newport discussed the tough truf conditions in the NE, including at Huntington Valley.

http://mobile2.wsj.com/device/article.php?CALL_URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409411501359450.html?mod=rss_Sports

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Direct link to The Ugly Summer:



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409411501359450.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_sports

[Carl Rogers]

I would be interested if any supers or turgrass professionals have read the article, and can you confirm the information in the article?

[Randy Thompson]

100% on the money, all true. They do recommend around a quater of inch cutting height for these stressing times and if you do raise to a quater of an inch from an eighth of an inch, you can expect a lots less than one foot difference on the stemp meter, closer to to three to four feet difference. But nothing else controversial, everything else is factual!

[Don_Mahaffey]

The article is pretty much on the money with the exception of his description of Bermuda greens.
Well maintained mini verde or champion greens are far from grainy and coarse, and they can be maintained every bit as fast as bent greens.
I think we’ll see more examples of great Bermuda greens in the coming summers.

[Anthony_Nysse]

The article is correct regarding the golf courses named. There are A LOT more courses out there that are closed, have temp greens or will be doing some sort of seeding before their next season. Some seed companies are going to have a very good 4th quarter. I think that this will make turfmanagers become more proactive and cautious than ever.

[Mike_Young]

The only reason left for not having ultra dwarf greens in the south is ego.  The logic that they are not as good in winter does not affect nearly as many rounds a the ability to have good greens during this part of the season does...now there will always be the exceptions but they are very few and for many of those that feel they should be the exception it again goes back to ego....but it will evolve sooner than later....

[Randy Thompson]

The word average results from the addition of extreme highs and extreme lows and dividing by two! These new ultra dwarfs, are they protected from winter kill, does covering take out the possibility of bermuda grass greens dying. I have been away for twenty years but it sounds like nobody loses bermuda greens anymore in the south after an extreme below normal winter temperatures or below normal and prolonged cold snaps.

[Chris Buie]

I'm not entirely sure how relevant this is here but there has been recent discussion about the current poor state of Pinehurst #2's greens.  A young man doing his college turf internship on #2 was at a dinner tonight and told me the main problem there has been Pythium root rot.  Does that sound right to you experts?

[Anthony_Nysse]

The word average results from the addition of extreme highs and extreme lows and dividing by two! These new ultra dwarfs, are they protected from winter kill, does covering take out the possibility of bermuda grass greens dying. I have been away for twenty years but it sounds like nobody loses bermuda greens anymore in the south after an extreme below normal winter temperatures or below normal and prolonged cold snaps.

A lot of guys in the transition zone lost grass on their bermudagrass greens this past winter. Even TPC had a very tough winter.

[Randy Thompson]

A lot of guys in the transition zone lost grass on their bermudagrass greens this past winter. Even TPC had a very tough winter.
[/quote
I thought that may be the case, my mother lost some shrubs in Tampa and the rest were trying to come back from the base. It just not so black and white bermuda is the cure all for the SOUTH. Like always, depending on the zone, there will still be lots of alternative to consider and weigh. One thing is for sure, the scales are tipping in the Bermuda directions in a lot more situations with the arrivals of these ultra dwarfs. ]

[Bruce Hospes]

The only reason left for not having ultra dwarf greens in the south is ego.  The logic that they are not as good in winter does not affect nearly as many rounds a the ability to have good greens during this part of the season does...now there will always be the exceptions but they are very few and for many of those that feel they should be the exception it again goes back to ego....but it will evolve sooner than later....
[/quote
I guess my ego says I'm one of the exceptions.  How far north or south is the line that takes ego out of it and makes the decision cut and dried?

[Randy Thompson]

Bruce,
Florida and South of Austin Texas!

[Bruce Hospes]

That works for me.