Agronomy

The fine art of spray application
By Ryan Beauchamp, Turf Specialist
Syngenta Crop Protection Canada

There is an auto insurance commercial that makes reference to our complacent habits with essential life choices—“people spend more time on average selecting a video to rent, than time to renew their auto insurance.” Coincidentally, spray nozzle selection in the turf industry is a comparable scenario. Read More

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Dangerous weed spreading across Nova Scotia
A large, invasive plant whose sap can cause temporary or permanent blindness or skin burns is beginning to spread in Nova Scotia. Giant hogweed can be recognized by its height (between two and five metres), purple splotches and an umbrella-shaped cluster of white flowers at its top.
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Carefully plan your irrigation startup before the situation becomes critical
By Sean Jordan, T.Ag., Agronomist

IN the April/May issue of Turf and Recreation, I wrote what could be considered a sequel to the story in the previous issue called “A Hot Summer.” For those of you hoping for a trilogy, it just isn’t going to happen. I will leave that up to the guys with real talent like Lucas and Spielberg. Instead, I would like to expand upon one idea that was discussed relating to surviving summer heat: managing your irrigation. Read More

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Like it or not, it's time to think ahead to the heat of summer
By Sean R. Jordan, T.Ag.
Agronomist

IN the last issue, I wrote about a fictional movie on a golf course called “A Beautiful Spring.” If this current issue’s article were a movie it, in true Hollywood fashion, would be about a highly overrated, and ultimately less enjoyable, sequel called “A Hot Summer.” Read More

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Why the Precautionary Principle dictates that pesticides not be prohibited
By John J. Holland
Communications Director
Integrated Environmental Plant Management Association of Western Canada

Anti-pesticide activists have used (or, more accurately, misused) the Precautionary Principle as one of their main tools for convincing governments to enact pesticide prohibitions. What has either been overlooked or ignored is that this much misunderstood principle—when used in its fullest sense—weighs in favour of maintaining the use of pesticides, whether agricultural or “cosmetic.” Read More

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Staying green and sane at the same time
By Sean Jordan, T.Ag.

So imagine you are sitting at the movies. The opening scene takes place in the late spring, early summer on a golf course with happy golfers, flying divots and smooth greens. The next scene is of the same golf course the previous fall with the subtitle “8 MONTHS EARLIER.” Crew members are cleaning up leaves, putting away benches and spreading fertilizer. You may be a bit confused at this point since the title of the film was “A Beautiful Spring.” If you were expecting this tale to take place entirely in the spring, please understand that it would be impossible to start telling the story half-way through without giving some idea of what came before. Read More

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Alberta super wins environmental award
BRUCE Constable, superintendent at Woodside Golf Course in Airdrie, Alta., has been named an “international facilities” winner in the 2009 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and Golf Digest “Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards” program. Read More

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Unique approach taken to resurface putting greens at Devil's Paintbrush
FOLLOWING a damaging winter in 2005, the superintendent at Caledon, Ont.’s Devil’s Pulpit Golf Association was convinced the greens at the Devil’s Paintbrush were in need of a major overhaul. Read More

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