25th Annual Ontario Turfgrass Symposium

The 25th Annual Ontario Turfgrass Symposium is being held at the University of Guelph on February 17 and 18, 2016. Qualify for early bird savings by registering before January 8, 2016.

The Ontario Turfgrass Symposium (OTS) 2016 program will be updated on the event website www.turfsymposium.com as speakers and IPM CECs are confirmed in the upcoming weeks.

Register today! 

Questions? visit www.turfsymposium.com , email info@OpenEd.uoguelph.ca or phone 519-767-5000

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Santa brought us our CEC’s for Christmas

The Golf Course Integrated Pest Management Accreditation Program Continuing Education Credits have been assigned to the 2015 Ontario Turfgrass Symposium speaker program. Details are available at http://www.turfsymposium.ca/.  There is still plenty of time to take advantage of the early bird registration fee which is available until Jan. 9, 2015.  Attending OTS is always a great reason to return to the University of Guelph, whether you are a Turf Managers’ Short Course graduate, a Turf Diploma graduate, a regular attendee of the Ontario Turfgrass Symposium or a newbie.

OTS 2015 brochure

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Looking for something to do this winter?

Well, there are lots of options.

1. Go on an all inclusive vacation in the Caribbean
2. Ski the Rockies
3. Take a river boat cruise in Europe or
4. Attend the 46th Annual Turf Managers’ Short Course taught by University of Guelph faculty, industry professionals and yours truly.

The University of Guelph Turf Managers’ Short Course runs from January 26th to Feb. 21, 2015.  This four week long intensive course will give you the opportunity to learn pretty much all there is to know about basic and applied turf management.  Not only do you get to learn from top notch instructors, you get to rub shoulders with your fellow turf professionals as well. This course is seen as an introduction to turf management for people wanting to get in the business and a professional development opportunity for those wanting to further their career in turf.   Oh …. and did I mention – there are snacks every day and a welcome reception and a closing banquet.

For more information on the University of Guelph Turf Managers’ Short Course follow this link Turf Managers’ Short Course,  Email: info@OpenEd.uoguelph.ca  or  Phone: 519-767-5000.

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Do you know this man?

Dr. James B Beard

If you are in turf, you better know him. Dr. Beard – author, researcher, teacher, lecturer, mentor and consultant in all things “turf” has just published a new book that was 40 years in the making called “Turfgrass History and Literature: Lawns, Sports and Golf”. It chronicles the evolution of turf as a lawn, a playing surface for all things sporty and of course, last but not least, golf. Then there is the history of turfgrass research, turfgrass science education, sod production and more. Lastly there is a comprehensive bibliography of turf books, research publications,turf conference proceedings and trade publications. The beauty of this book is that in the digital age, it is difficult to find documentation of anything much prior to the mid-2000’s. Due to Dr. Beard’s efforts, all of this information is in one place, in a format that will not be lost if your computer hard drive crashes or if you don’t have access to the internet. This book is available through the Michigan State University Press http://msupress.org/books/. You will need access to the internet for that.

If this accomplishment wasn’t enough, Dr. Beard will be receiving the 2014 Crop Science Society of America Presidential Award at their 2014 Annual Meeting in Long Beach, California next week. Bravo Dr. Beard!

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Top three reasons to attend the Ontario Turfgrass Symposium

2014 OTS Brochure

The Ontario Turfgrass Symposium is only a few days away. Here are the top three reasons to attend.

1. Find out about the moving plans for the Guelph Turfgrass Institute from GTI Director, Rob Witherspoon
2. Attend the live demonstration of the IPM Council of Canada new PCPA database with Teri Yamada, IPM Council of Canada
3. Hear Dr. Eric Lyons, Dr. Tom Hsiang and Dr. Katerina Jordan’s graduate students talk about their turf research projects.

The added bonus is that the weather forecast looks promising too. Hope to see you there!

For more information about OTS visit http://www.Turfsymposium.ca

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Register now – Ontario Turfgrass Symposium

2014 OTS Brochure

The Ontario Turfgrass Symposium “The Changing Face of Turf” is taking place on Wed. Feb. 19 and Thurs. Feb. 20, 2014 at the University of Guelph. The OTS brochure is in the mail, the website is live and registration is open. The program is submitted to the IPM Council of Canada for CEC’s and the CEC’s will be posted on the website as soon as we receive them.

Take this opportunity to attend a high quality turf education program, network with colleagues and University of Guelph turf faculty and graduate students, earn CEC’s and have a beverage at the “Brass Taps”. Early bird registrations must be received by Jan. 10, 2014. For more information visit http://www.TurfSymposium.ca

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Global Soil Survey

I learned about this initiative at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America (Tri-Societies) meeting in Tampa last week. There is a Division withing the Crop Science Society of America called C05-Turfgrass Science. At the meeting in Tampa there were roughly 200 scientific presentations given by world renown turfgrass scientists over the 3 days of the meeting. The full C05 program can be seen on the Tri-Societies website at https://scisoc.confex.com/crops/2013am/webprogram/start.html

So- what is the Global Soil Survey? It is a citizen style science project and the aim is to come up with “Minimum Levels for Sustainable Nutrition Guidelines for Turf” (MLSN). PACE Turf has partnered with Brookside Labs and they have already taken 17,000 soil samples from healthy turf and pooled the soil test results to come up with the minimum levels of soil nutrients that can produce healthy turf. They want to make these guidelines as robust as possible and they are looking for more golf courses, sportsfields, etc. to participate in this survey. Participants will send in 3 soil samples taken from healthy turf. They will receive an analysis of 21 chemical measurements from the 3 samples. They will also receive recommendations on how to correct nutrient deficiencies or excesses. The report will also calculate a sustainability index for each major nutrient for each of the three samples. This numerical rating will document how close each soil nutrient is to the minimum identified in the MLSN guidelines, and how much lower that level can go before it reaches the minimum threshold. The fee to participate in this project is $250US.

Dr. Larry Stowell (PACE Turf), Dave Smith (DCS Agronomic Services) and Dr. Luke Baker (Brookside Laboratories Inc.) will be speaking about this project at the OGSA Show in Toronto in Jan. http://www.ogsa.ca/SideMenuPage/events/OGCMConferenceandTradeShow2014/PreliminaryConferenceSchedule.aspx

For more information on the Global Soil Survey visit the PACE Turf websites at http://www.paceturf.org/journal/global_soil_survey

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Changes to Golf IPM Accreditation Program highlighted at OTS 2013

Yesterday, the IPM Advisory Committee of the IPM Council of Canada met to finalize changes to the Ontario Golf IPM Accreditation program for 2013. These changes, which include a change to the IPM scouting year, will be announced by Teri Yamada, Executive Director of the IPM Council of Canada on Thurs. Feb. 21, 2013 at OTS. This is an excellent opportunity for Certified IPM Agents to become aware of these changes before the beginning of the season. Join us at OTS to attend this very important session. Registrations are still open and walk-ins the day of the symposium are also welcome. For more information go to http://www.turfsymposium.ca.

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