Turf crowd turns out for field day at Division of Agriculture center
Aug. 7, 2009Contact Information:
Aaron Patton, Assistant Professor and Extension Horticulture Specialist-Turfgrass
479-575-2603, ajpatton@uark.edu
Doug Karcher, Associate Professor of Horticulture
479-575-2603, karcher@uark.edu
Mike Richardson, Professor of Horticulture
479-575-2603, mricha@uark.edu
479-575-5647 / hmedders@uark.edu
GRUB MANAGEMENT -- Graduate student Tara Wood discusses research on managing white grubs, which are Japanese beetle larvae, in different varieties of grass.
TURF GADGETS -- Associate Professor Doug Karcher demonstrates research gadgets that could also be used for intensively managed turf, such as putting greens.
FERTILITY TREATMENTS – Graduate student Chris Stiegler shows foliar fertilization test plots on an area of the largest putting surface in Arkansas, which is used for a variety of bentgrass research projects.
DROUGHT TEST – Professor Mike Richardson discusses results of drought tolerance tests of grass varieties at the Turfgrass Field Day Aug. 6 at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It’s a turf crowd that scientists and their graduate students perform for at the Turfgrass Field Day, but attendance has grown each year of the annual event at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center 2.5 miles north of the University of Arkansas campus on Hwy. 112.
The turfgrass research area includes the largest putting green in Arkansas. It’s used for bentgrass research and is part of a horticultural research, extension and teaching complex provided by the University of Arkansas System’s statewide Division of Agriculture.
Assistant Professor Aaron Patton, who coordinates the event, said most of the approximately 260 field day visitors work in the lawn care, golf course, athletic field and sod farm industries. The field day was held every other year until 2007 when it became a yearly event.
“I think we are meeting a real need by providing updates on research, demonstrations of recommended practices and new technology, and a trade show, which had 20 vendors this year,” Patton said. “It’s also good for networking with other turf people, vendors and university people.”
The field day includes pesticide recertification training for turf managers in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
A tour of research projects and demonstrations included a range of topics, such as grass variety trials, variety selection for various purposes including drought tolerance, managing putting greens, fertilization, and control of plant diseases, insect pests and weeds.
Reports on turf research and extension projects are provided in the “Arkansas Turfgrass Report” published annually by the division’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. To see the report online and event announcements, visit the Turfgrass Science Web site at turf.uark.edu.
Results of turfgrass variety trials in Arkansas and other states in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program are online at www.ntep.org.
Bachelor’s and graduate degree programs in “horticulture, landscape and turf science” are offered by the horticulture department (hort.uark.edu) in Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.