Geoponics Blog

Turfgrass species are numerous and selection of the best species is one of the most important decisions to make, especially for establishing a sustainable playing surface for golf and other sports.

Selecting a grass species adapted to your area that has management requirements you can sustain affordably is important.

Here are some key factors to consider when selecting your turf type:

• Worn areas recover quickly and are traffic tolerant
• Speed of seed germination, growth and establishment
• Ability to grow at various temperatures
• Grass color for aesthetics and soil temperature
• Drought and water tolerance
• Heat and cold tolerance
• Resistance to disease
• Attraction of pests
• Likelihood of being overcome by weeds
• Salt tolerance (increasingly needed at golf courses using effluent water)

The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program collects information on 17 turfgrass species in the U.S. and Canada by conducting trials in 46 locations, collecting and disseminating information about these turfgrass species’ quality, color, density, resistance to diseases, pest resistance; heat, cold, drought and water tolerance; overall growth and tolerance to high traffic and compaction stress.

While some species are more resistant to pest and disease and some species are more tolerant of climate variations and high traffic, none are immune to any of these factors.

Other resources:

www.NTEP.org   National Turfgrass Evaluation Program for annual turfgrass ratings and understanding what they mean

www.USGA.org  U.S. Golf Association for best management practices and other resources for turf growers, golf course superintendents and managers.

Once you’ve selected your turf, Geoponics products can help to keep management costs low and quality high with products to manage compaction, sodium in the soil and other factors by getting water movement through the soil profile, as well as increasing oxygen, soil biodiversity and microbial diversity. Turf colorants also provide a USGA recommended alternative to overseed that is not only less expensive and demands less water and other resources, the colorants also increase the health of the soil and plant.

Contact us today for more information about our soil surfactants, turf colorants and other products.

Geoponics held a wildlife photo contest this April on social media with a chance to win a sample of Endurant turf colorant and other gear. Here are the entries:

Sent in via Twitter from users  Tom Taylor and ClayHomerun:

Bear video at the Naples Zoo shared by videographer/ photographer Robb Stan via Facebook. This is one famous bear!

It started with a photograph of a black bear seated and eating at a picnic table that made the Today Show. Then, Southwest Florida Television decided to go back to Naples Zoo for a video of the picnic table bear during a morning meal from the handler! Everyone seems to enjoy the sight!

(FYI: Wondering what the spots are on his back? These are winter coat areas that he is shedding. Sources: Southwest Florida Television and Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens and Robb Stan)
Visit the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens and see the now famous bear for yourself!

Native Bird Boxes sent in these two photographs of Eastern Screech Owls. Brian Beckner of Native Bird Boxes brings wildlife to golf courses and other properties across the country and even growing worldwide. He creates wildlife habitats with boxes tailored for the species and property, monitoring the boxes to ensure all is well. Learn more about that here. These are Native Bird Boxes entries:

Another Eastern Screech Owl from Native Bird Boxes:

Deer on the golf course at Salisbury Country Club, VA, entered by Mark Paris via Facebook:

Baby Gator. Michael Sullivan shared this photo of a young alligator in the Doral Canal in Dade County, on Florida’s east coast.

The WILD MEN of turf! The funniest photo. This photo was originally seen on Google+ from CGCS Justin Ruiz, and we loved it. It’s now been shared on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Guess the winner!

Stay tuned for upcoming contests for chances to win Endurant Turf Colorant and other prizes for professional turf care. Follow us on Twitter. Become a Facebook fan. Get in our circles on Google+.

It IS easy being green!

Memphis Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee painted their dormant Bermuda greens with Endurant turf colorant. They shared a video of their use of Endurant Turf Colorant on Bermuda greens and Zoysia grass tees over the course of a couple of months, giving the club’s turf a gorgeous green over winter and a smooth transition this spring.
“You can really see how easy this is,” said Memphis Country Club Golf Course Superintendent Rodney Yingle as he recorded the process in December, January and February.

The colorant is uniform and the edges are easy to paint.

See for yourself!

Endurant turf paint: Being green IS easy on these dormant Bermuda greens

 “It looks like a nice green, an overseeded green,” Yingle said.

The difference between using the colorant and overseed is that the Endurant saved the course money, reduced water demand and usage of other turf care products. That’s why the colorant is so strongly recommended by the USGA.

It’s not just about the looks either– it’s also better for the health of the soil and the turf.

The color retention was astounding during an extremely cold winter, said Yingle, who has chosen paint instead of overseed for about 20 years.
“This is why we like this paint. It blends out really well. It retains its darker color which is going to help us green up this spring,” he said of the Endurant.

The turf is healthier, keeping the soil temperature a little warmer.

“It’s friendly on our pumps more so than any paint we’ve tried,” Yingle said.
All the while, the course is choosing agronomy over aesthetics.

You could win Endurant! Check out our current wildlife photo contest on Facebook and Twitter. Tag Geoponics in a wildlife photo and check for new contests coming monthly.  Other prizes also available! 

Men’s Journal captured the challenges faced by golf course superintendents everywhere as Masters Week 2014 comes to a close. Brace yourself for the expectations that your course looks and plays just like Augusta.  But maybe you don’t have that underground piping sucking out any extra water in the soil or an unlimited budget or a volunteer staff so happy just to be there and so huge they could make a small city.  We know.

Geoponics is a Naples-based company, so it was great to see the national magazine talk to a Naples, Fla., golf course superintendent in the article from writer Charlie Hanger.  The Men’s Journal article also features some interesting figures on how Augusta’s water management saves on chemicals– however it’s not light on fuel, according to the reporting.

Read the original story here.

In the mean time, what do you think? With a rise in rustic courses, do you think environmental care is trumping manicured (perhaps overly manicured) golf courses and landscapes in some cases?

Ireland and Scotland are home to some of the best, oldest and most famous golf courses in the world. Water management, flushing sodium from soil and other practices are key to their success.

Geoponics and ProGrass partner to offer the top golf clubs of Ireland & Scotland products to best manage all sorts of soil conditions, including silty, heavy soil, salty ground water and limestone. Penterra, the world’s fastest-acting soil surfactant, helps deal with surface water, minimizing disease susceptibility. Meanwhile, Detox flushes sodium from the soil.

Here is a look at some of the gorgeous clubs from a previous visit by Geoponics and ProGrass, a distributor servicing the golf courses and athletic fields of Ireland, Scotland and all of the U.K.