Storms, heat and humidity are leaving their mark this year. Some commentary online has mentioned a repeat of 2012 so we will see how it goes. All students are now out on internships and some have already gone through a PGA tour event experience. We expect that everyone will get to sharpen their water management skills this summer based on what we have seen so far. Problems have started to mount with dollar spot activity, pythium on juvenile turf, red thread and leaf spot all rearing their head. The extreme high temperatures may have some respite over the weekend but forecast shows a return early next week (June 20th).

On the program front the loss of Dr Raudenbush was certainly a hit but Dr. Petrella has hit the ground running. Students very much appreciated his approach to teaching sensors and technology for moisture management while he has also done well on the research front with support and applications coming in from a state level and also projects aimed at federal funding.

As the summer progresses we will be announcing the date of the scholarship golf outing – most likely in October and a site is still TBD. A field day in Wooster is in the works this fall also which may tie into the scholarship day and we will be reaching out to look for related to projects. Dr Petrella also was able to complete the purchase of the Walz chlorophyll fluorescence camera and we would like to thank all of the state chapters for their support of this endeavor. Finally we will try to get out and about as much as possible this summer and if you want a visit feel free to reach out!

More to come from the OSU – ATI Turfrgass Management Program

After a hiatus due to COVID19 and changes on the staffing front we are still hanging in there. Currently the program is in the process of looking for a replacement for Dr. Raudenbush and we continue to see student numbers grow – although we can take more if needed! The summer has been a bit of a slow start so far with cooler temperatures and dry weather making for a relatively easy start so far. That should change soon however as we get into the heat of the summer. Further to that we are looking into possible sites for this years golf outing scholarship fundraiser and will have more updates soon! If there are any questions dont hesitate to reach out – nangle.1@osu.edu

For those of you who have been missing out on the blog dearly – here it is!

To say it has been busy would be an understatement, this spring we sent students to five states and three countries for their internships. Trials are located all across NE Ohio with a range of pests in focus. Further to that we have been busy working away with our EM certificate and our first students have embarked on their internships this summer from that program also. Field days for OLCA and OTF are coming up in Columbus and unbelievably school starts back in less than a month – just crazy.

On another note pencil in September 9th for our annual golf outing which we are hosting at Shay Hollow GC in Canton with ATI Graduate Chuck Hayes being the course superintendent. Finally keep an eye out for our weekly turfgrass team times – up to date information on issues surrounding turf management in Ohio through the summer from the OSU turf team. The last link is below for reference – we post these on the OTF website and also on our social media pages.

We have indeed been very quiet this past few months as time has flown by. As an update we would like to cover some of the research progress as well as industry work we have been involved in. Further to that we would like to extend congratulations to Dr. Raudenbush for his successful grant application from the USGA to continue his moss studies while Dr. Nangle and Dr. Gardner were awarded the Chuck Darrah research grant from OTF and OTRT in the Fall. Snow mold trials are in the ground along with our low input lawn trial located across the road from campus and thankfully winter turned up this weekend with a bang with many areas seeing 10-15″ of snow in the NE Ohio area.

In regards to this – check on ice formation – and hopefully we dont lose too much snow cover too rapidly – the current range of temperatures forecast could potentially cause issues for exposed Poa annua surfaces as they were not completely dormant prior to the snow event.

The golf outing in September was a huge success once again with over $13,000 raised for students who are in need. This event continues to grow from strength to strength and we would like to thank our supporters with Intelligro, Olliger Seed, Turfware, Don Bogner and D. Benfield in particular being very supportive. Dr’s Boone and Benfield were able to come out and attend the event which was rounded off by an excellent dinner at the clubhouse which was catered by the Buehlers Food Truck – the brisket went down a treat!

Dr. Boone out meeting the players during the scholarship outing in September

Dr Raudenbush has been around the region already with presentations in Ohio and Pennsylvania clocked up in the past few months while Dr Nangle has spoken in Ireland, Ohio and Colombia on his recent travels. Last week both Dr Raudenbush and Nangle spoke at the beautiful Beechmont CC in Cleveland for the Northern Ohio GCSA who are rapidly approaching a big milestone with their centennial coming soon.

Dr Raudenbush talking about mentoring at Beechmont CC 1-17-19

Further on from that the Ohio Turfgrass Conference and Show was a success with a sense of optimism at the show that we had not seen for some time. Students from ATI won multiple scholarships while coming a very close second to main campus in the annual turf bowl competition. We are currently sending 7 students to STMA in Phoenix as the interest in sportsturf continues to grow and 12 other students plan to attend GIS in San Diego in early February. Finally our new reel grinding class has begun with 6 students and instructor Mr Gary Bogdanksi who has come in to educate the students with his 30 yrs of experience – it has been an excellent class and the students are delighted with their experience.

If you are planning to attend GIS – look for the booth – we will be there once again!