Leaves of Grass: clipping volume from putting greens

These are the slides for my presentation on this topic at the 2018 Atlantic Golf Superintendents Association conference.

Transcript

1. Leaves of Grass: applications and implications of clipping volume Micah Woods February 21, 2018 Chief Scientist Asian Turfgrass Center www.asianturfgrass.com
2. Clipping volume? 1. What’s this about?
3. Clipping volume? 1. What’s this about? 2. How much time does it take?
4. Clipping volume? 1. What’s this about? 2. How much time does it take? 3. What are these data used for?
5. Clipping volume? 1. What’s this about? 2. How much time does it take? 3. What are these data used for? 4. What might these data be used for?
6. What’s this about?
10. Two green system, Kanagawa
11. Two green system, Kanagawa
12. Two green system, Saitama
13. Topdressing green, Saitama
14. Rolling greens, Shiga
15. Loading mower on kei-truck, Fukuoka
16. Monthly course maintenance records, Okinawa
17. Mowing greens, Fukuoka
18. Course maintenance compound, Shizuoka
20. What’s affected by the growth rate? • playability • divot recovery • ball mark recovery • some diseases • traffic damage • green speed • mowing requirement • thatch (and everything associated with its management)
21. Clipping volume, or clipping mass? Topdressing 1 green on 29 May 2017, Keya GC, Fukuoka
23. Clipping collection research, Chiba
24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Volume (L 100 m2) Dry weight (g m2) species bent champion korai Nichino Ryokka combined data 2015 & 2016
25. Current best estimate: volume to mass For creeping bentgrass putting green clippings, I expect: 10 mL ≈ 0.6 g
26. Current best estimate: volume to mass For creeping bentgrass putting green clippings, I expect: 10 mL ≈ 0.6 g
27. How much time does it take?
29. What are these data used for?
30. “Managing putting surfaces is, at its essence, about managing the growth rate of the turf … We’ve gathered daily growth rate data on the putting surfaces … This is all being done for the purpose of learning how to walk the razor’s edge of too much versus too little and ultimately optimize the quality of our putting surfaces.” Chris Tritabaugh in Optimize www.hazeltinenational.com/turf-blog/optimize
31. Growth rate, and its variability • day to day • green to green • machine to machine • year to year
36. KBC Augusta Tournament, 2013
47. What might these data be used for?
48. Other uses for the data • Fine tune nutrient supply based on harvest • When to mow again based on growth • Growth regulator effect • Topdressing requirement
49. 0 40 80 120 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month Monthly L/100 m2 year 2013 creeping bentgrass, 36° N
50. 0 40 80 120 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month Monthly L/100 m2 year 2013 2014 creeping bentgrass, 36° N
51. 0 40 80 120 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month Monthly L/100 m2 year 2013 2014 2015 creeping bentgrass, 36° N
52. 0 40 80 120 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month Monthly L/100 m2 year 2013 2014 2015 2016 creeping bentgrass, 36° N
53. Table 1: Annual clipping volume at that location from 2013 to 2016 Year Volume Estimated dry weight N applied L/100 m2 g/m2 lb/1000 ft2 2013 444 266 NA 2014 335 201 2.6 2015 287 172 2 2016 237 142 1.7
54. Keya GC, August
55. 2015 2016 2017 2014 2013 0 2 4 6 Jul 31 Aug 07 Aug 14 Aug 21 Aug 28 liters per 100 m2 Morning clipping volume, 7 day moving average
57. For more, please see www.asianturfgrass.com or @asianturfgrass on Twitter.