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Pine wilt can kill infected trees within a few weeks. The pine wood nematode does the damage, but it is the pine sawyer beetle that spreads the deadly nematode. Thus, disease measures for pine wilt involve control of the pine sawyer beetle.

Does adding more potassium improve drought resistance? This article by Rowland et al. takes an in-depth look at that important question. They looked at bermudagrass (Tifeagle and Tifdwarf), seashore paspalum (SeaDwarf), and zoysia (PristineFlora) grown in a USGA sand rootzone.

Phil Busey shared a chart and discussion that shows just how fast soil potassium (K) can decline. A calcareous sand rootzone with soil test K of 39 ppm was fertilized with 5 pounds of K2O per 1000 ft2 [25 g K2O m-2].

Doug Soldat reports on descreased pink snow mold associated with low soil potassium. First he describes the study: In 2011, we began a trial to attempt to identify the lowest level of soil potassium that would still provide high putting green quality.

As a follow-up to part 1 of this extraordinary interview with Don Mahaffey on Golf Club Atlas, here’s part 2. Don knows the golf and grass-growing business from the ground up, and he knows what he is talking about.

This is one of those “if I were a greenkeeper today, this is how I would do it” type of stories. At the Bethpage maintenance facility; research here demonstrates that use of EIQ can reduce environmental impact from 33 to 85% while producing the same quality turfgrass I was pleased to read the update from Jason Haines about his use of the EIQ (environmental impact quotient) and the results he is getting.

One of the columns I’ve really enjoyed reading is the Wisconsin Soils Report. In the May/June 2013 issue, Doug Soldat asked How reliable is soil testing?. He pointed out some of the limitations of soil testing—these limitations are probably more extensive than you thought—and provided some good advice about practical and effective soil testing.

Growing up and first working in the turfgrass industry in the United States, I naturally used US customary units: inches and feet, pounds and ounces, fluid ounces and gallons and so on.

This is an extraordinarily good video about grasses, mowing, construction, irrigation, soils, playability, maintenance cost, and more. If you are interested in these topics, watch this interview with Don Mahaffey.

On the eve of the 2014 World Cup, I had three quick things to share about football/soccer. Kashima Soccer Stadium, March 2014 I’d been to two matches at the Kashima Soccer Stadium (this was a venue for World Cup games in 2002) in the past year, one at the end of summer, and one at the beginning of spring.