Thailand

One of the interesting differences between zoysia varieties is their seedhead production. On putting greens, the seedheads have a white or silvery appearance. I’m not sure that golf players notice the seedheads, but the seedheads are obvious to turfgrass managers when they look at the sward.

I got to see a lot of beautiful and interesting turfgrass around the world in 2022. I looked through my photos from the year and chose these as my favorites.

Have you ever seen seedheads on zoysia? Have you ever planted zoysia sod and seen a lot of seeds on some pieces but not on others? I’ve seen this a lot, and I’m not the only one.

A view of the sixth hole at Nikanti GC near Bangkok. Brad Revill from BRT Agronomy has been working with #MLSN, #ClipVol, and #OM246 throughout Southeast Asia and with a few select clients in Australia.

Doug Soldat joined me for an ATC Office Hours discussion about leaf nutrient analyses (tissue testing) for turfgrass. I’ve embedded the video at the end of this post, link to it here, or listen to the podcast version here.

I’ve noticed that traffic—just enough traffic—can transform some grasses into an amazing type of surface. I’ve seen this with Cynodon in China, with Festuca in Iceland, and in other places as well, but those are a couple that come to mind.

I’ve been making estimates of N mineralization from soil organic matter for the past few years using the method described by Gilmour and Mauromoustakos in Nitrogen mineralization from soil organic matter: a sequential model.

Last year I wrote about manilagrass (Zoysia matrella) sod on highway medians in Thailand. I showed photos of a recently planted median, and explained why zoysia doesn’t persist in this environment when maintained without supplemental irrigation and regular mowing.

I see a lot of grass in driveways, parks, lawns, and fields when I run around southern Thailand. And because I can’t run very fast, and I happen to be curious about grasses, I get a pretty good look at what is growing.

This is usually where I show a map with all my flights, mention that they took me some hundred thousands of kilometers, and then share some of my favorite turf photos from all the places I went.