Read a snippet from a recent post:

“Minnesota was dealt another setback to spring yesterday. Over 9″ of snow fell at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport with areas northwest of the Metro receiving considerably more snowfall totals. Last year the club opened the earliest in its 114 year history, March 23.  This year we are on pace to break our latest opening of April 27, 1974.  I guess this is Mother Natures way of balancing the seasons and this is what gives us Averages. Personally I’m not a big fan of this method.”

To read more posts from Johnson, visit http://minikahdagrounds.blogspot.com. Or connect with other industry bloggers in your region by visiting our full list of Blogs We Like.

Whatever it is, we want to hear!

Tell us about a comical turfgrass management mistake you or someone from your crew has made. Share your story below.

I live in the suburbs and we have a healthy deer population that I constantly contend with.  Most of the time they are eating during the fall and winter, but this spring I have noticed that they are enjoying the daylilies as they emerge.

However, I have found a cheap and easy way to take care of this problem.  I mix 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons of hot sauce and 2 cups of water in my blender.  I then pour that into my sprayer and fill it to the 1 gallon mark and spray all of my plants that they target.  It has worked really well and is safe to your plants. While it does not last forever, it is effective for several weeks.  I simply reapply when the deer are active.  So for about a quarter, you have yourself a home made remedy.

The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay Golf Course Maintenance blog stands out for extensive use of photos and videos in its posts. In his blog, Carter provides insights into practical maintenance how-tos and fun updates on the numerous wildlife species seen around the course—including a bald eagles’ nest.

Read a snippet and watch the live streaming Eagle Cam referenced in this recent post:

“It has been great to see the attention the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project has received this year and we are very appreciative of all the articles, email and Facebook passes, and tweets that everyone has sent out. It has been especially thrilling to see entities such as TurfNet, The Golf Channel, and USGA spread the word about the project.”

To read more posts from Carter, visit http://bthbgcm.blogspot.com/. Or connect with other industry bloggers in your region by visiting our full list of Blogs We Like.

It has been 2 months since my colon cancer surgery, feeling better every day. I feel 98%, my wife just laughs after I have a bout of some abdominal pains after eating something that disagrees with me. Physically doing very well, and thank you all again for the kind thoughts, prayers, and well wishes!

I want to say that my territory has some of the best customers in the USA! At the GIS, and I think our team did an excellent job of setting up a very fun, educational, and exciting booth for the 2013 Golf Show in San Diego this year! Back to why I think we are the best….I have seven superintendents play the pyramid game and I think that combined they won like $3,700, with three guys winning 750 each! All that read this blog; you have that same opportunity by playing next year at the 2014 GIS in Orlando. Talk to your BASF rep, find the BASF booth, and get there to play, it’s a blast.

I am getting out to all parts of the territory making sure that distributors and end users know I am still alive. The West has been dry, and the weed and disease pressure has been low as a result. The farmers are happy, maybe 2 -3 less fungicide sprays. The golf and turf guys are happy with less herbicides applied and low disease pressure. They have to turn the irrigation on earlier.

Lots new at BASF, Orvego™ fungicide  are registered in California. Empress™ Intrinsic brand fungicide for the ornamental markets is on its way, and on the turf side of the business, Pylex™ herbicide, a postemergent for control of goosegrass, Bermudagrass, and other hard to control weeds is right around the corner.

Look for BASF in the trades to be doing great things in 2013 and beyond!

When prepping for winter, we always apply a preventative snow mold application. We use a well as our source for water, which has high levels of salinity, so we also apply gypsum, a calcium sulfate, to help offset the high levels of salt in our soil.

Before covering all 41 of our greens, we perform soil testing. To stay consistent, we always do our soil testing in November. We usually receive the results over the winter, which we then use to build our fertility programs for the following year.

We’ve gotten two big snowstorms this year – one in December and then again the last part of February. However, we don’t worry about the storms too much since the greens are covered and protected. One practice we do every year is monitor the greens with moisture meters. If the moisture levels are too low we will water the greens through the covers, but with the increased precipitation this year we haven’t had to water.

Looking toward spring, we’re in a better position now compared to last year. All the snow and rain we’ve gotten—along with the minimal frost—should help recharge our groundwater. Right now, we’re working on uncovering greens, cleaning them up and trusting that our fall snow mold applications protected us from the snow we did get. Then we’ll be ready to rock ‘n roll for the season.

Learn more about Rick and his turf maintenance department on his blog “Des Moines Golf & Country Club Greens & Grounds Department” http://dmgcc.blogspot.com/

Drawing from more than 20 years of experience (18 as a superintendent), Burlingame provides seasoned insights on a variety of golf course maintenance topics, as well as trends he sees in the industry. Burlingame’s career has included caring for golf courses in New York state, including Chautauqua, where he’s been since 2002.

We caught wind of Burlingame’s blog from a link he tweeted to @BASFTurf_US, in response to a request for #GIS13 posts. Here’s a peek at what he had to say:

“This week I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting not only some of the best superintendents in the world, but some of the finest individuals as well. Superintendents from my own state of New York to those in Indiana, Ontario, Australia, and Siberia to name a few, and who I likely would never have met without Twitter. It is amazing how much information can be shared in 140 characters or less and it has become a tool in this new world of golf course maintenance that has become as important to me as my soil probe and my equipment.”

To read the complete post—and others by Burlingame—visit http://cgcmaintenance.blogspot.com/. Or, connect with other industry bloggers by visiting our Turf Talk Blogs We Like blog roll.

Comment below and share your thoughts

Which industry tradeshows and/or educational events do you typically attend? What do you find most valuable about them? What’s the best piece of advice you’ve garnered from attending an educational session?

So you have heard the saying “Some things are harder to do than they appear”. Well, I found that out the hard way recently trying to ride a mechanical bull. Yep, I stayed on for about three seconds (see video)…. a saddle sure would have helped! However, that saying is no longer going to be the case with Bermudagrass control in most cool-season turf.  Pylex^TM herbicide will be available from BASF this summer and has proven to be the most effective Bermudagrass control product tested to date. Pylex herbicide is safe on Kentucky bluegrass, fine and tall fescue and perennial ryegrass and provides the greatest control when applied two to three times in mid to late summer in combination with triclopyr. Stay tuned for product availability in your state.