The Cut - Your Weekly AGCSA Update - 6 Aug 2010

 

Welcome to this edition of The Cut, the AGCSA’s weekly email update. This week we look ahead to the AGCSA water management workshops and the impending release of webcasts from the recent 26th Australian Turfgrass Conference. Enjoy the read…

AGCSA Water Management Workshops - Aug-Oct 2010

AGCSA environmental agronomist John Geary is currently finalising venues and dates for the upcoming AGCSA Water Management Review Workshops which will be held from late August through to October. Having already held similar workshops in Victoria and South Australia in March, eight workshops will be conducted in Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and New South Wales. At this stage the workshops will be held in the following locations:

• Ballina, NSW
• Port Macquarie, NSW
• Batemans Bay, NSW
• Sydney (NSWGCSA October Meeting) 
• Wodonga, VIC
• Launceston, TAS
• Brisbane, QLD
• Perth, WA

These invaluable workshops, which will be free for AGCSA members, will help superintendents develop a water management plan through the AGCSA’s Water Management Review template. The workshops will be held at local TAFE colleges so numbers will be limited. Stay tuned to next week’s edition of The Cut for final details.

Click here to find out more about the AGCSA Water Management Initiative and the Water Management Review.

Upcoming events to keep an eye out for...

While we are on the topic of upcoming events, here are a few for turf managers and superintendents to keep an eye out for...

The Globe Discovery Seminar Series enters its second week next week. After half day workshops in Townsville, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Newcastle this week, the roadshow stops off in Wagga Wagga, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth next week. Click here for more information, including venues, guest speakers and dates.
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Dr Dara Park of Clemson University, South Carolina will be guest speaker at the STA QLD’s Turf Water Issues Seminar to be held next Tuesday (10 August) at the DEEDI Redlands Research Station in Cleveland. Dr Park specialises in water and soil relationships in turfgrass systems and her research includes cultural management effects on quality and performance of golf course grasses, maximising water use efficiency of golf course turfgrasses by utilising soil surfactants, investigating alternative delivery systems and water sources for irrigating turfgrass and utilising spectral reflectance for documenting stress in golf course turf. Click here for more information about this seminar.
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The GCSAWA will be hosting its Annual General Meeting at Wembley Golf Complex next Tuesday.
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Bayer Environmental Science and Rain Bird are also set to announce seminars in the coming days so stay tuned to The Cut for further registration information.

26th Australian Turfgrass Conference presentation webcasts

The AGCSA is putting the finishing touches to webcasts from the recent 26th Australian Turfgrass Conference on the Gold Coast. The AGCSA hopes to release them next week so stay tuned to The Cut and AGCSA website for further details. Seventeen presentations, totalling nearly 12 hours, were videoed during the conference with all Tuesday Plenary sessions and Wednesday and Thursday golf stream sessions recorded. 

All fully registered delegates who attended the conference will be able to view all presentations free of charge, while those who didn’t attend the conference will be able to purchase access to either Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s or Thursday’s presentations. Two of the presentations outlining Horticulture Australia Limited-funded turf research projects – Matt Roche’s ‘Final Results from Warm-Season Greens Trials (HAL Project TU05001) and Andrew Peart’s Evaluating New Bentgrass Cultivars (HAL Project TU08002) – will be available for download free of charge.

For more information stay tuned to next week’s edition of The Cut or contact Brett Robinson at the AGCSA. 

 

Les Burdett roast videos uploaded to AGCSA website

At the 26th Australian Turfgrass Conference on the Gold Coast, retiring Adelaide Oval curator Les Burdett was honoured with the AGCSA’s highest honour – the Distinguished Service Award, presented in partnership with Scotts Australia.

At the end-of-conference Syngenta President's Dinner, an impromptu ‘roast’ was held for Les with good friends Richard Winter (Skilled Stadium) and John Lloyd (ex-Parliament House) delving into what makes one of Australia’s most acclaimed curators tick. The AGCSA videoed the roast and has uploaded four short videos on its website containing highlights from the roast.

Click here to view the videos on the AGCSA website. 

Bookshop special - Turfgrass Irrigation Water Quality

The AGCSA has just received a new shipment of Duncan, Carrow and Huck’s 2009 book Turfgrass and Landscape Irrigation Water Quality: Assessment and Management. Over 464 pages, the authors identify and present practical management options for problems that may occur over the whole spectrum of irrigation water movement, from issues occurring at the initial water source, delivery system, storage in lakes or ponds, application on grasses and soils and subsurface or surface environmental concerns. 

The book is split into four distinct sections – understanding assessment of irrigation water; irrigation water quality situations and management; management options for site-specific problems; and potential environmental concerns relating to the use of variable quality irrigation sources on landscapes and recreational turfgrass areas from the landscape to watershed levels. AGCSA members can purchase this book for just $165 (non-members price $195). To order you copy contact Lyndel Conway or call (03) 9548 8600.

Click here to read a review of this book.