Turfgrass Management – Seventh Edition

 

Now in its seventh edition, Turfgrass Management was first published 20 years ago and provides a comprehensive reference tool for turf management students containing a comprehensive guide to principles underlying turfgrass establishment and management. In addition to updating information on cultural practices, as well as pesticides and other materials used in turfgrass management, improvements have been made in other areas of this edition including an expanded introductory chapter which delves into the history of turfgrass management and the turfgrass industry. As well, the chapter on turfgrass species has been updated, and a new section on water repellent soils.

Author Alfred Turgeon, who is professor of turfgrass management at Penn State University, describes his book as “a basic text” for beginning students of turfgrass science and management. He adds that in covering the important features of turfgrass systems, interactions between and among system components, and principles of turfgrass management, his book hopes to unlock some of the mysteries of turf and establish the role of cultural intervention.

For the benefit of students, illustrations are widely used to demonstrate concepts, processes and relationships of importance in turfgrass systems, while at the end of each chapter there are a series of questions which help to focus attention on key concepts outlined in the chapter. Following the introductory chapter, the second section looks at the turfgrass plant and how it develops into a sustainable turfgrass community, while the third chapter contains botanic descriptions, environmental adaptations, cultural requirements and uses of various turfgrass species.

Chapter four deals with the components of the environment, while chapters five and six delve into the array of primary and supplementary cultural practices for maintaining turf at desired levels. The seventh chapter examines the important aspect of turfgrass pest management, including those involved in the management of diseases, weeds, nematodes, insects and large-animal pests.

While the role of pesticides is examined, the chapter is concerned with pest management to the extent that pest problems can be reduced, or in some cases, eliminated by providing conditions that favour healthy turfgrass growth. Included in this edition is an eight-page colour insert featuring common weeds, diseases and turf insects. The penultimate chapter looks at propagation, while the final section attempts to bring it all together into integrated cultural systems for sustaining specific types of turf.