Magazine - Perspectives on Paspalum Seminar Yields new Research & Insights

By Stacie Zinn in General News on 12th Nov 2009 19:50

Nearly 100 turfgrass professionals from all around the globe traveled to South Carolina in September to attend a seminar on Seashore Paspalum. But there is no need to fret if you couldn’t make it to the event. Thanks to the internet, you can still attend… virtually.

Perspectives on Paspalum, a seminar focused on management issues of warm-season Seashore Paspalum grass, was held September 9, 2009, at Pine Lakes Country Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The event was video taped and the speaker’s presentations were recorded. By logging on to www.turfnet.com/commercial/environmentalturf/ you can participate in a webinar where you’ll hear the speaker’s voices and watch the slides of their PowerPoint presentations. Access to the presentations is FREE and available 24 hours a day.

Details of the PowerPoint webinars:
• Dr. J. Bryan Unruh of the University of Florida, provided an overview of paspalum and a research update on disease control in the grass.
• Randy Allen with course owner Burroughs Chapin, and Alan Jarvis, superintendent at event host club Pine Lakes, offered their insights in renovating their course and regrassing from bermudagrass to SeaDwarf® Seashore Paspalum. Jarvis said he achieved 90% coverage after only seven weeks into his grow-in process.
• John Shaver, superintendent at Rivers Edge GC in Shalotte, North Carolina, shared his experience as the first club to do a No-Till conversion from Bentgrass to Seashore Paspalum greens, specifically SeaDwarf®.
• Consultant Stewart T. Bennett, CGCS, of SaltScape Solutions, discussed the importance of soil testing to manage the soil when using salt for weed control or salty water as an irrigation source.
• Dr. Dennis Shepard of Syngenta talked about how using plant growth regulators (PGRs) on Paspalum could further help improve drought tolerance and reduce the amount of irrigation required.
Two videos from the event are also available for viewing online.
• A quick 4-minute summary video of the event features interviews with speakers and attendees.
• One of the highlights of the event was the panel discussion featuring four respected paspalum superintendents discussing their personal experience with the grass. The panelists were: Billy Harkins of Sterling Links in Richmond Hill, GA.; Kevin Shields of Tuscany Reserve in Naples, FL; along with Alan and John Shaver. Questions from the audience and the speaker's comments offered invaluable insights into managing and using Seashore Paspalum. This runs 40 minutes.

To watch the videos visit: www.turfnet.com/commercial/environmentalturf/


Marketed and licensed world-wide by Environmental Turf, SeaDwarf® Seashore Paspalum is the only true dwarf variety of all commercially available Seashore Paspalum turfgrasses. It may be used on athletic fields, on golf courses from tee-to-green, on lawns and parks. SeaDwarf® is an environmentally friendly turfgrass in that it requires up to 50% less water and up to 75% less nitrogen fertilizer than bermudagrass. Alternative water sources such as effluent or brackish water may be used as an irrigation source. SeaDwarf® tolerates high levels of salt from salt spray or irrigation. Salt may be used on SeaDwarf® as an herbicide to kill weeds.

Perspectives on Paspalum was sponsored by: Environmental Turf, Modern Turf, Viveros de Pastos Finos and SeaDwarf® Holdings International, LLC. If you’d like an invitation to next year’s event, location to be determined, please send us an email at: info@environmentalturf.com

Environmental Turf, Inc., is an award-winning firm dedicated to the research, development, marketing and distribution of environmentally-friendly warm-season turfgrasses. Based in Avon Park, Florida, Environmental Turf licenses quality sod producers world-wide to grow its environmentally friendly turfgrasses. For general information about SeaDwarf®, visit: www.environmentalturf.com or find us on Facebook at: www.environmentalturf.com/facebook/

Read more articles in General News, by Stacie Zinn or from November 2009.