The Whiteboard

Bayer backs bees

Bayer CropScience opened its North American Bee Care Center April 15 in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The 6,000-square-foot, $2.4 million center will support scientific research, product stewardship and sustainable agriculture to protect and improve honey bee health, as well as educate stakeholders and the general public about the beneficial insects.

The center has a laboratory with a teaching and research apiary, honey extraction and hive maintenance space; interactive learning center; meeting and training facilities for beekeepers, farmers and educators; office space for staff and graduate students; on-site honey bee colonies, pollinator-friendly gardens and a screened hive observation area.

The North American Bee Care Center, part of the company’s $12 million corporate-wide investment in bee health in 2014, brings together experts in agriculture and apiology to develop comprehensive solutions for bee health, including entomologists and apiarists, graduate researchers and more.

The facility complements Bayer’s Eastern Bee Care Technology Station, a 1,200-square-foot field station that opened in November in nearby Clayton, N.C. Bayer’s first Bee Care Center opened in 2012 at the company’s global headquarters in Monheim, Germany.
 

Setting a sustainable pace for golf

The 2013 Global Soil Survey showed how turf quality and playability didn’t necessarily mean heavy applications – nutrient levels could be much lower than previously thought possible. Researchers at PACE Turf and the Asian Turfgrass Center built sustainable soil guidelines using information from the survey to cut back on nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus by more than 50 percent without negative impacts to the turf.

Now in 2014, survey researchers are seeking additional turf managers who want to learn how to implement the new guidelines at their locations.

“Our findings challenge the soil nutritional guidelines that most of us have been using for years,” said survey researcher Dr. Larry Stowell of PACE Turf. “While these older guidelines all produced good quality turf, they frequently resulted in unnecessary applications of fertilizer. Today, when everyone is concerned about budgets and environmental impact, anything we can do to reduce inputs is going to be incredibly beneficial.”

The Global Soil Survey invites turf managers from around the world to participate by submitting three soil samples for analysis. Participants receive a kit that contains all of the materials needed to package and ship the soil samples taken from good performing areas of their facility. The samples are analyzed by Brookside Laboratories and the data interpreted by Dr. Micah Woods of the Asian Turfgrass Center and Dr. Stowell.

Survey participants receive a report that shows soil nutrient levels, predicts how much of each nutrient is required as fertilizer and shows where each nutrient is on a sustainability index. The data from each participant is also added to a large database of more than 17,000 soil samples, so that it can be used to refine and validate new, more precise soil guidelines. Available on the Global Soil Survey webpage at bit.ly/1kTbLT4, these “Minimum Levels for Sustainable Nutrition” guidelines and methods for implementing them will be updated periodically as the Global Soil Survey progresses, and will be accessible, free of charge, to the public.

For more information on the Global Soil Survey for Sustainable Turf or to order the $250 Global Survey kit, visit the Global Soil Survey webpage at bit.ly/1kTbLT4 or the Global Soil Survey Facebook page at www.facebook.com/globalsoilsurvey.
 

Mangum returns to hall of fame

Ken Mangum, certified golf course superintendent at Atlanta Athletic Club, will add another chapter to an already storied career when he is inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in January. Mangum will be one of four inductees in the class of 2015 and become only the third superintendent member of the Hall of Fame established in 1989. He will join Palmer Maples, Jr., CGCS, now retired, and Mark Esoda, CGCS, from Atlanta Country Club.

Mangum was inducted into the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association Hall of Fame in 2013.

This summer, Mangum will serve as host superintendent for the U.S. Amateur Championship. He hosted successful PGA Championships in 2011 and 2001 and the U.S. Women’s Open Championship in 1990. He also prepared the golf course for the U.S. Junior Championship in 2002.

Mangum has also shown up on the cover of GCI before, in a Q&A with Bruce Williams after the 2011 championships. Check out the interview at bit.ly/1g5veLP.
 

Click for pics

Notice anything missing in the magazine this month? If you’re reading the print edition, you’re missing out on an app-exclusive video from Turf Republic’s Bill Brown about using a GoPro camera effectively to show off the course. Oh, and the chance to win a brand new GoPro camera!

If you checked it out yet, use any iOS device to download the GCI native app and check out the new issue. Find the page with our exclusive video and just click the button to be eligible to win either a new toy for the course or some sweet GCI swag!
 

From the Feed

What do some superintendents have in common with Indiana Jones? As the season warms up, courses sometimes get visitors from the surrounding wilds – and some of them are more welcome than others!

Ed Martinez @emar7236
Found this guy in the pump house!!!#hatesnakes

Kasey Kauff @kaseykauff
Is that a python? Nick Janovich @njanovich I would never enter that pump house again.

Vinny @vinnyspano
Damn I’d rather have geese on my course than have to deal with that.

Ryan Howard @TWCRyanHoward
If that were my pump house it would be on fire right now! #ihatesnakes

Anthony Michael @AnthonysShop
Time to get a new pumphouse!

Todd Daniel @wtdaniel1
At least it’s not a big one. #ihatesnakes

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