Focus on plant health

Plant health is certainly not a new concept for superintendents. It has been an issue and concern since the first plants were cultivated. What is changing is the emphasis on considering a more comprehensive look at a variety of conditions that have an effect on plant growth.

According to Dr. Michelle DaCosta, associate professor of plant physiology at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, “Plant health encompasses a combination of a basic knowledge of plant growth, practices and products and how the interaction of these components helps or hinders plant growth.”

Grasses are under their own unique agronomic limitations. To provide the best conditions for a good game of golf, the turf plants are grown in often under less than optimum conditions. It is the superintendent’s job to know not only what grasses he is dealing with and under what conditions they grow best, but how to control what he can and prepare for what he can’t control.

Research into how overall health helps support stressed turf against disease and damage is important and ongoing. It’s especially important to see how management practices hold up in a real-world setting. “A combination of greenhouse and field research is crucial,” says DaCosta. “We look at ideas that come from small-scale tests in the greenhouse and then see how the best ones hold up under conditions in the field.

“Researchers are constantly looking at combinations of products, processes and conditions that will best address current issues faced by superintendents. We want to find the best combination that improves health and viability of turf systems.” Greenhouse tests give researchers the ability to more closely control and change a variety of conditions to determine plant performance under those conditions.

Superintendents manage irrigation and fertility programs that impact plant growth, vertical and lateral, above and below ground. They also have maintenance practices such as mowing frequency, timing and height of cut to take into consideration. There are many things they can control, but they also have to deal with the weather, over which they have no control, she says.

But they can control their inputs, and how they interact with other inputs and the turf. “There are many products that are available and marketed to enhance the capacity of turfgrasses to maintain active growth and stress resistance,” says DaCosta. “There are many visual things that are easy to observe. We can see how growth or color is maintained. We can see the effects of traffic stress, or susceptibility to diseases and insects. We can see how well the grass is growing, if it is rejuvenating itself. What affect are these new products having?”

She adds, “There is a physiological basis for why improvements in plant health may be observed, which include increasing the efficiency of how plants make sugars as well as stimulation of plant defense compounds. These changes are internal and difficult to see. So we have to rely on our visual observations to better understand how turfgrass growth and stress tolerance are impacted. We have to rely on the external results occurring from the internal.”

It pays to watch for new turf research, as well as running your own test areas on your course, she says. Team up with university researchers and work with USGA agronomists and other superintendents to get the best ideas for promoting a healthy turf program. Be open to new ideas, but don’t go all out with an idea until you have enough information to give you the confidence that you are providing the best conditions for your turf to grow at its best.