SportsSports TurfTurf ManagerManager FOR BETTER, SAFER SPORTS TURF. WINTER 2013. VOL. 26. NO. 4. Optimizing Your Fertilizer Applications Sean R. Jordan, T.Ag., Technical Agrologist Efficiency noun \ ih-fish-uhn-see\: 1. the state or quality of being his article is written efficient; competency in performance. 2. accomplishment of, or The following will look at based on the presentation ability to accomplish, a job with a minimum expenditure of time where this happens and where “Optimizing Fertility” and effort. management programs can be given at the Sports Turf adjusted to make the most of TAssociation Ontario Field Day in September and deals with the time and money spent planning fertilizer programs. improving the efficiency of applied fertilizer and amendment To best understand how to get the most of fertilizer and products. amendment applications, we must first look at where losses occur. The following points are presented in no particular order; they all Efficiency and Where Losses Occur directly contribute to less-than-expected results. Being well into fall, we are transitioning out of the season of “go, go, go” turf management where many days we are happy if we are Timing. Apply fertilizers or amendments when they can be able to perform the basic tasks ahead of the sports, both organized best utilized by the turf. Whether adding nutrients to the soil or and not, played on our fields. The months ahead will be filled with directly into the plant by way of the foliage, you’ll want to plan repairing, replacing, purchasing and just simply recharging our your application based on when the applied nutrients are of most own batteries in between spurts of snow removal. The fall and use to the plant. Consult the accompanying technical materials or winter are also when many purchases of the necessary inputs such fertilizer supplier for more information on timing. as fertilizers and seed are made. Hours will be spent looking over soil test reports, considering user group scheduling and looking Imbalances. Liebig's Law of the Minimum states: “growth is at budgets, to decide on the right products to apply. Despite the controlled not by the total amount of resources available, but by best planning and products, losses in efficiency can still occur. CONTINUED INSIDE ON PAGES 6-8 Inside Features 9 IMPACT OF TURFGRASS 13 AIR-SUPPORTED STRUCTURES AND SYNTHETIC FERTILIZATION ON NUTRIENT LOSSES TURF FIELDS A building system that allows for THROUGH RUNNOFF AND LEACHING indoor play on synthetic turf fields. A project established at the 18 FROM ROYAL CITY TO TIGER TOWN Université Laval, Québec City, QC. A Q&A story of the Ti-Cats in Guelph. .ca 2 Winter 2013 Sports Turf Manager 2013-03 SportTurf Ad.indd 1 3/13/13 1:19 PM Sports Turf Manager FOR BETTER, SAFER SPORTS TURF. WINTER 2013. “Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” ~ Victor Hugo WHAT’S ONLINE www.sportsturfassociation.com Your email address must be registered with us to log-in Inside this issue... to the Members Only Section REGULAR COLUMNS, DEPARTMENTS & SMALL FEATURES Login to the Members Only Section 4 The President’s Desk. Events, past, present and future. · Registration Form for STA members for the Sports Turf 5 Event Calendar. Symposiums and Conferences. Early Bird deadlines are Managers Association Annual quickly approaching so register today! Conference & Exhibition in Opinions expressed in articles published in Sports Turf Manager are those of the author January and not necessarily those of the STA. · 2014 Board of Directors Slate of Nominees and information for the STA Annual General Meeting Deadline3 Winter 2013for Spring Sports Turf 2014 Manager Sports Turf Manager: March 7 as it becomes available Sports Turf Manager Volume 26, Issue 4, ISSN 1201-3765 president’s Desk is the offi cial publication of the BY PAUL GILLEN SPORTS TURF ASSOCIATION INC. 328 Victoria Road South Guelph, ON N1L 0H2 elcome to the Winter edition of your association’s newsletter. Your Tel: (519) 763-9431 executive has been very active during the late summer and early fall Fax: (519) 766-1704 and there will be some exiting new announcements coming later this E-mail: [email protected] year and into the spring. Watch your emails for updates and visit the Web: www.sportsturfassociation.com W website often during the winter months. BOARD OF DIRECTORS STA, together with the Ontario Recreation Facilities Association, presented PRESIDENT Paul Gillen in November an Introduction to Synthetic Turf and Air-Supported Structures VICE PRESIDENT Tennessee Propedo workshop at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute and University of Guelph. Thank you PAST-PRESIDENT Gord Dol to our speakers Mark Nicholls, Turf Industry/UBU Sports, Gord Dol, Dol Turf SECRETARY Andrew Gaydon Restoration/Sports Turf International, and Ian McCormick, The Farley Group. TREASURER Ben Tymchyshyn After the morning indoor sessions we bussed over to the University of Guelph EXECUTIVE MANAGER Lee Huether campus where Bill Clausen, Frank Cain and Andrew Godard took us on a tour of the synthetic turf fi elds, Fieldhouse and Alumni Stadium. Thanks gentlemen! DIRECTORS Tab Buckner, Bill Clausen, And thank you to all who joined us on the sunny but very cold excursion! If John D’Ovidio,Terry Henderson, you were unable to attend this event, Ian McCormick has provided us with an Gord Horsman, Jason Inwood, article inside offering you an introduction to air-supported structures. There will Bob Kennedy, Ken Pavely, Paul Turner, also be sessions on synthetic turf in the programs of all three of the upcoming David Warden conferences for sports turf managers. See the Event Calendar for dates and details for the Sports Turf Managers Association Conference & Exhibition, the Ontario SPORTS TURF MANAGER Turfgrass Symposium, and the Canadian International Turfgrass Conference & is published quarterly by the STA for free distribution to its membership. Trade Show. We hope to see you at one of them! An annual subscription may be Speaking of sports fi elds and the cold, when you receive this issue the Grey obtained for $125/year. Please Cup will have been decided... Hamilton versus Saskatchewan – should be a great direct advertising inquiries to game in a frigid Regina venue! Read in this issue how the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Lee Huether at the STA offi ce. came to play their 2013 season "home away from home" games in Guelph, just up the road from their actual home in Hamilton, Ontario. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Ken Pavely, Ben Tymchyshyn That’s it for me! and Lee Huether PUBLISHER Our very best wishes for a safe holiday season and happy New Year. • Jackie Ranahan Mach One Communications Tel: (519) 846-0446 E-mail: [email protected] CANADA POST PUBLICATIONS MAIL SALES AGREEMENT No. 40031883 STA OFFICE HOURS Lee Huether is in the offi ce from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Tuesday through Friday. At other times, a message may be left on the voice mail system. Please include the vital information of name, telephone number with area code, and time of calling. The offi ce may On the fi eld session at Alumni Stadium, University of Guelph. be reached at any time by faxing (519) 766-1704 or via e-mail. 4 Winter 2013 Sports Turf Manager Event Calendar December 15 February 17 to 21 Early Bird Registration Deadline Western Canada Turfgrass Association/ ASSOCIATION EVENTS ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN GREEN Sports Turf Managers Association Canadian Golf Superintendents Association Conference & Exhibition Canadian International Turfgrass Conference & Trade Show San Antonio, Texas Vancouver, BC www.stma.org www.wcta-online.com STA members can register at STMA rates! February 19 and 20 2014 Ontario Turfgrass Symposium January 7 to 9 The Changing Face of Turf Landscape Ontario Congress University of Guelph Toronto, Ontario Guelph, ON www.locongress.com www.turfsymposium.ca January 10 April 28 to May 1 Early Bird Registration Deadline Sports Turf Association Ontario Turfgrass Symposium Sports Turf Management & Maintenance Course The Changing Face of Turf University of Guelph University of Guelph Guelph, ON Guelph, ON www.sportsturfassociation.com/STMM Course www.turfsymposium.ca May 1 January 21 to 24 Sports Turf Association Sports Turf Managers Association Robert W. Sheard Scholarship Deadline Conference & Exhibition www.sportsturfassociation.com/Awards & Scholarship San Antonio, Texas www.stma.org STA members can register at STMA rates! January 27 to February 21 University of Guelph Turf Managers’ Short course Guelph, ON www.turfmanagers.ca P.O. Box 629 Office: 519-510-TURF (8873) 80 William St. W. Fax: 519-510-8875 Harriston, ON, N0G 1Z0 Email: [email protected] www.sportsturfassociation.com 5 Optimizing Your Fertilizer Applications Continued from page 1 Figure 1. Spreader alignment for pan test (photo courtesy of Ferti Figure 2. Evenly spaced pans to either side of path of travel (photo Technologies) courtesy of Ferti Technologies) the scarcest resource.” This means that all of the 14 essential industry as whole. As such, most of the products we enjoy using nutrients required for plant growth must be present in at least in turfgrass management were developed for use in agricultural the minimal amount. Although some soils exist with natural and/or greenhouse production. We enjoy fruits of the labour spent imbalances that are nearly impossible to overcome solely through developing fertilizer and pesticide products for those industries, fertilizer and amendment applications (e.g. high calcium levels along with a preview of how they can be best utilized for turfgrass. of southern Ontario), most issues can be dealt with once they Among these are slow release nutrient technologies. are detected. Several methods exist to determine the nutritional Most slow release research deals with the nutrient required state of the soil medium in which turf is grown including soil in the greatest quantity by the plant: nitrogen.