Topdressing.biz News: Please visit this site: Beacon Athletics and read their topdressing material information

This site is full of good educational sports field resources. Click on the tab by the same name and see all the resources they have on field maintenance equipment and supplies.

You can also find information about topdressing materials here

http://www.beaconathletics.com/

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Topdressing.biz News: Athletic Field Turfgrass Response to Calcined Clay Topdressing

prepared by David D. Minner and Jeffrey J. Salmond, 1999 Iowa Turfgrass Research Report

Concepts:

http://www.topdressing.biz, topdressing, plots, Turface, sand, calcined clay, treatments, topdressing materials, soil, practice field, turfgrass, turf, renovation schedule, plugs, cultivars, individual plot.

Summary:
1999 Iowa Turfgrass Research Report Athletic Field Turfgrass Response to Calcined Clay Topdressing David D. Minner and Jeffrey J. Salmond Inorganic amendments have been used to amend soils that are compacted by excessive traffic.Our objective was to evaluate Turface as a topdressing material and its effects on turfgrass growth.A study was initiated in August 1996 to evaluate calcined clay (Turface MVP) as a topdressing material.The study was conducted on an irrigated practice field containing native clay loam soil.Treatments consisted of two topdressing materials, Turface or sand, with six replications.Six plots were topdressed with Turface (4500 total sq.ft.) and six plots were topdressed with sand (4500 total sq.ft.).In the worn areas of the study and where soil is exposed, the Turface maintains a drier surface and improves playing conditions.

Topdressing.biz News: Topdressing Material Articles

Although somewhat dated we would like for you to see these articles content which is still very applicable when it comes to choose and apply topdressing materials.

Greens Maintenance
The superintendent must develop a topdressing material with all of these ...
Even after developing a topdressing material, he must also decide when to ...

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/greens.html


Effective greens topdressing depends on approach
You should place as much emphasis on selecting topdressing material and implementing
the greens-topdressing program as you do on selecting the soil mix and ...

http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_effective_greens_topdressing/



Working the Topdressing In and Rolling Greens Revisited
topdressing material per 1000 square. feet is being applied, and a variety of
... of topdressing material into deep-tine aerification holes. ...

http://turf.lib.msu.edu/1990s/1991/910303.pdf


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Topdressing.biz News: Topdressing Forums discussion about Topdressing as a business

In the Topdressing Forums one of our frequent contributors just answerd an aspiring topdressing applicator. This contributor pointed out the similarities and the complementary nature of topdressing and fertilization. For more information please click here:

http://topdressing.biz/forums/index.php/topic,2.msg12.html#msg12


Concepts:

lawn, topdressing, compost, cost, spreading, aeration, skid, travel time, soil, aids, separate, fertilizer, comparing, moderator, Report.

Summary:
Whitedove You may want to quit comparing topdressing to a fertilizer program, it will never show an exact cost justification.Compost is not considered a fertilizer by the US Compost council because of all the different inputs and N P K values it would be a nightmare to regulate.It is a soil amendment that when combined with aeration can improve the soil microbiology, help level the lawn and aid in producing a turf that is more drought tolerant.When you look at the cost it will appeal more to the upper end homes who can afford it.If you are actually spreading on a 1/2 acre lawn and the cost to you for the compost is $14 if you double that it would be $420 for the lawn.

Topedressing.biz News:Turfgrass Management at South Florida Turf EXPO March 23rd

If you are from Florida or from up North and you need a break www.topdressing.biz recommends for you to attend the South Florida Turf Expo, enjoy the weather and get some of your CEU's done at the same time.


Concepts:

turf, Florida, turfgrass management, golf course, education, GCSAA, South Florida, Environmental Turf, Fort Lauderdale, approval code, control, biology, sessions, pest, lunch, topdressing.

Summary:

The South Florida Turf EXPO, Thursday, March 23, 2006, is approved for 4 pesticide CEUs (not CORE) plus 0.35 GCSAA continuing education units.The program, also known as the 19th Annual SFGCSA Exposition/Field Day at the Otto Schmeisser Research Green, is from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm on March 23 at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, 3205 College Ave., Davie, FL 33314.South Florida Turf EXPO is co-sponsored by Environmental Turf, Inc., Hector Turf, Kilpatrick Turf, and ShowTurf, Inc., in conjunction with the South Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association.There will be another scrumptious barbecue lunch generously provided by Environmental Turf, Inc.Following morning field tours of active research on pest management and water quality protection, there will a show of equipment and products for turfgrass managers, followed after lunch by concurrent sessions for golf course mechanics, spray techs, and irrigation technicians, and a superintendent session with Bayer's Jeff Michel, M.S., and the University of Florida's Dr. Billy Crow on biology and control of mole crickets and nematodes.For GCSAA education units, a copy of the approval code notice will be provided towards the end of the event, and GCSAA members must submit the event approval code to GCSAA headquarters within 30 days after the event.

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Topdressing.biz News: Another way of topdressing is explained in the Joplin Globe - Online Editions

http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=231923&c=108

Concepts:

topdressing wheat, Joplin Globe, pounds, GreenSeeker, acre, corn, cost, farmers, plants, plots, planting, Oklahoma, Rendel, Editor, OSU.

Summary:

- Brent Rendel gets a lot of looks from people when he walks across one of his family's wheat fields in Northeast Oklahoma with something resembling a metal detector.He's not with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency looking for lead and zinc levels, nor is he looking for the odd chunk of metal or abandoned coins.They see him using a GreenSeeker Variable Rate Applicator meter on one of the 38 wheat fields farmed by his family.The meter feeds information to a computer program that reports on nitrogen needs for each field to get the desired level of grain production.The recommendation is based on growing conditions being ideal from the time the reading is made until grain is harvested.Data include things such as current Oklahoma weather information.The Ottawa County Extension Service office is one of 14 in the state where Oklahoma State University has provided a GreenSeeker unit at no cost.The unit would cost about $4,000 for individual farmers to buy, said Stan Fimple, Ottawa County extension agent.He attended a school last year to learn about the system and was successful in getting OSU to do GreenSeeker demonstrations on fields of wheat and corn in 2005."We will have it as long as farmers show an interest to use it," Fimple said.Using it means setting aside a small portion of each field where extra levels of nitrogen are applied in addition to the nitrogen put on over the field at planting.These plots become monitors for the GreenSeeker to measure in addition to the rest of the field.The Rendel family applies 25 pounds of nitrogen per acre at planting, and 75 pounds as topdressing about this time of year.The goal is to harvest 50 bushels of wheat per acre.The rule of thumb is two pounds of nitrogen can generate a bushel of wheat, he said.Last fall, he applied 25 pounds of nitrogen over all his wheat fields and then put on either 50, 75 or 125 pounds extra nitrogen in the test plots for each field.He finds some fields where plots with extra nitrogen can be seen with larger and greener plants, but no change in others.The field in the test matched the 40-bushel average for the farm.Roger Teal, OSU plant and soil scientist, talked about the GreenSeeker system at a meeting Feb. 16 in Afton.

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Topdressing.biz News: Topdressing with an Airplane rather than a Manure Spreader

We have on our website http://www.topdressing.biz deliniated the history of topdressing with wheelbarrows, shovels, topdressers and aerators, but we should not forget the bretheren todressers in Newzealand. Here is their story:
History of aerial topdressing in New Zealand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_topdressingConcepts:
Zealand, topdressing, aircraft, edit, superphosphate, Tiger Moth, farmers, pilot, Agriculture, tons, spread, aerial-topdressing, seeds, Pritchard, air.
Summary:
Aerial topdressing is the spreading of fertilisers such as superphosphate over farm land.Aerial Topdressing was developed in New Zealand in the 1940s and was rapidly adopted elsewhere in the 1950s.For spraying of insecticides and fungicides, by air, see crop dusting, for more general information about agricultural aircraft see aerial application.The first known aerial application of agricultural materials was by John Chaytor, who in 1906 spread seed over a swamped valley floor in Wairoa, New Zealand, using a hot air balloon with mobile tethers.The first known use of a heavier than air machine occurred on 3 August 1921 when as the result of advocacy by Dr Coad, a USAAC Curtiss JN4 Jenny piloted by John MacReady was used to spread lead arsenate to kill catalpha sphinx caterpillars near Troy, Ohio in the United States.The first commercial operations were attempted in the US 1924 and use of insecticide and fungicide for crop dusting slowly spread in the Americas and to a lesser extent other nations.Crop dusting poisons enjoyed a boom in the US and Europe after World War II until the environmental impact of widespread use became clear, particularly after the publishing of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.Spreading Superphosphate by agricultural aircraft was independently suggested by two New Zealanders, John Lambert of Hunterville and Len Daniell of Wairere in 1926.There was some publicity when in 1936 Hawkes Bay farmer Harold McHardy used a de Havilland Gypsy Moth to sow clover seed on his own land.This lead the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council to decide to fund aerial sowing and topdressing trials to prevent erosion in 1937, but little progress was made, despite strong advocacy by Doug Campbell.Eventually Esmond Gibson would get that law change, but long before that news of early experiments was spread by an article was a published by a government pilot for the Ministry of Works who simply took the risk of publishing an article showing he broke the law.Alan Pritchard pilot for the New Zealand Public Works Department, recalls the idea of spreading seed occurred to him as he was flying E Madden of the Ministry of Works in a Moth, sharing grapes and throwing the seeds out of the open cockpits.A few months later, he was prevented from conducting an aerial survey in Northland when the Ministry's Miles Whitney Straight ZK AFH was grounded by bad weather.As a result in 1945 the Department of Agriculture estimated aerial topdressing would cost about £4 per ton of fertiliser (on a basis of 2 cwt per acre), which was economic, (in actual fact, this price turned out to be a significant overestimate).The lack of a lid for the hopper initially resulted in irritating dust spreading through the aircraft in turbulence, in cold wet conditions it was necessary to heat the hopper to prevent the fertiliser coagulating, while in dry conditions the powder tended to disperse in the wind before reaching the ground.Between the second world war and the cold war, the RNZAF was a large and competent organisation without a lot of work to do.It responded enthusiastically to Campbell's suggestion, initially proposing to use Tiger Moth and DC-3 aircraft, but concerns about corrosion lead them to use "expendable" war surplus Grumman Avengers.Trials proceeded to hill country at Te Mata near Raglan, and were extended to three other sites.The "Topdress III" trials culminated on 21 May 1949, with a demonstration drop on eleven different properties close to Masterton in front of large numbers of farmers and press.By Fieldâ¬(TM)s death in 1981, Fieldair was the largest aerial-topdressing company in New Zealand.According to legend, a hungry Fieldair pilot flying between airstrips saw a single goose which looked like dinner.A hundred feet over a gully the goose broke towards the aircraft, and hit the prop, breaking it.Wally Harding, a pioneer Waiouru farmer converted his Tiger Moth into a top dresser in 1949 to use on his own not particularly productive high country station.By 1954 the company added the first Fletcher produced to its five Tiger Moths.Ossie James was another pilot and farmer who started with a Tiger Moth salvaged from floodwaters in 1948 and progressed to owning the largest fleet of Fletchers in the country.James Aviation flew a number of DC 3s and Lodestars as well as Fletchers.James was heavily involved in the New Zealand International Field Days, Salvation Army and Waikato Aero Club.By 1956 there were 182 aerial topdressing Tigermoths but it was obvious the lightweight Tiger Moths would need to be replaced.At the beginning of the 1950s there were no specialist designs for even crop dusters, due to the proliferation of World War II surplus trainers.Bits of Harvard were used by Luigi Pellerini to make most of the bizarre twin-tailed cockpit over the engine Bennett Airtruck, flight tested at Te Kuiti in 1950, surprisingly not only had a long and successful career but was put into production (as an all new built aircraft) in Australia, becoming the Transavia Airtruck â¬" and later played a bitsa in the Mad Max movies.In Britain Auster produced the Auster Agricola and Percival the Percival EP-9 for the New Zealand market, both robust but primitive fabric covered aircraft, while in Australia the small but more advanced Yeoman Cropmaster was developed.Cable Price Corporation funded two prototypes with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board acting as financial guarantor; Gibson having brow beaten a reluctant Fletcher board into building a prototype, Airparts was formed to assemble the American kits.The first prototype was flown in America in June 1954, the second in New Zealand in September 1954 and received type approval in May 1955.The Fletcher was responsible for starting New Zealand's small aircraft building industry.Having taken over from Air Parts and AESL, Pacific Aerospace is the manufacturer of the PAC Fletcher and the similar but larger and turboprop powered PAC Cresco, as well as the PAC 750XL and PAC CT/4 Airtrainer, Pacific Aerospace of Hamilton is New Zealand's largest aircraft manufacturer.By 1958 there were 73 aerial topdressing firms in New Zealand, flying 279 aircraft - but although the amount of superphospate dropped and the acreage it fell on would continue to increase, from now on the numbers of companies aircraft and pilots dropped, as the larger more expensive Fletchers came to dominate the market and the one man companies that began in the 1940s were amalgamated.The mining of superphosphate from guano deposits on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru temporarily made the island one of the richest nations in the world, per capita, but removed most of the soil from the island, creating a pitted moonscape.D.A. Campbell Some observations on Top dressing in New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology Volume X 1948 (the article which started the industry).Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Topdressing Government Press, Wellington, 1973.

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Topdressing.biz News: The Pesticide Ban according to The Orangeville Banner in trouble

http://www.northpeel.com/br/orangeville/news/story/3358223p-3886938c.html

Concepts:
Topdressing and aeration are not discussed, bylaw, pesticides, education, council, residents, meeting, cost, lawn, ban, draft bylaw, homeowner, Orangeville, lawn care, restricting, treatments.

Summary:
The cost of using alternative and organic treatments on town land, instead of pesticides, is likely beyond the town's current financial capabilities.The document, authored by the mayor's environmental advisory committee (MEAC), was met with wide criticism from both residents and members of council at Monday night's public meeting.While many cited the draft bylaw as heavy-handed, others said it wasn't restrictive enough -- but most agreed the document was confusing and, in areas, incomplete.In short, it seeks a ban during July and August, spot spraying limited to 20 per cent of a landscape within a 30-day period, and requires commercial applicators to be IPM (integrated pest management) accredited.First to comment was Deputy Mayor Jim MacGregor, who said directly he wouldn't endorse the bylaw as drafted and offered specific amendments to the document.Gail Campbell noted the bylaw makes no mention of incorporating a public education campaign -- a point that was raised several times by residents during the meeting -- and also fails to address costs to the town and the terms under which complaints would be investigated."If Orangeville wants to ensure that pesticides are being used in a responsible [manner], we would recommend an education program -- education has been a huge success in agriculture," Besley said, noting that education has enabled Ontario farmers to reduce pesticide use by roughly 52 per cent.Both men, along with owners of local lawn care companies, offered to assist the town in creating and delivering an education campaign for Orangeville residents.Christina Bonhem, an employee of Orangeville's Dufferin Garden Centre, said the bylaw needs to place more emphasis on the homeowner

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Topdressing.biz News found this article: Love your lawn

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/living/home/13993417.htm
Concepts:
topdressing, aeration, lawn, fertilizer, grass, weeds, Gardening, bare spots, blades, fescue, seeds, crabgrass, plant, News, label, vegetable gardens, mowing.
Summary:
NANCY BRACHEY, the Garden Editor of the Charlotte Observer, 03/01/2006 reports that:
At Renfrow's Hardware & General Merchandise in Matthews, an old-fashioned wood stove keeps the air comfortably warm on a winter day.Nearby, bags of lawn fertilizer are stacked and waiting for customers to give their grass a seasonal pick-me-up.Naturally enough, Effret Clayton of Mint Hill has stopped in for a visit, and the staff welcomes him with a good chair and a chance to chat.Invited to do so, Clayton turns happily to the topic of taking care of fescue grass, the topic of the moment as the Piedmont's non-wintry winter moves toward its close.Like many gardeners in the Piedmont, he'll be doing things that will put the fescue in top form for spring and help it through the difficult, hot and dry weeks of summer.Just watching those little grass blades spring into action after a dose of good fertilizer gives him a thrill.So does the demise of the dreaded chickweed.So do tiny seedlings rising on formerly bare spots.And then he'll go to work, mowing it correctly, savoring the green.? Some weeds, such as chickweed, prosper in cool weather.Go after them with a trowel, heavy rake or broad-leaf weed killer that states on the label it works against the problem weed and won't harm the grass.Pre-emergent crabgrass control, often sold mixed with fertilizer, will keep the crabgrass from developing.? Adding lime helps correct pH and makes the fertilizer work better.These are high-nitrogen fertilizers that encourage vigorous plant growth, along with smaller percentages of phosphorus and potassium for healthy plant growth.Save that for vegetable gardens and flower beds.? While most lawn seeding and reseeding is best done in September, small bare spots can be tended by digging, adding compost and sowing seeds.Look for grass seed that states on the label it contains "No noxious weeds."

We here at topdressing.biz recommend to consider a topdressing and aeration application at least once a year. The benefits are spelled out in the below website.

www.topdressing.biz